Hands-On With The Updated Oris Aquis Upcycle

Oris released its redesigned Aquis line in April at Watches and Wonders 2024. Included in that update were three sizes of Aquis Upcycle with dials made of recycled PET ocean plastic. I had a few opportunities to interact with all of the new Aquis models, and each time, I kept returning to the Upcycles. The subtle elegance of the updated case and bracelet combined with the truly unique dials captures the attention and imagination like no other watch. I’ve only found the specific feeling I get from the Upcycles in one other arena — modern art, particularly, Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings.

It’s no surprise to regular readers of Fratello that I have a great love for Oris. I was a fan of the brand’s watches and ethos long before I started writing, and as I’ve become increasingly more familiar with Oris and its products, that affinity has grown. Some readers will undoubtedly roll their eyes at yet another article waxing poetic about Oris’s offerings, but I can’t help how I feel. And each new Oris watch I interact with only supports my inclinations.

What readers certainly do not know about me is that I also have a love and appreciation for the visual arts. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Modern, Hudson River Valley — I enjoy almost everything from the 1800s into the early 1900s. I’m a little pickier about modern and contemporary art. That said, Gerhard Richter is my favorite living painter by far.

Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (635) from 1987 — Image: Pedro Ribeiro Simões

Gerhard Richter

While Gerhard Richter produces several types of art, I get lost in his abstract paintings. The chaos, detail, and depth come together for a viewing experience that feels fresh every time. Thankfully, there are a handful of modern-art collections near where I live that allow me to see his work firsthand. There’s also a fractal element to his work, not in the mathematical sense but in the realization that any part of a Richter abstract could be cut out and expanded to become another Richter abstract in itself. Does it mean anything? Well, the collective jury is still out. But I certainly feel something in the presence of a Richter painting, and that’s what counts.

The Oris Aquis Upcycle

The Aquis Upcycle watches are becoming an Oris perennial. Initially released as a limited edition with a piece of recycled ocean plastic in the case back, enthusiasm and demand have been such that Oris soon brought the plastic to the dial side and now produces the watches without limitation. All iterations of the Aquis Upcycle include a striking disc of colorful, swirling plastic harvested from the plastic trash in our oceans. The discs are created by cleaning and granulating the plastic trash before mixing and melting those granules down into cylinders from which the dial discs are cut.

While color organization follows a theme — typically, teal with accents for the 36.5mm Aquis Upcycle and navy blue with accents for the 41.5mm Aquis — because of the process and materials, no two dials are alike. This methodically produced uniqueness makes for a watch that is presumably much more gratifying than whatever mass-produced product the donor plastic hailed from (that no doubt whispered promises of making the consumer unique).

Oris and Richter

The similarities between the Aquis Upcycle dials and Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings should be fairly obvious in the photos. At first glance, the swirling chaos flows seamlessly between the two. So does the use of striking colors. But deeper still lies the fractal depth that only melted plastic and oil paints embody. With pigments embedded in the material, it’s only when approaching the molecular level that the swirling hues start to blur. But, as we ask any art: what does it mean? Or rather, for abstract art: does it mean anything? I’ll leave Richter for the art critics, but the Aquis Upcycle dials certainly mean something.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, an estimated eight million tons of plastic trash enter our oceans annually. A few thousand watches with plastic dials produced each year aren’t going to put a dent in reducing that number, but the people wearing them might. The dials of the Aquis Upcycle are abstract art with a purpose ingrained in the material with which they are created. These watches remind their wearers of each individual’s impact. Each complex dial says the problem of pollution is specifically human, and each person’s response to it will be unique. You can still stare at the dial and get existentially lost in the chaos of the universe if you’re so inclined. But if you need some help approaching modern art, the above is a good place to start.

The new Aquis Upcycle

I believe the reworked design of the new Oris Aquis line is best appreciated in the Aquis Upcycle models. Though the updates are subtle, Oris left not a single aspect of the Aquis untouched. This amounts to an instantly recognizable watch with changes that propel the watch to new heights of elegance. For the Upcycle, these changes enhance the effect of the unique dials.

Perhaps most importantly, the new Aquis Upcycle has a color-matched date wheel. This is a change found across the Aquis line. However, it’s impressive how well Oris executed it in watches with no single dial color. Oris takes the primary color from each size of Upcycle — teal (36.5mm), navy blue (41.5mm), and aquamarine (43.5mm) — and matches it perfectly in the date wheel. Eight million tons of plastic trash entering the ocean annually means Oris has options when selecting colors for a relatively minuscule volume of dials. This works in the brand’s favor, allowing it to reign in the chaos of the Upcycle dial to match the particular shade of the date wheel.

A redesign that frames

In more classical approaches to visual art, framing often had as much to do with the presentation as the art piece itself. I think of the gold-leaf-coated wooden cabinets that enshrine early Italian Christian iconography. While the genre isn’t my cup of tea, I can’t deny the grandeur.

In modern art, pieces are intended to speak for themselves, usually set against stark white walls and the Brutalist architecture of modern art museums. When it comes to dials as art in the realm of watches, no matter how modern, the watch itself is an ever-present and functionally necessary frame.

The Aquis has long been Oris’s most popular line. Excluding the younger ProPilot X watches, the Aquis is the brand’s contemporary watch. Its design is meant to be (and is) of the present day, offering excellent functionality and form in a sleek and effortless package. I was already smitten with the previous version of the Aquis design and planned on acquiring one until the Divers Sixty-Five 12H came out. The redesign the line underwent in April takes what was already a contemporary standard and elevates it.

Cut the fat, keep the dimensions

The previous Aquis hailed from an era in watch design when chunkiness equaled utility. Thankfully, Oris didn’t cater as much to the “supersize me” trend as other brands. Even better, it seems the consumer and industry are in full swing away from the idea that bigger is better regarding men’s watches.

No, the Aquis’s dimensions have remained accessible to almost every wrist size across design iterations. With this new redesign, the Aquis still comes in its standard 43.5mm, 41.5mm, and 36.5mm offerings. With the way the lugs blend into the bracelet, the watches wear even smaller on the wrist than the dimensions suggest. What Oris changed in the new Aquis is the visual weight of the watch.

The Aquis went under the knife, with clever design lightening and softening the case and bracelet. While the physical weight remains practically unchanged, the visual changes leave us with a watch that is very much refreshed, bordering on effervescent.

The mid-case is now slenderer, the crown is shallower, and the lugs and crown guards slope a bit more. The new Aquis is still a muscular watch without the chunk of yesteryear. Even the bracelet links are different, with a slight peaking that plays more with the light. Oris left no aspect of the watch untouched and no stone unturned in its endeavor to refine the Aquis.

The new Aquis Upcycle — Oris’s magnum opus

For the Upcycle, all this means that the inherent uniqueness of the dial shines in a case that gets out of the way. With previous Aquis Upcycle’s chunkier case, it felt brasher and more like pop art. It reminded me of well-executed street art, in which chaos, color, and city grit come together to please the eye. The new Aquis Upcycle, reframed and refined, steps off the street and into the museum. It’s a Richter abstract hanging on the wall, necessarily framed in steel’s absence of color, except what’s reflected.

With the same specifications, general dimensions, and movement as the previous models, the new Aquis Upcycles have maintained complete integrity while growing in sophistication. Inside the 36.5mm and 41.5mm watches is the Oris 733, a modified Sellita movement with 38 hours of power reserve. The 43.5mm watch (not reviewed here) has the option of either the Oris 733 or the in-house Oris Calibre 400. This crown jewel of Oris’s in-house movements has a power reserve of five days, robust antimagnetism, and a 10-year service interval and warranty. All watches maintain the Oris Aquis’s 300m depth rating.

This time, it’s form over function

As a watch guy, I usually lean towards the best calibers available when given a choice. In my Divers Sixty-Five 12H beats the Oris Calibre 400. However, I’m also an art guy, and when it comes to the new Aquis Upcycles, aesthetics reign. I find that the colorway and size of the 41.5mm Aquis Upcycle are perfect for me. The 36.5mm version, with its smaller dimensions and intentionally softer presence, is ideal for more feminine wrists. But while the 43.5mm Calibre 400 version is the top offering of the three, I find it visually too loud in its size and colorway.

On the wrist, the new Aquis Upcycle feels premium. Even though my Divers Sixty-Five 12H is more expensive, its aesthetics help make it an excellent rough-and-tumble daily watch. It has quickly accrued countless scratches and a few solid dings while keeping up with what I put myself through. The 41.5mm Aquis Upcycle, on the other hand — a considerably less expensive watch — commanded more presence and respect while on my wrist. Chalk it up to me leaning into the fine-art metaphor or the fact that it was a loaner, but the redesigned Aquis Upcycle felt like a watch that didn’t necessarily need to be babied but considered.

Here’s a watch that can scuba dive with the best of them, with a workhorse movement that has proved its merit. Functionally, the watch is, in a word, robust. But I wore it with a dress shirt and went to the museum. Standing there in the room with Richter’s abstracts on the wall and the Upcycle on my wrist, I felt like I was in on a little secret — like I had something special on my wrist. Between the uniqueness and origins of the dial and the elegant design, I did.

A sum greater than its parts

But even more so, like a piece of art, the sum of the whole is greater than its parts. The Oris Aquis Upcycle, now redesigned, does more in its entirety than just any bit of recycled plastic, Sellita movement, and steel case could do. It’s one of those rare watches that made me stop and really want to look at and spend time with it. I could find no flaw to critique. In fact, like looking at Richter’s abstracts, I couldn’t help feel like I hadn’t quite grasped everything there was to experience. Maybe I should’ve taken it scuba diving after all.

I understand that not everybody is like me. If you don’t occasionally sit and stare at your watches and ponder the meaning of life and the passing of time, that’s fine. However, the magic of what it is to have the measurement of time enclosed in a small machine on my wrist is half the fun for me.

The Aquis Upcycle watches effortlessly combine elements of sustainability and art that further elevated my experience. What does it mean to exist in a world with so much plastic? How can easily disposable goods be such a problem and yet so alluring? What all is wrapped up in the chaos of the universe and our experience of it?

A sum less than its value

Maybe that last question is too much even for a watch. And really, no watch can answer much more than “What time is it?” But the new Oris Aquis Upcycle points the curious world citizen toward asking serious questions. Much modern art exists primarily to confront observers and cause them to ask questions of themselves and the world. That’s why I love Richter. That’s why I so thoroughly appreciate the new Oris Aquis Upcycle. It confronted me in the same manner other art has, with intense attention to aesthetics.

Where the new Upcycles differ from fine art is in their accessibility. True, many art museums have low or nonexistent ticket fees to encourage public engagement, but that isn’t always the case. Besides, much art is hidden away in private collections that the common public never gets to experience. And good luck ever owning something like an original Richter painting. In 2015, one of Richter’s abstract paintings sold at auction for 46.3 million dollars, which made him the highest-valued living painter at the time.

For all their elegance and uniqueness, Oris’s redesigned Aquis Upcycles come in well below the most expensive watches at auction. The three sizes of Upcycle with the Sellita-based Oris 733 movement retail for €2,450, while the 43.5mm Upcycle Calibre 400 costs €3,750. When comparing the Upcycles’ specifications on paper with other brands’ contemporary elegant tool watches, the value is clear. After wearing an Upcycle and realizing how special each watch is, the value proposition becomes ever more apparent. Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and art is for each person to interpret. You’ll just be hard-pressed to find beautiful art like this anywhere else.

You can find more about the Aquis Upcycle and all of Oris’s other redesigned Aquis watches here.