New Oris Artelier James Morrison Limited Edition
Oris pays tribute to a living legend, James Morrison with a new time-only wristwatch. No, not that James Morrison, who serenades BBC Radio 2 listeners. Instead, the Australian jazz trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist who at only 57, has amassed respect and adulation from contemporary and big band jazz fans alike.
Starting with the Andy Sheppard watch in 1996, Oris have a track record of jazz inspired watches in their classic Artelier range. Oris Chairman, Ulrich Herzog, has a deep love of jazz and Oris have previously sponsored the London Jazz Festival. Jazz standard composer, Thelonious Monk’s syncopated rhythm style influenced his namesake watch that had offset indices on the dial. This watch was even spotted on the wrist of Pierce Brosnan in the film The Foreigner (2017).
Oris Thelonious Monk on the wrist of Pierce Brosnan in The Foreigner
Oris Classic Artelier Jazz Collection
A recent release from Oris in the classic jazz collection is the late drummer Art Blakey edition. This Oris has a bass drum dial with the claws that hold the skin via tension rods acting as the indices. Like the genre itself, the popularity of these watches is hit and miss but those who share the passion of jazz appreciate Oris for paying homage to their favourite musicians. My personal favourite is the Oscar Peterson edition, which sold out very quickly.
Like the genre itself, the popularity of the Oris jazz collectiom is hit and miss but those who share the passion of jazz appreciate Oris for paying homage to their favourite musicians.
Oris Artelier James Morrison Limited Edition
Oris James Morrison Academy of Music Limited Edition
For the James Morrison watch, a cool blue dial with gentle radiance is a more modern look in reference to his era of contemporary jazz. The brass-toned counterbalance of the running seconds represents the finger hook for a trumpet but could also double as a tuning fork motif. The elongated numerals flow with the circumference of the round 38mm stainless steel case. On the caseback is an engraving for the logo for James Morrison’s Academy of Music, a school opened by the man himself, which is also shown on the inside of the watch box. A nice touch is the soft leather strap with Swiss fold-over clasp, suitably comfortable for those improvised jazz solos.
Oris James Morrison Academy of Music Limited Edition strap and caseback
Limited to 1,234 pieces in reference to a conductor counting in a band to a 4/4 time signature, the watch is available now for 1,900 EUROS. More to come with a hands-on review.
More about this Oris James Morrison can be found here. More articles on Oris Watches on Fratello can be found here.
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