Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter – World’s First Automatic Watch With Mechanical Altimeter
Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter
If you have been on Fratello Watches recently, you’ve probably seen our review of the Breva Genie watches with their altimeter functionality. Of course in an entirely different [price] segment, Oris is now introducing their Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter watch. It is the first time that a mechanical altimeter complication is used in an automatic watch.
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter uses an extra crown, located at 4 o’clock, to activate, correct and deactivate the altimeter indication. When entirely screwed-down, the altimeter is inactive and the watch remains water resistant to 100 meters. When unscrewed, the altimeter is being activated. The yellow indicator on the dial shows the altitude and the red indicator shows the corresponding air pressure. The crown at 4 o’clock can also be pulled into a second position, to correct the altimeter.
At 2 o’clock you will find the crown for winding and setting the watch. This crown is also screw-down to ensure the water resistance of the watch case.
Oris made two version available of the Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter. One with the metric scale (ref. 733 7705 4164) and one with the feet scale (ref. 733 7705 4134). Besides that, these specifications of these reference numbers are completely identical.
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter has a 47mm diameter (not for the faint hearted) case and carries the Oris caliber 733 movement. This movement is based on the SW200 from Sellita. As you probably know, Oris only produces mechanical watches. It is strongly embedded in their strategy and core values of the brand. One of the other core values of Oris is that it should be affordable. We will mention the price at the end of this article, but we are pretty sure you’d consider this watch being affordable.
Oris delivers this watch either on a rugged textile strap (available in three colors: grey, green and black) with a folding clasp, leather or stainless steel bracelet. In our opinion the watch looks awesome with the grey textile strap! However, we also stress that you should go for a stainless steel bracelet and get the leather or textile straps additionally.
This Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter will become available in September this year, with a retail price of CHF 3300 Swiss Francs for the textile strap version and CHF 3500 Swiss Francs for the stainless steel bracelet version.
More information can be found on www.oris.ch
