Q&AOris CEO Talks About the Brand’s Pursuit Of Sustainability And More
Rolf Studer, co-CEO, Oris, talks of the purpose of mechanical watches, and how the brand manages to stand strong for sustainability
May We Recommend
How do Oris 2022 novelties take the brand’s story forward?
The watches we have launched over the last few months include our summer novelties. My favourite is Aquis with a blue dial and gold on the bezel. Also, the Divers Sixty-Fives Cotton Candy with the fabric straps for additional colour. At Oris, the most important thing is to make people smile. That’s what a mechanical watch has to do. You might like the history, the design, the colour or the movement, but the idea is for a watch to make you happy.
Do you plan to focus entirely on the 400 series of calibres?
No, our plan is to maintain all pillars of movements at Oris. We have the sourced movements, which help in keeping the cost down, allowing these good-quality mechanical watches to remain accessible.
In the 400 series, you had a 400, 401 and then a 403. Was there a reason you skipped ‘402’?
Yes, there was no 402. These calibres are planned in advance. Calibre 402 has a complication that exists on paper, but it’s not been constructed yet.
How do you decide on the right time to introduce new colours, sizes, and so on?
Well, the right time is always now. There’s a whole plan over several years, where we have laid out all the products we want to bring out. As with every brand, there are distractions from that plan, such as the one caused by the pandemic or supply issues. We work around that and find solutions.
Talk about the new ProPilot Coulson Limited Edition.
When you are a brand that stands for sustainability, like we do, it is difficult to find a way to cater for an audience of aviation watches—often combined with flying and planes, and things that don’t really make sense in a sustainable context. When we look at the genre, we think of aviation that has a purpose, like the Royal Flying Doctors in Australia, Rega in Switzerland, and others that fly around to make change for the better.
The ProPilot Coulson comes from a new area of aviation for us—wildfires (in association with Coulson Aviation, known for aerial firefighting). The dial demonstrates the idea behind the watch. The case is very technical. It’s a new process; three-dimensional carbon fibre printing that allows us to make a watch case with the qualities of carbon fibre—stiffness and lightness. Carbon was also chosen as it is a product of fire. This is complemented by a strap made from heat-resistant fibre used for the pilots’ suits. Its clasp is inspired by a plane seatbelt. These pilots are the true heroes of modern aviation.