Introducing The Oris Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403

November 25, 2021

Despite competition from its easy-going dive watch, Aquis, Oriss signature model has always been and probably always will be the Big Crown Pointer Date. The classic pilots watch has been in constant production since 1938, says Oris, but commercial realities meant that when the independent company was looking for a shell for its Calibre 400 Series project, it was the much newer Aquis that got the call. The younger model, in short, does bigger money. The Big Crown Pointer Date didnt get its first Calibre 400 Series moment until last summer. The grey-toned Holstein Edition 2021 was powered by the Calibre 403 variant of Oriss own automatic, although because it was limited to 250 pieces C small by Oris volumes C it seemed likely at the time that this was just a trailer for the main event. And so it proved. At Dubai Watch Week today, we get the collection piece in the form of the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403, a 38mm stainless steel watch with a deep blue dial, a black leather strap, and that tell-tale pointer date function. Its available straight away, and costs $3,400. Lets look at whats under the hood first. Calibre 403 is the third variant to come out of Oriss Calibre 400 Series stable. A year ago, we got Calibre 400, a three-hand automatic with a date function; then came Calibre 401, which switched the date for a small seconds. Calibre 402 remains in the wings and will offer we know not what, leaving Calibre 403 to take center stage with its small seconds and pointer date function. All three automatics released so far have five-day power reserves and solid anti-magnetic performance (Ill leave Jack to explain just how solid), and come with a watch and movement guarantee of 10 years, and recommended service intervals of 10 years, too. Oris doesnt get its movements chronometer-certified but says that Calibre 400 movements would qualify as theyre accurate to -3/+5 seconds a day and that they deviate by less than 10 seconds a day after exposure to 2,250 gauss. A pretty compelling cocktail in watches that cost under $4,000. Face forward, the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 is entirely recognizable as the next in a line of watches following an 80-year legacy, but there are differences with the collection pieces basic form. Most immediate of those is the polished bezel, which picks up on the direction indicated by the Holstein Edition 2021 by doing away with the Big Crowns familiar fluted bezel. As Oris is keen to remind us, the bezel on the 1938 original was flat, too. Also carried over from the Holstein Edition 2021 are the 38mm steel case (because its 30mm in diameter, getting a Calibre 400 Series movement into anything smaller is unlikely), the straight-sided hands, the slightly heavier, more industrial typeface used for the numerals, and the red-arrow-tipped central pointer date hand, which is crescent-shaped in other collection pieces. Fans of simplicity will be glad to see there are only five words printed in the heart of the dial. A nice big open caseback (upgraded to sapphire from Oriss usual mineral crystal) and a simple black leather strap with a buckle finish things off. What We Think This has been coming. No doubt, Oris has been itching to introduce us to a version of its signature watch powered by its own movement (conceived and designed in-house, but produced by a network of third parties, says Oris). The brand says its fans have been asking when this watch will arrive. Well, now theyve got their answer. Otherwise, there are likely to be two major lines of questioning, as has been the case with previous Calibre 400 Series variants. First is around the issues with setting the time accurately that some owners experienced with early Aquis Date Calibre 400 models. Oris is saying that it's remedied this, but that we wont see the fix until next year, so for now the issue, minor though it is, may persist. Second is the price. Calibre 400 Series models are between two and three times the price of Oriss standard-issue models, which are typically powered by vastly inferior Sellita automatics, few of which muster more than a limp 38 hours of power reserve or any comparable performance figures. Even then, plenty have queried how the higher price can be justified, and then how the amped-up and the humdrum can sit alongside one another in the same collection. The latter is a fair question and one that Breitling is answering by slowly retiring the lower-priced, third-party movement category, rather than trying to sell two versions of more or less the same watch at different prices to a confused consumer. Oris may yet do the same, although given the number of references it has at the lower points, and the customer migration up the price spectrum that would be required to see off its regular models, it surely wont happen any time soon. As with the Aquis, Carl Brashear, and Holstein Edition 2021 Oris models that have so far carried Calibre 400 Series automatics, the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 is likely therefore to remain a halo piece C a this is what we can do exemplar of Oriss trade. Longer term, were left to wonder whether Oris is also covering its back. Because of tumbling exports, the lower-end of the Swiss mechanical watch spectrum has been hurting for some time now, and while Oris doesnt appear to have been affected by it C quite the opposite in fact C there must be some doomsday-scenario planning going on there. Whether that time comes or not, at $3,400 and given its hefty specifications, the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 still represents exceptional value for money, as Oris watches always do. The earlier value question is relative to Oriss wider collection, rather than the market as a whole. Tudors still the best comparison, and the two are pretty much neck-and-neck here, subject to more personal considerations of design and, to a lesser extent, build quality. Taking a macro view, the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 is another indicator of the momentum in the Oris dial name. Calibre 403 is the companys ninth calibre (across two base constructions) in eight years, going back to the hand-wound Calibre 110 of 2014; its designs have all been refreshed and refreshed well; and Oris continues to prove that good-looking watches with original, inventive mechanical movements can be made and sold for prices that still qualify as reasonable. In a market where prices are out of control, theres something very reassuring about that, and smart-thinking watch buyers are responding to it. A wider view is that the independents position is strengthened by hosting its launch at Dubai Watch Week, an event now headlined by Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Hublot, and attended by a growing cohort of the industrys movers and shakers. Oris has already showed its smarts by hitching its wagon to Watches & Wonders when many might have expected it to become one of the headliners at a depleted Baselworld, a decision that looks more clear-headed than ever after the disastrous news delivered this month by the industrys one-time flagship event.But perhaps the most significant reflection on the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 is that six, maybe seven years ago, it would have appeared wildly and impressively out of character for Oris. Not so anymore. The Basics Brand: OrisModel: Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403Diameter: 38mmThickness: 12mmLug to lug: 45mmCase Material: SteelDial Color: BlueIndexes: PrintedLume: YesWater Resistance: 50 metersStrap/Bracelet: Black leather The Movement Caliber: Oris Calibre 403Functions: Central hands for hour, minute, and date, small seconds at 6HDiameter: 30.00 mm, 13 1/4Power Reserve: 120 hoursWinding: AutomaticFrequency: 28,800vph (4Hz)Jewels: 24 Pricing & Availability Price: $3,400Availability: Available now Robin Swithinbank is an independent journalist, who has written for?HODINKEE?about?his life in Swatches,?among?other things. He is a regular contributor to?The New York Times International, Financial Times, GQ, and?Robb Report. He is also Harrods' Contributing Watch Editor.Photos by James Stacey.? Shop this story The HODINKEE shop is an authorized retailer of Oris watches; explore our collection here.