I have always been a big fan of Oris’s 111 caliber and, most of all, I have always appreciated the Swiss brand’s courage to launch a big manual in–house built caliber running at a frequency of 3Hz at a time when many other brands that call themselves “manufactures” still offer us automatic three-hands-timepieces equipped with sourced calibers and prices that I cannot really understand. The idea to craft a big manual caliber deserves our utmost respect since Oris have decided to embark on a complicated path, an expensive one if we also consider development costs, and, despite everything, the manufacturer has come up with an extraordinary movement that will please even the most meticulous watch-expert.
The Oris Artelier Calibre 112 is the first natural evolution of a caliber that was designed to be the starting point and a scale of measurement of this mid-range/high-range mechanic complication of the Oris series – and possibly of future ones too – that will obviously remain confined within the Artelier collection. Oris have moved downwards the running seconds counter and have inserted a second time zone at 12 o’clock that also includes a day/night indicator, a very useful function for those who travel frequently – that’s according to the brand’s vision – and a pleasant function for those of us who love watches but only travel about 10 km a day to reach their office.
The second time zone is not a third central hand but rather a complete and separate dial sporting an indicator at 12 o’clock and a disc situated below that features a sun and a moon indicating daytime and nighttime alternatively. During the daytime, the sun is white and the moon is dark and vice versa, sunrise and sunset are represented by a mixture between the two colours.
The insertion of the GMT module has brought along some other changes that are quite easy to spot when you compare these two pictures; the Arabic numbers located at 12 o’clock and at 6 o’clock that you can see on the 111 have been removed, decluttering the dial and thus making the best use of the room available. The reserve scale with its 10–day–power reserve and its easily recognizable non–linear indicator has been rotated – the end of the scale is now positioned next to the 2 o’clock mark – and its diameter has been reduced so that the dimensions of the three counters are similar. When you look at the three counters from above it looks as if they were the gear trains in simultaneous contact of a mechanic movement.
Oris didn’t change the size of the case, the 43mm case of the Calibre 111 still hosts a movement that guarantees an exceptional power reserve that can last up to 10 days, via a single barrel. It is a big case and, from an aesthetic point of view, a very impacting one, despite the addition of this new complication it is still exceptional on a technical level and it remains quite tidy with the winding crown managing all the available functions. This is the refined touch of the 112’s design.
The Oris Artelier Calibre 112 will retail at 5,950 Euros, it sports a stainless steel case and a silver or dark blue dial, it will also be available in a stainless steel and gold bezel combination that will retail at 7,400 Euros (about 2,000 Euros more than the standard version.) These two retails prices are quite adequate if we consider both the quality and rich content of this Oris’s flagship model, in the meantime, let’s see if the brand will soon start tackling the calendar complication – at least the annual one – the next logic step for this kind of timepiece.
(Photo credit: Google, Horbiter®'s proprietary photo-shooting)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
@Gaetano Cimmino
