From the late 19th century, the village of Hölstein has been a significant stop on the road between Basel and Bern. Basel was quickly industrializing, and go to the political capital of Bern was more frequent. But then the dawn of the railroad created a new path and transformed Hölstein to a weary Swiss village, just the type of area a watch maker would flourish. In 1904, Oris’s founders took advantage of incentives the Swiss government was supplying to bring business back to Hölstein and set up shop. The business is still headquartered in Hölstein to this day. Shortly after its founding, it became the biggest employer in town.
And today there is an opinion to honor those roots, the Oris Hölstein Edition 2020. Past the”panda” gold-plated dial and the steel caseback, the whole case, crown, pushers, and bracelet are created from bronze. This is the closest Oris has come to a totally bronze watch.
Oris retains its ethos airy and light, and creating a watch simply to demonstrate a little hometown pride fits right in with the business tradition of doing things”just because.” The caseback, which communicates an embossed Oris Bear, is meant to do something according to Co-CEO Rolf Studer:”Make people smile.”
With this limited edition of 250 pieces, Oris is testing a new method for buyers to purchase the watch in which they may reserve specific serial numbers. Individuals interested in the opinion can buy it through the Oris e-shop on a live platform which indicates which amounts have been spoken for and then numbers are open. Additionally, buyers can have the watch delivered to some Oris authorized dealer in the network if they want to acquire the bracelet sized and sized.
The Hölstein Edition 2020 is sized at 43mm; the dimensionality is shared using the Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph on which it’s based. The rivet-style bracelet is left in pure bronze, also if it wears anything such as the watch it is based on, it will feel breezy on the wrist. The magic in the this Hölstein variant is duality at work. It’s got the swagger of a all-bronze watch using a panda theme, but strip away the trendiness and the’80s-style aesthetic appeal, and you’ve got a highly legible dial with large hands, indices packed with lume, and a case that rings in at 43mm, but stays well on the wrist. Not to mention a full 100m of water resistance on a chronograph.
Oris has found a vast assortment of fascinating concepts and styles to honor through limited-edition watches. Considering previous limited editions with an altruistic slant, it’s simple to see how Oris watches arrived at a Hölstein edition when their goal was only to make a watch to make people smile. The company is rarely self-referential at the way that a lot of manufactures from Switzerland are, despite having a very rich history on which to draw. And if they do turn inwards, the item is fair and simple. This is a chronograph based on the Divers 65 rendered in bronze with the Oris Bear on the back. And it happens to link into the city that made it all possible.
