- 27/10/14
- 4,775
- 98
- 48
I always admired the understated but sportive Oris diving watches and was very curious when rumours appeared that one would be repped in hiqh quality. So it was an easy step for me to jump the bandwagon after Silix introduced this 3 weeks ago.
Now I will try to examine if the rep is as good as I had hoped…
There aren’t a lot of companies building watches that are water-resistant more than 600m, and even less that build chronographs for these depths.
By introducing a chronograph that can go down 1.000 meters, Oris proves that it plays in the premiere league of diving toolwatches, next to Breitling, Sinn, Charmex, Suunto and Girard-Perregaux. Of course, Charmex has pushed it really over the edge with its 50mm large and 12.000ft pressure-resistant Swiss Military watch, which is a chronograph as well. But with 3281ft the Oris Carlos Coste Chronograph will stand any atmosphere even professional divers might reach.
Like you can guess from the name, the watch limited to 2000 pieces was developed in partnership with free-diving world record holder http://www.carloscoste.comâ€]Carlos Coste[/url].
[youtube]7LwvHnDqH9A[/youtube]
Carlos Coste was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 2, 1976. In October 2003, he became the first human to achieve a Free Immersion of more than 100 meters, certified by Guinness World Records. Currently, he holds the AIDA (International Association for the Development of Apnea) world record for Variable Weight Free-diving, with a 140 meter immersion in the Red Sea, Egypt, on May 9, 2006.
Until now I thought AIDA to be a cruise liner…
In 2005 the long time record of the Breitling Avenger Seawolf was broken by the above mentioned Swiss Military 12.000ft, a real underwater-monster. With more than 50mm in diameter, an 8mm crown and 368g weight, it is probably the largest diving watch ever made.
It really sticks out of the other premium diving watches which are all 3 hands watches.
The Oris which was introduced 2 years later does not break records anymore, but maybe that is just the reason why it will satisfy most of it’s buyers: the possible pressure-resistance of 1000m gives the opportunity of a slightly smaller case-construction. Don’t get me wrong: By describing it’s dimensions as smaller than the Swiss Military 12.000ft, I want to express that the OCC wont drown you in the sea.
It is a beast! Everything about this tool screams masculine.
With 47mm in diameter, it is the largest watch in my current collection. Also the height of 18mm(!) is way above average, but absolutely necessary for this construction. The latest Sinn divingwatch U1000, a chronograph as well, has about the same thickness. If you keep in mind that the OCC’s sapphire alone is 4,8mm thick, you will know why.
But hey! Finally a watch that doesn’t slip under the darn sleeve anymore!
But “large†is not “unwearableâ€! First to mention is the large 30mm dial is also doing its part to make this timepiece appear more wearable, for the bezel looks a little more restrained. The rather large dimension also helps to make it look less busy than it actually is. It is also the most impressive part of the OCC that really impresses: The dial is painted black with a subtle wave pattern print. The hands are chunky and they are coated in striking Superluminova dark orange. The indices and rim of the stop watch seconds dial - at the six o'clock position - are also of Superluminova dark orange. You get a display of hours and minutes at the center, a small second at the three o'clock position with day and date display at the nine o'clock position.
Secondly, the case material – as the whole watch is made of titanium.
The third and most important factor is the bent up case makes the watch wear smaller than it actually is – as the bezel has only a diameter of 44mm.
With other words: this watch does more wear like a 44mm, not a 47mm watch at first sight. This might be supported by the significantly short lughorns. Even though the watch is huge, it won’t overlap most wrists. Oris really made a great job on the construction.
Only the case height remains as large as it feels on the paper. This watch stays always present – and I am glad that the combination of divingwatches and cufflinks are chintzy in 2008, too (excluding maybe the aquatimer, bond sub and seadweller). So the only thing you have to fear when buying this is the possibility of danging it against objects – which might be more threatening your interior decoration than this watch…
And it is still 1mm smaller than a Breitling Super Avenger.
The watch is equipped with screw-locked crown and pushers which are – you will have noticed – located on the left side of the case. The HEV which is of a screw-in type like on Omegas is on the other side. This unused setting helps a bit in terms of wearing comfort, as the large crown might push into your handback otherwise. It also adds character to the watch, together with the the titanium, combined with black dial with touches of dark orange make this Oris watch visually stunning. There's no doubt that this watch is really going to be a winner for Oris.
Genuine Technical Data:
Reference: 678 7598 71 84
Caliber: ETA Valjoux 7750
Movement: Selfwinding mechanical
Powerreserve: min. 42h
Vibration: 28.800bph
Jewel: 25 jewels
Calendar: Day and Date
Case: Titanium
Water resistance: 1000m (3281ft)
Bezel: Unidirectional, ratcheted, 120 clicks
Crown and pushers: screw-locked
Caseback: Screwed in
Crystal: 4,8mm thick cambered sapphire, glareproofed both sides
Diameter: 47mm
Thickness: 18mm
Lugsize: 24mm
But how good is the replica?
Let’s start with a look at the case.
Solid is not the right word, it feels more like a tank. The first impression when I took it out of the package: My! This is a serious chunk of metal. It is made of stainless steel instead of titanium which is wrong and of course makes a difference. But it is not as bad as I first thought when I heard this news from Silix. In fact it stays nicely present at the wrist as the weight brings out the solidness really good. Don’t be afraid the full watch weighs “only†190gramms due to the light rubber strap. Please note that I already cut the strap to fit my wrist, so maybe you should add another 5-10gramms.
The case finish is extraordinaire, brushed sides and caseback imitating the look of white titanium, while the lughorns are polished from above making the watch visually smaller than it actually is. You will not find a single sharp edge on this replica case. Same goes to pushers, crown, lug-screws and bezel which are carefully polished, as well.
The limited number is engraved deeply into the flank, with correct size and font. I got the number 0349/2000 (as you can see from my pictures anyway) and it is confirmed that every replica has a different one. Pretty cool I think. By the way, the serial number was one of the parts my friends noticed first, when I showed them the watch and asked how they like it. It is placed at a spot that is revealed first when the watch comes out under the jacketsleeve…
The caseback is simply awesome, with all correct engravings which are very deep as well, the Oris-typical cut-outs and a sapphire crystal protecting the blue Carlos Coste Freediving logo. The logo itself looks spot on and I have no doubt regarding this watch that is actually made from the genuine item.
It has the same finish as the brushed sides of the watch, while the surrounding area round it has a bead-blasted finish. A lot attention to the detail, if you ask me. The caseback is 2,2mm thick and is undecorated from the inside.
What really surprised me is that it has two gaskets, one on the caseback and one on the watchcase!
You might have noticed that it is slightly rounded giving the whole watch a ball alike appearance which was chosen from the Oris designers in favour of pressure resistance. You can believe me that it does not reduce wearing comfort in any way.
As mentioned above, the design takes a lot from the size and as you can see in the picture below, it does not wear bigger than a 44mm Panerai.
The bezel is 2mm thick and as slip-proof as it gets. There is no space between the case and bezel which means that the tolerances on this replica must be very little. The lughorns are made a little higher than the rest of the case, so it looks as if the bezel is milled into the case. This supports the tough appearance of the watch but moreover it will protect the bezel from knocks when handling this watch as it’s meant to be: as a tool watch.
And this is how it’s designed, too. Continuous markings on a black shiny ground that corresponds beautifully with the polished border strip make the watch conform to DIN-standart 8306.
It rotates unidirectional in exact half-minute steps, with the luminous pearl always aligned to the minute-markings, clicking almost too loud. I couldn’t stop rotating it the first three days I got it, or so, driving all people including my girlfriend crazy...
The pearl is centered and probably the first one in my collection which hasn’t been messed up by the factories.
It finishes exactly with the huge double AR-coated crystal. It is 4.8mm (!) thick and convex to withstand high pressures. This is an improvement to the oldskool Breitling Avenger Seawolf for example, where you can see a terrible gap between a gen dial and the crystal because the factory built in a thin crystal. Check my upcoming Test for more info on this topic.
The AR coating is not on a K2222 level, but still on top level with rep-ar coating, improving the legibility and making the beautiful dial pop out.
The crown is of a screw in type and once you get used to the lefty design, it screws in and out nicely. I had some problems in the beginning doing so but now it winds well into the thread. Last named could be a little bigger though, it takes only ½ turn to lock and release it. The profile of the crown is slip-proof but almost too small for a chunky watch like this. Well, as the genuine counterpart is exactly the same I will leave this criticism to “Watchtimeâ€. I have a strong felling that the thread is longer on a genuine watch that is water-resistant up to 1.000m, though.
But does the watch keep Jay’s promise to be pressure resistant up to 100m?
Right now, I could only have it tested to 50m, it passed – even with unlocked crown and pushers! Why ‘s that?
It means that the seals that are build into crown and pushers are very good.
On every water resistant watch, there are seals inside the crown that prevent the water from dripping into the case. This alone makes a watch usually resistant up to 5-10 bars, like for example the Patek Nautilus for example, which has a push in crown.
On a screw locked crown, the thread keeps the crown tight to the seal to ensure it remains resistant.
I am really curious if the Oris will keep its promise, so I am going to ask my watchsmith to take it to a friend to make a test of more than 10 bar = 100m for a few minutes. I will also lock the crown and pushers, then. So prepare for an update, soon!
However with the already passed 50m, I have no doubt that this watch with this attention to the detail will remain dry on every swim I might take.
The dial is an exact copy of the gen and as mentioned above, it is large. 30mm in diameter allow great legibility. On the surface, it has a nice wave-pattern that seems to vary from black to orange, matching the indexes and sub dials. Because of the lefty design, the second runs at 3 o’ clock, while the day and date window moved at nine o’ clock. It has correct font and is perfectly aligned on the tested watch. All subdials have a circular black pattern, like we know them from the Breitling Chronomat.
Even though it is really big, the date-window does not look wrong (too close to the center) or unbalanced. This is achieved by putting it into a patterned subdial like the second and minute TOTALISATOR, in my opinion. Also note that the second hand running at six takes the full diameter, it is doubled. When it is horizontal, it together with the day and date window builds a cross with the minute subdial and the stop hand. A very thoroughgoing design.
The rehaut is printed with a 60 seconds scale where every second is also parted into 5 lines – a feature for watches in COSC standarts.
The font is clean and bright, I could not imagine a way to have it made better than that. Unlike the Breitling Héritage for example, I was not able to spot a flaw here.
The indexes are made in a tusk style and they reach far into the dial giving this timepiece a more sporty and aggressive look. They are filled with bright orange… paint… which unfortunately does not glow at all. ?
The only luminous parts on this watch are the pearl, the small dot at six o’ clock and the hands. Yes, last mentioned laminate in a bright orange color which looks very nice in the dark. They are large and it is not only pretty easy to distinguish the minute from the hour hand, which is very important for a diver watch, but also maximising the instrument read-out at a glance.
The movement is confirmed a clean asia 21.000bpm running strong and gaining average 21 secs per day with a difference of 22° at the amplitudes, confirmed by a professional Witschi timing-machine.
This is no COSC standart, but I can happily live with it. It looks like the same movement that ticks reliably in Pix’s beautiful Hublot. The rotor is undecorated, which does not really matter as the watch has no see through caseback. My watchsmith was surprised that it has a fine regulator. I get the idea that he is loosing his prejudice about replicas being junk more and more every time I visit him and bring some toys… Even though the Héritage was a highlight regarding the movement.
The genuine watch comes with a polished and brushed bracelet, something that is missing on the replica. It has a thick vulcanised rubber strap, which I have to say impressed me quite a bit. It does not collect dust, nor is it too smooth or too hard. Unfortunately you have to cut it down to fit your wrist, which will make it hard to resell the watch to anyone with bigger wrists than you… Which in my case will be a lot of people.
I confirmed that Oris actually builds the same kind of rubber strap for its diver watches. So yes, you would have to cut the gen as well.
The clasp however, is visually inferior to the rest of the watch. It looks a little cheap, to be honest. But it works!
It is locking really tight, even without the “ORIS†laser edged fliplock, unlike our beloved Omega replicas for example. You can pull out a diver-extension to fit the watch to a wetsuit in seconds. This is also very nice for summertime, when the wrists swell.
All together, the watch sits comfortable on even small wrists like mine, even though the light rubberstrap makes it a little top-heavy.
Nevertheless, a bracelet would be great for this timepiece and I would buy it in an instance.
So, after all these examinations and after wearing it for some days, do I like this watch? Simple answer is no. I love it.
It is not really elegant but more sporty and masculine than any other watch in my collection. This is the watch not for all occasions, but surely the watch that I am going to wear at the beaches and pools during the upcoming summer.
CONCLUSION
Oris Carlos Coste Chronograph Limited Edition replica
Strap and clasp (max. 10points)
Very good rubber strap, cheap looking but really functional clasp.
7p
Operation (5)
Thread a little short, unused lefty design. Flawless after a little practice.
4p
Design (15)
Love it or hate it, very unique and sporty.
It draws more attention than any other watch I tested.
14p
Instrument read-out (5)
Awesome in the sun or in daylight. No problem in 50cm under water.
Due to the non luminous dial, it is not easy to tell the time at night.
4p
Wearing comfort (10)
Comfortable, even though a little top-heavy.
6p
Movement (15)
Asia slow beat. Clean and running good, still only time will tell how reliable it really is.
9p
Accuracy and reliability (15)
Casematerial is stainless steel, no lume on the dial and a rubberstrap instead of a bracelet.
The feel of the watch is gen though, with a lot attention to the detail.
Lots of greased gaskets and seals.
10p
Workmanship (15)
As good as it can be, only the HEV should be able to screw in.
Build like a tank.
13p
Countervalue (10)
Affordable sportswatch replica with a high recognizability value. I would not want to miss it in my collection. AR, lots of seales, great workmanship and beautiful design: You get a lot of bang for the buck, even with the 21k movement.
8p
My valuation: 75%
Thanks for your interest, comments, critique and questions appreciated!
