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Oris: Introducing the Carl Brashear Calibre 401 Limited Edition (2021)
•Jan 19, 2021
Oris
Oris introduces the third watch made in partnership with the Carl Brashear Foundation and the first powered by Oris’s in-house Calibre 401, a highly resistant five-day automatic.
The new watch is cased in 40 mm of bronze, a material chosen to symbolise not just the diving helmets worn by Carl during his career as a U.S. Navy Master Diver, but also because it’s a metal that will tell its own story. Bronze is a natural material that patinates as it reacts with oxygen in the air and moisture from your skin. Over time, it will take on a unique finish, like a visual chronicle of the wearer’s own life wearing the watch.
REFERENCE01 401 7764 3185-Set
CASE Oris Divers, 40.00 mm, 1.575 inches, Bronze
- MATERIAL Multi-piece bronze case, bronze minute scale top ring
- SIZE 40.00 mm, 1.575 inches
- TOP GLASS Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
- CASE BACK Stainless steel, special engravings, screwed
- OPERATING DEVICES Bronze screw-in security crown
- WATER RESISTANCE 10 bar
- INTERHORN WIDTH 20 mm
- NUMBER Oris 401
- DIMENSIONS Ø 30.00 mm, 13 1/4’’’
- FUNCTIONS Centre hands for hours and minutes, subsidiary second at 6 h
- WINDING Automatic winding, uni-directionally rotating rotor
- POWER-RESERVE 120 hrs
- VIBRATIONS 28’800 A/h, 4 Hz
- JEWELS 24
DIALBlue
- MATERIAL Blue dial
- LUMINOUS MATERIAL Indices and hands Superluminova light old radium
- MATERIAL Blue textile strap with Bronze buckle
PEOPLE
CARL BRASHEAR
Carl Brashear was the first amputee and the first African-American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver. He retired in 1979, following a distinguished military career lasting over 30 years. It was his determination to achieve his dreams by overcoming all the obstacles in his way that make him such an important figure. Oris is proud to have been able to honour him with the Carl Brashear Chronograph Limited Edition.
MAN OF HONOUR
Born in Kentucky, USA in 1931, Carl Brashear joined the U.S. Navy in 1948 as a 17-year-old, shortly after the U.S. Military desegregated, and quickly decided he wanted to become a deep-sea diver. He graduated from the Navy’s diving programme in 1954, despite facing discrimination on account of his race.In 1966, he lost the lower part of his left leg in an accident during a mission to salvage a hydrogen bomb. After an exhausting period of rehabilitation, he became the U.S. Navy’s first amputee diver in 1968, and then qualified as a Master Diver in 1970, the first African American to do so. After a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy that lasted more than 30 years, Brashear retired in 1979. He died in 2006 aged 75. His extraordinary story was the inspiration for the 2000 film Men of Honour.
A LASTING LEGACY
In 2014, his foundation created the annual Navy Diver of the Year award to recognise the Navy diver who most embodies the courage and unwavering determination to succeed as displayed by Carl Brashear. It is just part of his incredible legacy. In 2016, Oris produced a limited edition watch cast in bronze to honour Carl Brashear. The 2,000 pieces proved extremely popular and, in 2018, a second limited edition timepiece – this time an automatic chronograph, also cast in bronze and limited to 2,000 pieces - was produced. A typical diver’s watch based on the Oris Divers Sixty-Five, it’s a fitting tribute to a man who brought about significant, meaningful change during his lifetime, and whose legacy endures today.Throughout mankind’s history, there have been stories of individuals who have overcome extremely difficult odds in order to showcase the true strength of the human spirit with amazing results.
Carl Maxie Brashear is one of those individuals who demonstrated unyielding tenacity to overcome his circumstances only to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming a United States Navy Master Diver.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum.
My father is a true example of the American dream in the fact that whoever you are, or wherever you come from, anyone can achieve their dreams if they work hard and believe in themselves. I often say my father overcame his “Five Hurdles” to prove to the world that dreams do come true. My father overcame racism, poverty, illiteracy, physical disability, and alcoholism during his lifetime only to pass away with no malice in his heart and a feeling of accomplishment for his work.
Carl Brashear was an accomplished Navy Diver in the late 1950’s and made a name for himself as his career continued (Note: As he proved his skills as a diver, the respect fellow divers started to show him opened the door to creating bonds of friendship and inclusion with his peer group and the officers appointed over him), but in 1966, an incident occurred that would again alter my dad’s life and challenge his dreams.
Overcoming Hurdles – The Legacy of Master Chief Carl Brashear | The Sextant
By Phillip Brashear Throughout mankind’s history, there have been stories of individuals who have overcome extremely difficult odds in order to showcase the true strength of the human spirit with amazing results. Carl Maxie Brashear is one of those individuals who demonstrated unyielding...
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