Oris Big Crown ProPilot Big Date Watch Hands-On

roadwarrior

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41mm/49mm L2L/13mm thick

FEB 19, 2020 — BY ARIEL ADAMS

Link to full article: https://www.ablogtowatch.com/oris-bi...atch-hands-on/



Those familiar with Oris Big Crown ProPilot watches will recognize the case design, but also notice how Oris took steps to more attractively finish the steel case. A lot of the existing ProPilot watch cases are given a more industrial-style single finishing. This new assortment of Big Crown ProPilot Big Date (available in other styles as well) has a contrast polished case with both brushed finishing and mirror-polished accents. This new finishing style really does upgrade the look of the case, and helps bring out the particular “turbine-style” bezel which makes the ProPilot family distinctive.

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The next upgraded area is the dial, which now features raised hour markers. The metallic gray dial mixed with the minimalist (yet complete) set of Arabic hour numerals and properly-sized hands is very readable, and it is a testament to Oris’ attention for detail that the date disc is colored to match the hue of the watch face. Even though the date window might be a tad larger than other date windows, I’m not sure that calling this watch “Big Date” was really necessary or wise given the likelihood of confusion (big date complications use two discs to indicate the date (with one numeral on each disc).

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Dial luminant is good and while the watch face does not offer much decorative flair, it makes for an excellent all-purpose conservative dressy-style but also sport watch. Gray as a dial color is a wise option given that the color matches most outfits pretty well. I do appreciate how Oris uses a nicely domed sapphire crystal, but in my opinion this and many other Oris watches could benefit from loads more AR-coating. While legibility is not really an issue given the clarify of the dial, having less glare to look at would further upgrade the look of this and other Oris watches.

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Inside the watch is what Oris calls their caliber 751 automatic movement. It is a base Swiss Made Sellita SW220-1 that is given a signature red Oris automatic rotor. The display caseback offers a view of the movement, though it would have been nice for the base movement to be a bit more finely decorated (as it would go with the dressier theme Oris seems to be going for with the ProPilot Big Date timepiece collection. The movement operates at 4Hz with 38 hours of power reserve.

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Attached to the watch is a three-link tapered bracelet which compliments the look of the ProPilot Big Date pretty well. My favorite part of the bracelet is the deployant clasp. It isn’t brand new for this watch, but it is newer for Oris and is based on the opening system of cockpit seatbelts. It not only looks cool, but operates comfortably. Though I imagine that the clasp might snatch on things from time to time so I wonder if a security lock might be useful. With that said, the clasp never opened on me. The bracelet otherwise is rather simple and straight-forward. I felt that Oris could have designed a micro-adjust system, or at the least provided a half-link. Oris Aquis diver’s watches have more capable bracelets which include half-links, micro-adjusts, and screw bars between the links. The ProPilot Big Date bracelet is a bit more simple, but for such reasonable prices I don’t think too many will complain.

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REFERENCE: 01 751 7761 4063-07 8 20 08P

CASE Oris Big Crown ProPilot, 41.00 mm, 1.614 inches, Stainless steel
MATERIAL Multi-piece stainless steel case
SIZE 41.00 mm, 1.614 inches
TOP GLASS Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
CASE BACK Stainless steel, screwed, see-through mineral glass
OPERATING DEVICES Stainless steel screw-in security crown
WATER RESISTANCE 10 bar
INTERHORN WIDTH 20 mm

MOVEMENT Automatic winding big date developed by Oris
NUMBER Oris 751, base SW 220-1
DIMENSIONS Ø 32.20 mm, 14 1/4’’’
FUNCTIONS Centre hands for hours, minutes and seconds, enlarged date window, instantaneous date, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second
WINDING Automatic winding, bi-directionally rotating red rotor
POWER-RESERVE 38 hrs
VIBRATIONS 28’800 A/h, 4 Hz
JEWELS 26

DIAL Grey
MATERIAL Grey dial
LUMINOUS MATERIAL Numerals and hands Superluminova BG W9 Grade A

STRAP/BRACELET Stainless steel
MATERIAL Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet, folding clasp
 
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