PRE-BASEL: The Oris Aquis Depth Gauge

First Impressions:

Oris have given the latest version of their technically impressive Aquis Depth Gauge the bumblebee treatment. If the only thing holding you back from grabbing this imposing chunk of dive watch was the lack of a black option – well, you’ve got no excuse now.

It’s an irony of the watch industry that while every watch brand produces a dive watch; very very few watches are worn at depth.

Oris can count themselves in the latter category. They achieve this rare distinction by creating watches that fulfil their mission to make “real watches for real people”, that manage to offer value and be innovative at the same time. A tricky act to pull off.

This year Oris are giving their clever take on the uncommon diver’s complication, the Aquis Depth Gauge, a black makeover. They’re pairing the newly DLC treated watch with a high visibility yellow rubber strap. Often black watches get a ‘stealth’ or ‘phantom’ nickname. At 46mm and with that strap this watch isn’t going under anyone’s radar. But the new colourway isn’t the most interesting thing about this watch. Oris’ novel depth gauge is.

Depth gauges are rarely seen on watches. Mostly because if you want to make an effective water-resistant watch it’s generally not a great idea to let water into the watch – which is a fairly essential part of the whole depth gauge process. Oris have developed an ingenious work around; they maintain the integrity of the case by placing the gauge into the 4.5mm thick sapphire crystal. Problem solved. The crystal has an aperture at 12 allowing water into a narrow channel. As the diver descends and water pressure increases, the air inside the channel is compressed, allowing more water into the crystal. The diver uses the scale on the dial chapter ring to gain an accurate indication of depth. Job done.

While serious divers will use this watch in conjunction with a dive computer, for desk divers it’s an undeniably cool complication that’ll be sure to add to your Jacques Cousteau cred.

Oris Aquis Depth Gauge Australian pricing and availability:

The new Black version has a retail of $4350 AUD, and will be available from early May.