Oris is a renowned Swiss watch company with a rich history spanning over a century. Established in 1904 by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian in Hölstein, Oris began as a manufacturer of pocket watches. Over time, the company transitioned to producing wristwatches and gained recognition for their reliable and accurate timepieces.
In the 1920s, Oris introduced their first in-house movement, marking a significant milestone in their watchmaking expertise. Throughout the following decades, Oris expanded its product range and innovated with various mechanical complications, including alarm functions, chronographs, and world timers.
Today, Oris remains committed to traditional watchmaking craftsmanship while incorporating modern design elements, and continues to be celebrated for its exceptional quality, precision, and dedication to the art of horology. The brand has become more visible in recent years, in part thanks to sponsorship deals with the Williams F1 team and most recently in cricket with the MCC.
The model we have for repair is one of their classics – a Big Crown. As the name would suggest, the big crown indeed has a big crown! This model was designed for aviators and the large crown means the watch can be set while wearing gloves.
On arrival with us the watch is working, albeit poorly. On our timegrapher we can see the amplitude is very low and the timekeeping is erratic. Inspection of the movement shows dried oils and greases, so a full service and new mainspring is in order.
This watch uses an ETA 2824-2 movement – one of the more common good quality Swiss watch movements. This is a 25 jewel automatic movement and Oris customise their version with a bright red rotor which is visible through a clear exhibition case back.
The watch is completely stripped down before the movement parts are thoroughly cleaned. Parts are cleaned twice – both by hand and then using a specialist watch movement cleaning machine. We o this to ensure everything is in good order and as clean as we can possibly make it.
After cleaning, the rebuild and oiling of the mechanism can begin. Different oils and greases are used in different parts of the mechanism. We follow the manufacturers’ guidance for this, including the use of epilame treatment on a number of parts to prevent the spread of oils.
The case and bracelet are given a thorough ultrasonic clean and we can then reassemble the complete watch. After pressure testing for water resistance, this excellent Oris Big Crown is ready to go on our automatic watch testing machine as part of its final testing before release to our client.
Yours sincerely
David Clark FGA DGA MJVA PJDip. PJGemDip.
Managing Director, JVA Registered Valuer®
W.E. Clark & Son Limited