Watchlords

The entry level luxury segment is one of the most fiercely competitive segments in the current watch market. While brands like Oris have continually raised the bar for timepieces in this price range in recent years, one of the great challenges for any watch company in this space is the cost and complexity of developing an in-house movement. While many of its flagship models still rely on outside suppliers for movements, Oris has announced a major step toward movement independence for the brand. The all new in-house Oris Calibre 400 movement not only brings a manufacture option to the brand’s stable, but also substantially raises the bar for modern movements in its price range.

The manufacture Oris Calibre 400 automatic movement is fully designed and developed by the brand, with a concept focused on catering to the modern mechanical watch owner’s greatest concerns. Aesthetically, it’s simple and minimalist for a mechanical movement, with undecorated full bridges interrupted only by the prominent balance wheel and symmetrical twin mainspring barrels. These twin barrels are the first clue to one of the Calibre 400’s biggest selling points – its massive 120 hour power reserve. The brand also claims to have conducted an intensive study into mechanical movement breakdowns, and found the most common failure point for automatic movements to be the ball bearing system that allows the winding rotor to spin. With this in mind, Oris have ditched the traditional ball bearing track entirely for the Calibre 400’s winding rotor, replacing it with a far simpler and more durable slide bearing system with a metal stud inside a lubricated track.
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/oris-annou ... -movement/

Should come w/ both a 10 year warranty & a 10 year service period...120 hour power reserve...I'm guessing it'll make it's initial appearance in an Aquis...

Wonder what the beat rate is?

biglove wrote: ↑

October 15th 2020, 6:00pm

Wonder what the beat rate is?

4hz I think...

A 10 yr. warranty is pretty impressive! Looking forward to seeing what models it winds up in.

I'm excited about this new movement. I've got a newer model Aquis that I love, and I respect the hell out of the brand. My AD informed me it's going to debut only in the Aquis 43.5, but that more models are to come. Also, the Aquis will get a price-hike to around $3500. Seems reasonable to me. Hell, that's less than Tudor, which I suspect is amongst the brands Oris is targeting with their new movement.

120 HR P-R is cool- look forward to seeing what they pop it into and how it runs.

Those big 'ol bridges will hold a lot of stuff- some cool variations likely to come; why, there could be chrono's, GMT's moon phases and so on just down the pike.

Edit: That rotor looks interesting- I wonder if there's any illustrations out- looked briefly and found none- prol'y early for that kind'a literature..

The research they did is interesting, but rotor etc. failure isn't my experience. I use the chronographs a lot and I'm always fucking up balance staffs in those, but I've had no movement trouble in others. Crystals, a few tubes and stems and crowns and whatnot,

I'm no maintenance fanatic by any means; irregular at best, but just a little really goes a long way. I've never seized a rotor or winding mechanism in an auto movement, that's for sure. I have overwound a few wind-ups, not for a real long time though.

I am going to ask for a copy of the study- be interesting to see how the rest of the list broke down, so to speak.

I held this watch yesterday at my AD, and it's impressive. They're not allowed to sell it until later today (10/29). It is indeed a 43.5mm and looks almost identical to the most recent Aquis 43.5; however the blue dial has an even greater sunburst than the current model (hard to believe, I know, because the "normal" Aquis already has a killer sunburst).

The movement is gorgeous, and expansive by comparison to the red rotor because it takes up the entire caseback and is far more intricate. I won't be buying because I have the most recent version; although I would purchase if I didn't have it. Like you all, my hope is that it makes its way into other models within the brand.