This year at Watches & Wonders, Oris finds itself focusing primarily on a single collection: the Aquis. For years, the Aquis has carried the torch as the brand’s flagship modern sports watch. A capable diver with an integrated bracelet (it had one before they were cool), the Aquis has been made in a dizzying variety of case sizes and dial variants over the years, with complicated models, limited editions, and even diamonds finding their way to the line. But over all that time, the Aquis itself has never really had a proper reset. That changes this year, with a new, more refined Aquis Date that seeks to improve on the old version in all the ways watch collectors care about.
The new Aquis is made of a number of subtle changes that add up to a noticeable, if incremental, improvement. This is not a radical rethinking of the Aquis, but feels more like an admission from Oris that certain elements of the tried and true design could be tweaked for a better overall experience. It’s an approach, frankly, that we think more brands should take. When something is generally pretty good, it makes no sense to kill it and start from scratch. Success over a long period means little iterative changes that make your product better as performance expectations shift, and Oris seems to embrace that.
Of the changes made to the new Aquis, the most important is likely the small tweaks to the case. Oris has redefined the Aquis silhouette by making everything a little more balanced, with lugs that are more gracefully downturned and a sleeker profile at the crown guards. Another key change in this area is to the bracelet, which now has a broader center link and gives the appearance of a more dramatic taper.
Another small change that will definitely be well received by the enthusiast crowd is that the date wheel is now color matched to the dial across the Aquis collection. Obviously, this creates a more seamless and coherent dial experience, and is one of the most requested tweaks on any watch that doesn’t feature color matching. The exception here, unsurprisingly, is on the Aquis Date Upcycle references, which feature unique multicolor dials created from recycled ocean plastic.