I am one of those who can feel connected to objects. It can be a pen, a knife, a lighter or a watch. My Oris Big Crown Pointer Date (BCPD) is one of the best example. I have been wearing this watch almost for a year and I can say a real bond came up.
Before telling you why this watch is important to me, let’s discuss about more common aspects.
This watch is 40mm in diameter, 48mm lug to lug and 12mm thick with the domed sapphire glass. These dimensions make this watch wearable by most women and men.
The brushed lugs are curved enough to adopt your wrist very gently. However, there could be a small mismatch about them: they are not pierced. On the paper, there a good reason. The watch is sold on a leather strap equipped with quick release spring bars. It makes sense but for those who would like to wear another strap with classic spring bars, holes would have been useful.
The screw down crown is soberly signed and easy to use thanks to its shape and its thin notches. The crown provides a real sentiment of quality and durability. Setting the hour and the date remains a pleasure.
About the leather strap: quality is here, no doubt about this. It has a soft touch and great taper from 20 to 16mm at the buckle. The color of the original strap is light brown or beige which is not the best choice in my opinion. I choose the exact same strap but darker. I will come back on it later.
The fluted bezel distinguishes the Oris BCPD from the other models of the brand. It brings a nice vintage vibe, catches lights subtly and, non-negligible, it is well resistant to scratches.
The sapphire glass will delight every (double) domed glass geek. If you want distortion, you will have quite some. It bends very satisfyingly the hands and Arabic numbers, depending on the angle of view. It’s always a pleasure to move the watch and see how light is caught.
The cathedral hands are brushed and catch light very easily. Filled with SuperLuminova C3, they enable you to tell time despite the darkness.
About the movement: nothing really fancy. The watch is running thanks to the Oris 754 movement, based on a SW 200-1. So, no in-house movement here but It is not a problem regarding the price range. Also, it makes this watch easier to service for your favorite local independent watch maker. The display case back enables you to see this movement, in particular the red rotor which is kind of Oris signature.
This dial deserves your attention.
I would like to tell you a little story about it. We are in January 2020, my 30th birthday is coming soon, in May (never too soon to think about a birthday gift, right?). This is the perfect occasion to get a new watch.. I went to the Oris Paris Boutique to try some watch, notably The BCPD 80th anniversary. A pure beauty with real charism thanks to its bronze case, green dial and golden hands. The perfect match. Then, I saw the watch that will become mine. However, no love at first sight. I went back home. Surprisingly, the more time passed, the more the blue dial model took precedence over the 80th Anniversary. A few days after, I went back to the boutique with my girlfriend. She loved the bronze version but did not show any enthusiasm for the blue one. I thought, “I love the bronze version but will I love it like the first day in 1, 5 or even10 years?”. I looked at the blue dial and something very simple came up in my mind. I asked to wear the blue dial one on a dark brown leather strap. At this very moment, I discovered all the charm and timelessness of this blue dial. It was clear that the original strap, or its color to be specific, did not serve the richness of the dial.
I said, “blue dial” but it is actually blue-grey, or a grey-blue. I can’t really say, still today. This is what makes this dial so attractive. It can be really bright the first sunlight in the morning and become dark grey at the end of day.
What makes also the dial a success are the white Arabic numerals, also filled with Superluminova (weaker that the hands), matching perfectly with the dial by contrasting just enough. On the periphery of this dial, a railroad track allows us to read precisely the minutes, again with luminescent dot every 5 minutes. The date numbers run along this railroad track and are pointed by the dedicated hand.
This date complication could be seen outdated (if I may) but I think it still has its place nowadays. It also permits to have a symmetrical dial and bring some color thanks to its red end.
Anywhere at anytime.
I would say anywhere at any time. The Oris BCPD, this blue dial version especially, is versatile enough to join you in a lot of situation. Its water resistance is quite light, 50 meters, but its screw down crown provide enough confidence for outdoor activities (not too rough though). It is light and well balanced.
As I said early, I preferred wearing on a dark brown leather strap instead of the beige one. However, the real power of this Oris is its ability to be worn on a large choice of straps. I really like to wear it on a Nato strap, nylon, seatbelt or leather, which gives to the watch real forms of adventurer.
My special bond
For many reasons, this watch is special. I already can say it has its own history. My girlfriend helped me in choosing the watch and offered it to me. This is the first and most important aspect of the story. Plus, she offered me this watch for my 30th birthday. You would say this is quite common, a girlfriend offering her boyfriend a watch for his birthday. The thing is I was born on 16th of May. In France, people were in lockdown (the first) since March. The 16th of May 2020 was the first weekend after the lockdown end, the first weekend we were allowed to go further than our local grocery store. Helped by Paris Boutique’s people, my girlfriend succeeded to get the watch during this lockdown despite the closure of the boutiques and the complicated shipping conditions.
As a conclusion, I would just recommend you to go to a boutique, try this particular watch on your wrist and see what happens next.
