The joy of mechanics comes to the fore in the new ProPilot X Calibre 400, a titanium-cased watch inspired by more than a century of aviation heritage and powered by our five-day automatic
How does it work?
The joy of mechanics is knowing
how things work. This is what
drives us – and our watches
More than 1.5 billion smartwatches were sold around the world last year. Sleek, beautiful unknowable. How do they actually work?
Modern technology is so smart that few of us really understand how things work. The rapid shift to AI will only increase the distance between our devices and our appreciation of how they do what they do.
This is one of the many reasons people still love mechanical watches. They’re an antidote to technology’s blinding light. When you see an escapement wheel oscillating or a chronograph’s pushers initiating the steady advance of a central seconds hand, it’s reassuringly knowable. Poetic. Joyful even.
And it’s also what motivates us to continue our policy of only making mechanicals – we’re 100 percent mechanical at Oris. Not a single quartz. And certainly no smartwatches.
And because we’re still an independent Swiss watch company, we’re free to keep making that choice and go our own way. We love knowing how things work. It’s only human.
Joy machine
It’s the heir to a pilot’s watch legacy going back more than
100 years, but before all that, the ProPilot X Calibre 400
has been designed to celebrate the joy of mechanics
When you love mechanical watches, do you begin your critique of a new piece looking at the case front or back? The new ProPilot X Calibre 400 is designed to inspire joy no matter what angle you come at it from.
The dial-side is defined first by its 39mm titanium case. The taut, angular lines of the aviation-inspired form are satin and sandblasted, giving the watch its raw, technical look, and complemented by the familiar ProPilot bezel and a muscular, sculpted titanium bracelet. The oversized crown is also titanium, and flanked by protectors.
Beyond, the launch collection offers a choice of three dial colours: grey, blue and salmon. This is a fresh, expressive palette, chosen to augment the case’s dynamic proportions and to bring life and colour to your wrist.
“The ProPilot X Calibre
400’s power lies beyond
its associations: it’s a
mechanical joy machine”
And then there’s the view from the other side. The watch’s titanium case back and open sapphire crystal frame Oris Calibre 400, our in-house five-day automatic.
As with all Calibre 400 Series movements, it’s accurate to -3 to +5 seconds a day, within chronometer certification standards, even after it’s been exposed to the sort of magnetic fields we’re surrounded by every day. This base calibre version has a sweep central seconds hand and a date at 6 o’clock.
All Calibre 400 Series watches carry 10-year warranties and 10-year recommended service intervals, and that applies to the ProPilot X Calibre 400, too. Calibre 400 Series movements have more than 30 non-ferrous and anti-magnetic parts, and were developed to minimise friction and wear-and-tear – the winding rotor uses a slide bearing system, for example – so that we can confidently give the watches their class-leading warranties.
The ProPilot X Calibre 400 follows in a long line of Oris pilot’s watches going back to the early 1900s, but its power lies beyond its associations: it’s a mechanical joy machine.
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Mechanical
wonder
Inside the ProPilot X Calibre 400 is one of our new generation of high-performance automatics. Conceived entirely in-house by our skilled engineers, Calibre 400 Series movements all feature elevated levels of anti-magnetism, a five-day power reserve and a 10-year warranty. We call this The New Standard. Here, we’ll take you inside Calibre 400 and explain how it works.
RECOMMENDED SERVICE INTERVALS
Class-leading reliability
Inside the ProPilot X Calibre 400 is one of our new generation of high-performance automatics. Conceived entirely in-house by our skilled engineers, Calibre 400 Series movements all feature elevated levels of anti-magnetism, a five-day power reserve and a 10-year warranty. We call this The New Standard. Here, we’ll take you inside Calibre 400 and explain how it works.
Twin barrel concept
When conceptualising the Calibre 400 Series, Oris’s engineers recognised that these days we may not wear the same watch every day. If you put a standard mechanical watch down for a day or two, it will stop as the power reserve runs down. Calibre 400 Series movements have a five-day power reserve, so they’ll
still be running if you’ve not worn your watch between, say, Thursday and Tuesday. They deliver this longer period of use via twin barrels, both of which house an extended mainspring, each long enough to store two-and-a-half days of power.
Invention at its core
One of Oris’s fundamental ambitions with the Calibre 400 Series was to eliminate problems before they occur. Oris’s engineers identified that one of the most frequent issues with automatic mechanical movements concerns
the ball-bearing system that allows the free-spinning oscillating weight (or rotor) to rotate. This is a critical element of an automatic watch – as the rotor spins, it generates power that’s stored in the mainspring, which is housed in the barrel. So we removed the ball bearing altogether and replaced it with a low-friction slide bearing system, in which a metal stud runs through a lubricated sleeve. This is much less complex, highly efficient, and involves far less wear and tear, making it less prone to breakdowns.
Highly anti-magnetic
Most watch movements are made of metals that can become magnetised if exposed to sufficient magnetic forces. When this happens, they become less accurate, and can stop altogether. To make it highly anti-magnetic, Oris engineered the Calibre 400 Series using more than 30 non-ferrous and anti-magnetic components, including a silicon escape wheel and a silicon anchor. In testing by the renowned Laboratoire Dubois, Calibre 400 deviated by less than 10 seconds a day after exposure to 2,250 gauss. For context, the latest version of the ISO 764 standard for anti-magnetic watches requires that to qualify as anti-magnetic, a watch must be accurate to within 30 seconds a day after exposure to 200 gauss. Calibre 400 recorded one third of the deviation allowed after exposure to more than 11 times the force permitted, making it a highly anti-magnetic movement.
Poetry in motion Ken’s campaign imagery captures the poetic joy of a hand-assembled mechanical watch movement
Keeping an eye on time
Ken, tell us a bit about your background…
My background is in photography. As part of my creative director role, I still go back to this practice, which helps me conceptualise and live out my genuine curiosity for the world. But what I love above all is experimenting with different mediums in order to tell stories.
When did you join Oris and what do you do for the company?
I joined Oris five years ago and I’m a creative director tasked with using visual language to continue building the brand.
Who or what are your influences?
I have many interests, but two surface quite often in my work: nature and architecture. I’m fascinated by the perfection of nature’s
Forces of nature Ken’s work is heavily influenced by nature and by how architects apply its rules to their designs
design, and by great architecture that manages to translate the same principles
into man-made elements. I’m driven by the essence of things – I strongly believe this is what makes a story worth telling.
How do you develop Oris campaigns?
It all starts with the intrinsic nature of the product. Whether it’s the product’s history, or a material used in it, or an innovation, or simply a particular design element of a watch, getting excited about what makes it great is the starting point that helps me to create a campaign. And we always want to be honest
and creative, and to have some fun. That’s why we play with the sizes of watch parts to show function can create emotion.
Is this a team process?
Yes, of course. Without the team, none of this is possible. It all starts with great product design. Oris is an independent brand, so we work very closely across disciplines. It’s personal. The campaigns are there to support the products from an emotional perspective, and for me it’s very exciting to be the liaison between the watches and their stories.
“We’ve tried to open a
secret door for people to
experience the watch’s
design – and to bring joy”
How hard is it to tell a story that gives Oris cut-through in such a competitive market?
I think that when you approach things with honesty and with a curious eye, there’s really no way of going wrong, and you do manage to stand-out. Oris’s forte is being a great watchmaker, and being inclusive. All we have to do is make sure this story reaches people.
What’s the story behind the ProPilot X Calibre 400 campaign imagery?
We’ve tried to open a secret door for people to experience the watch’s design. Being in Xavier Corberó’s palatial home with humansized watch parts moving through it is like walking through the watch. Corberó had a unique way of creating poetry through architecture. This is what the ProPilot X Calibre 400 is: a watch with great design, mechanics and functionality, but also one that makes people smile and brings joy.
What does the ProPilot X Calibre 400 say about Oris as a watch designer?
It reflects Oris’s identity – independent, always striving to carve its own path, but also able to bring beautiful mechanical watchmaking closer to the customer.
What should we expect to see next from Oris in terms of creative storytelling?
Insights into how things work, the joy we find in the marriage of design and mechanics, and how we take the unbeaten path.
ProPilot X
Calibre 400
and the joy of mechanics: meet the
ProPilot X Calibre 400. Inside its 39mm
titanium case is our highly anti-magnetic,
five-day, in-house automatic. It comes
with a 10-year warranty. A new icon.
In detail
Case Multi-piece titanium case with satin and sandblasted finishes
Size 39.00 mm (1.535 inches)
Dial Grey, blue or salmon
Luminous material Indices and hour and minute hands with Super-LumiNova®
Top glass Sapphire, domed on both sides, double-sided anti-reflective coating
Case back Titanium with satin and sandblasted finishes, screwed, see-through sapphire glass
Operating devices Titanium screw-in security crown with protection
Bracelet Titanium with folding clasp with Oris-patented ‘LIFT’ system
Water resistance 10 bar (100 m)
Movement
Number Oris Calibre 400
Functions Centre hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date window at 6 o’clock, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second
Accuracy -3/+5 seconds a day (within COSC tolerances)
Extra features Highly anti-magnetic Winding Automatic
Power reserve 120 hours
Warranty* Extended to 10 years with MyOris sign-up. Applies to watch and movement.
10-year recommended service intervals. Fiveyear recommended water-resistance check
Swiss retail price CHF 3,900
Available April 2022
*Extended warranties Oris also offers extended five-year warranties on all Oris watches with Oris Calibre 100 Series movements when owners register with MyOris. In addition, we offer an extended three-year warranty on all Oris watches with movements produced by our Swiss partners with MyOris registration.
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