Calibear: Oris Big Crown Hölstein Edition 2021 Review

Aug 11

Aug 11 Calibear: Oris Big Crown Hölstein Edition 2021 Review

Oris is a brand that gets a lot of love in the watch community, and deservedly so. They make solidly built, well-designed timepieces at a reasonable price point. There’s almost always an Oris or two on the table at every RedBar meetup. And we can’t overlook their friendly and seemingly incongruous mascot, Oris Bear, who not only shows up in person to events, but now graces the case back of two limited Hölstein editions for the brand.

The first Hölstein edition, released in 2020 and named for the Swiss village that Oris calls home, was a full bronze version of the very popular Divers Sixty-Five chronograph. This year’s version is an addition to their classic Big Crown Pointer Date line, with updates to the case design and crystal, a pretty fantastic color combination, and our pal Oris Bear smiling away on the back of the case.

The movement in this piece is Oris Calibear (not a typo) 403, a variant of the in-house Cal. 400 line they introduced last year. The antimagnetic automatic movement provides self-winding via a unidirectional rotor and features a 5-day power reserve that is achieved with the use of two mainsprings. All of the watches with the Cal. 400 line of movements have a recommended service interval of 10 years, which speaks to the brand’s confidence in the quality and durability of their movements.

(I dubbed the Cal. 400 the “Calibear” when I first saw it, because when the rotor is positioned below the twin mainsprings, the movement resembles a smiling Oris Bear. Go look at it in this excellent article about the Cal. 400 at Worn & Wound. You can’t unsee the bear.)

The date display is, arguably, the best part about this line of watches, as anyone who has ever had a wildly passionate debate with a watch nerd about date windows can attest. As the name of the watch indicates, a hand points to the current date at the edge of the dial, and in this version, the pop of red on the date indicator against the soft grey of the dial really highlights this feature.

I particularly like the design choices that Oris made with this watch, as they blend modern design language and movement technology with nods to their own history. The gray dial paired with a gray strap lends a modern monochromatic look, while the luminescent printed numerals on the dial use a typeface that is a nod to classic pilot’s watches from the brand’s archives. The choice to remove the fluted bezel that is present in other versions and use a polished flat bezel, along with the use of a flat sapphire crystal instead of a domed one, highlights the extremely legible dial, with pops of bright red at the small seconds and pointer hands. It’s a very aesthetically pleasing watch, and the 38mm case size makes it wearable on a wide variety of wrist sizes.

But let’s not forget our friend Oris Bear! He makes his appearance on the closed case back, which is also engraved with the limited edition number (xxx/250). It’s no secret that I love this bear, and seeing him on the case back makes me smile every time I put this watch on.