Independent watchmaker Oris has introduced the new Aquis Date Kelp Forest Limited Edition inspired by the beauty of kelp forests and the need to protect ocean environments. This 1,000-piece special edition of its 41.50 mm dive watch continues the Swiss brand’s focus on ocean conservation through a design that reflects the colours and appearance of underwater kelp forests. It combines a stainless steel case and bracelet with an ocean-green dial featuring a three-dimensional design of the green forests.

Award-winning underwater photographer and Oris’s ambassador, Francis Pérez, brought the depletion of these underwater forests into the spotlight while photographing and observing them for over 30 years. Kelp forests create ecosystems sustaining marine life, protect land by forming natural wave breaks, and contribute to about 2 per cent of the world’s oxygen. This nature’s support system is under threat due to rising ocean temperatures – global warming indeed – and growing commercialisation.

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With the Oris Aquis Date Kelp Forest Limited Edition, the brand, along with Pérez, aims to highlight this underwater deforestation. Pérez says, “The time to highlight the threat is now.” The owners of the watch will also contribute to raising awareness of the matter.

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The model retains the diving features of the Aquis Date collection, including a unidirectional rotating bezel, luminous hands and indices, and 300-metre water resistance. It comes in a multi-piece stainless steel case with a thickness of 12.90 mm and a lug-to-lug distance of 49 mm. The bezel has a ceramic insert and a minute scale to track elapsed time underwater. The top is secured with a sapphire crystal, domed on both sides and treated with an anti-reflective coating on the inside to improve readability. A stainless steel screw-in crown helps to maintain water resistance; flip the case to view an engraved, screw-on stainless steel caseback.

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The highlight is the ocean-green dial, which mimics the swaying of kelp plants, with textured effects created with 3D painting, thus giving the dial an underwater appearance. The display has central hour, minute, and second hands with a date aperture above the 6 o’clock hour marker. The hands and hour indices are filled with Super-LumiNova® for low-light and underwater visibility.

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The watch is powered by the Oris Calibre 733, an automatic mechanical movement with a power reserve of 41 hours. The movement drives functions like central hours, minutes and seconds, instant date, date corrector, a fine timing device, and a stop-second function. The instantaneous date mechanism switches the date in a single step, while the stop-second function stops the seconds hand during time setting to help the wearer synchronise the watch accurately.

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The timepiece is paired with a multi-piece stainless steel bracelet secured with a folding clasp. It is designed with a quick-adjust system that allows the wearer to modify the fit, whereas the quick-change system makes it easy to remove and replace the bracelet.

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The Oris Aquis Date Kelp Forest (Ref. 01 733 7787 4187) is priced at approximately INR 2,91,000.

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Images: Oris

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