Q&AChairman Ulrich Herzog On Oris’ Practical Approach To Watchmaking
With a strong brand philosophy of only ever making products that make practical sense, offered at reasonable prices, Oris makes it a point to go their own way, in every way possible. Here’s what the company’s chairman, Ulrich Herzog, had to share, while in conversation with us
May We Recommend
Give us your take on this year’s new innovations from Oris.
I’d like to show you one thing that takes us back to the roots of Oris, representing the values that made the brand. In its initial years, Oris developed 275 in-house calibres, and that was the key for this company to really grow. When we bought the company back from the Swatch Group, we had a period when we worked only with other movement manufacturers. In 2014, we decided to make our movements. We brought out our first movement, the Calibre 110, which had a power reserve of 10 days, with no date. And then there was Calibre 111, with a date. And then it continued with 112, 113, and now, this year, we’re bringing the Calibre 114. The good thing is that it has GMT that has half hours, which is particularly useful for countries such as India and Australia, which have the half-hour time difference.
Is this the first in-house calibre release that’s not in the Artelier collection?
Yes, you’re right. You know the Oris brand well.
Read the complete story of the Oris Artelier Calibre 113 here
Your tagline was ‘Real watches for real people’, and now it’s ‘Go your own way’. What changed?
It’s to reinforce that we have our own identity and our own way of doing things. Being independent is a very important part of this. And the spirit in the company is that we don’t follow others. We go our own way. We always try to invent. Our objective is to have one patent per year. It goes with the whole thinking of the company, that we want to be innovative, to not copy others, doing what we think is right. Even from a financial point of view, we go our own way, in that we are not part of any group. We are independent.
How do you stay innovative while adhering to your philosophy of only making watches that make practical sense?
This is an absolute challenge. On one hand, it is in the movement, where we can bring out our own innovation, like the half-hour GMT. Also, in the case of our other features, like the altimeter and the diver’s watch depth gauge, they are all smart and practical innovations and all at reasonable prices.
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Calibre 114: know more
What are the biggest trends this year?
We’ve found out that others are also realising that bringing out the most complicated editions is not the answer to everything. They’ve brought down the prices to more reasonable levels. With Oris, that’s always been the case.
And in terms of styles?
Sizes are definitely going smaller unless there are special functions that need more space. We are now even going down to 38mm and 36mm, like in the Big Crown Pointer Date (in bronze). These sizes are more in demand.
Is this a conscious effort to also cater to women?
This is a unisex watch. In Japan though, it’s a men’s watch. Japan was the first market where we noticed the trend of smaller watches. They saw this happening four years ago. We started to work towards smaller sizes since Japan is an important market for us. But for women, we have other watches too. There’s even a skeleton watch – the Artelier Skeleton – and there’s the Artelier with diamonds as well.
