ORIS / Oris Star Edition

Key Highlights

• Celebrates 60 years since the original 1966 Oris Star — the brand’s first watch with a lever escapement movement
• Barrel-shaped 35.00 mm stainless steel case faithfully echoes the modernist proportions of the original
• Powered by Oris Calibre 733, a Swiss Made automatic with a 41-hour power reserve
• Non-limited production; Swiss retail price CHF 1,800; in stores May 2026
• Introduced at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026 as a tribute to Dr Rolf Portmann

A Victory That Changed Swiss Watchmaking

The story behind the Oris Star Edition begins not in a design studio but in a courtroom — or rather, decades of relentless legal lobbying. From 1934, the Swiss Watch Statute imposed strict licensing controls on the production and export of watch parts, ostensibly to protect industry jobs during the economic turmoil that followed the Great Depression. In practice, it entrenched a cartel that froze innovation. Oris, having specialised early in pin-lever escapements — a reliable but commercially stigmatised technology — found itself locked out of the higher tier of Swiss watchmaking for over thirty years.

In 1956, Oris CEO Oscar Herzog hired Dr Rolf Portmann, a trained lawyer, with a singular brief: dismantle the statute. For nearly a decade, Dr Portmann fought the entrenched lobby that profited from keeping competitors down. His persistence paid off in 1965, when the law was finally abolished. As watch historian Gisbert L. Brunner puts it plainly: “without Dr Portmann’s tireless insistence, the ill-fated Watch Statute would have remained in force.” It was a victory not just for Oris, but for Swiss mechanical watchmaking at large.

The Original Star and What It Represented

One year after liberation, Oris introduced the Oris Star — its first watch built around an in-house movement with a lever escapement. The timing was culturally as well as mechanically significant. The mid-1960s was an era of loosening conventions, and the barrel-shaped Star embodied that shift. Elegance no longer required a round gold case; this was space-age design meeting democratised luxury, and it announced that Oris was both technologically capable and attuned to contemporary taste. Today, the original Star is considered a collector’s item of growing importance.

The New Oris Star Edition: Faithful to the Original

Introduced at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026, the Oris Star Edition is a precise and considered revival. The 35.00 mm barrel-shaped case in multi-piece stainless steel maintains the original’s seamlessly integrated lugs. The silvery dial is deliberately restrained — twin-baton hour markers, square-tipped hands, and the period-correct inscription of “Star,” “Automatic,” and “26 Jewels” across its surface. An asymmetrical date window sits at 3 o’clock, and a vintage plexi-crystal tops it all off. The case back carries a screwed stainless steel cover engraved with the vintage Oris Shield crest, a detail that rewards closer inspection.

Movement and Specifications

Inside beats Oris Calibre 733, a Swiss Made automatic that delivers a 41-hour power reserve. The movement supports centre hands for hours, minutes, and seconds, a date window with instantaneous date change, a date corrector, a fine timing device, and a stop-second function. The case measures 11.10 mm thick with a lug-to-lug distance of 41.50 mm — proportions that suit a broad range of wrist sizes. Super-LumiNova fills both hands and indices, providing legibility without compromising the dial’s spare, 1960s aesthetic. The Artelier Calibre 113 demonstrates how seriously Oris takes movement development; here, Calibre 733 carries that same ethos in a more accessible, everyday package.

Positioning and Value

At CHF 1,800, the Oris Star Edition sits at a price point that reflects the brand’s long-held commitment to offering well-engineered mechanical watches without the premium typically associated with heritage revivals. The watch is non-limited, meaning it will remain available rather than disappearing into the secondary market after a brief allocation window. It arrives on a black leather strap with a pin buckle, echoing the original’s presentation exactly. For collectors in the GCC seeking a piece of genuine Swiss horological history — one with a documented, dramatic backstory — the Star Edition offers unusual depth at a considered price.

Why It Matters

The Oris Star Edition is not merely a retro exercise in design — it is a monument to institutional courage. Dr Portmann’s decade-long campaign broke open an industry, and the watch that resulted from that freedom became one of the most meaningful references in Oris’s history. For GCC collectors who value narrative alongside craft, this is a rare instance where a watch at this price carries a story of genuine historical consequence. In stores from May 2026, it is an argument — quietly, elegantly made — that independence and integrity are worth fighting for.

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