Oris watches have long been recognized as beautiful crafted Swiss watches. Oris watches may not have the same brand recognition as some other Swiss-made watches but they are never the less an exceptional timepiece that anyone would be proud to own.

I've owned an Oris wristwatch for many years; in fact, my Oris was my first ever Swiss watch. I've never tired of my Oris watch, and although I have since bought other fine Swiss watches, I wear it often and still admire its simple but elegant design. So, perhaps the following review of Oris watches is a personal view, though I have tried to remain objective on the current collection of Oris watches.

Oris watches used to follow the more traditional lines of watch design, but recently the company has endeavoured to offer the consumer more up-to-date watch designs, particularly in the sports watches arena. Oris began making sports watches only as recently as the nineteen seventies. Their first sports watch was the Oris Chromoris. Oris still manufacture the Chronoris today, the most recent model being the Chronoris 2005. The Chronoris Chronograph is a simple design made from stainless steel with a black and orange saddle-leather strap; the strap is supposed to emphasize the 'sportiness' of the watch, however I feel they are better sports watches on the market today. A better sports watch offered by Oris is the TT1 collection. These watches come with mechanical automatic movement with simultaneous indication of 2 individual time zones. You also get a date display at the 3 o'clock position as well as a black dial with luminous display, a curved scratchproof sapphire glass, with water resistance up to 100 meters. In my opinion the Oris TT1 Worldtimer is the best watch in this series. Recently Oris teamed up with the Williams F1 Team to produce the Oris Williams F1 Team sports watch. I'm not a tremendous fan of this watch. Call me a snob, but I wouldn't want a watch I owned to be known by any other brand except the watch brand. Also, I think if you are looking for a sports watch they are other brands of watches that offer better styling.

The Oris Big Crown Collection belongs to their aviation series. The big crown being a reminder of the early days of aviation when pilots had to adjust their watches whilst wearing thick gloves. This collection of watches is more like what I'd expect from Oris. The Oris Big Crown comes with mechanical automatic movement with stop function display of hours and minutes from the centre, small permanent second at nine o'clock, decentralised minute and hour counters, second counter from the centre, date at three o'clock. The is black guilloché with white numerals and indices, white lacquered hands; all contained in a stainless steel case 316L with applied fluted bezel, screwed case back. The watches are water-resistant to 50 m with plexiglass and black calfskin leather strap with Louisiana croco pattern and security clasp. The watch is also available with metal bracelet. The Oris Big Crown is a very beautifully designed piece of engineering.

The Culture series of Oris watches is what Oris is all about. Currently Oris offer the Frank Sinatra collection and the Miles Collection. These watches come in various models offering chronograph, complication, mother of pearl facia and diamonds) for those who like such things). My favourite collection is without doubt the Artelier collection. The Oris Artelier Chronograph, Oris Artelier Complication and Oris Artelier Lady Date are fine watches, but the Oris Artelier Pointer Date is the jewel in the collection. Oris are famed for their pointer date or sweep calendar. The company first developed this feature in 1938 and the pointer date is pretty much unique to Oris. Most watches display the date through a window on the dial but the Oris pointer date is a third arm that moves anti-clockwise around the face; the days of the months being displayed as another circle of number outside the hour marks: the end of the pointer arm being either a t-shape or the more traditional semi-circle. I own a pointer date Oris watch and am only too delighted to show this unique feature to those who appreciate a fine watch.

Without question Oris watches are top rated Swiss watches that are a desired by consumers who appreciate good quality mechanisms with simple but elegant designs. Oris watches are also reasonably priced compared to some other brands of watches and owning a beautiful Oris wristwatch is well within the means of most people.

Robin O'Brien is founder of a website dedicated to beautiful watches he and his wife own. You can get wristwatch reviews on such leading classics as Tissot, Panerai, Longines and Oris watches among others.