Watches & Wonders: Oris Reintroduces the Star, a True 1960s Throwback

One of the most interesting things to observe in recent years among brands that have been around for decades is how they handle reissuing vintage watches from their back catalog. Often, we see releases that seem to have been conceived in a boardroom by bean counters, with a lot of concessions to the original design made for modern consumers. This usually means making watches larger than they need to be, and using newer, higher performance materials when the old fashioned ones would have been just fine. So it’s a real treat when a brand releases a “new” old watch that is about as close to the original as possible. 

That’s the vibe we’re getting from the new Oris Star Edition, a mostly faithful interpretation of one of the more important watches in the brand’s history, dating back to the 1960s. The original Star was the brand’s first watch with an in-house lever escapement, something that was only possible thanks to the overturning of the Swiss Watch Statute, a law originally introduced in the 1930s to counter anti competition measures taken by watch manufacturers during the years of the Great Depression. An unintended consequence of the statute was that it limited brands like Oris to using pin-lever escapements. The law was eventually repealed with the help of Rolf Portman, a lawyer employed by Oris and tasked with fighting the statute. Portman is now Oris’ Honorary Chairman. 

Here we have a watch that is uncommonly true to the character of its vintage inspiration. The barrel shaped case measures just 35mm in diameter, and the dial has a classic Oris typeface as well as a trapezoidal date window at 3:00, a design quirk that we wish more brands would use in their modern watches. The crystal is plexi-glass, and the caseback features an Oris crest engraving that is also period appropriate. The crosshair motif and subtle brushing on the dial are also classic vintage touches. 

The Oris Star Edition runs on the Oris Calibre 733 movement, a modified Sellita automatic with 41 hours of power reserve. Like the original version of the Oris Star, this reissue is mounted to a black leather strap (a possible negative here is that the lug width is 17mm – ease of strap changing was apparently less important in the 1960s, unfortunately). 

Pricing is set at $2,300, and the watch will be available via Oris retailers in May. Oris