Hands-On: The New Oris Divers Sixty-Five LFP Limited Edition
Oris is no stranger to collaborations. From partnering with sustainability-driven Bracenet to our favorite talking frog, the Holstein-based brand has not shied away from incorporating whimsical design elements into these products.
Oris’ ProPilot X “Kermit Edition,” released last year.
Continuing with this trend, Oris has released a thousand-piece run of their Divers Sixty-Five in collaboration with France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel and the French association of children’s charities CNAPE during Geneva Watch Days. Since 2022, Oris brought on the LFP as a sustainability partner and has been the LFP’s Official Timekeeper ever since.
CNAPE, France’s National Convention of Child Protection Associations, is a federation of around 200 organizations seeking to address child welfare concerns, which the CNAPE says affects more than 400,000 children in the country. From my understanding, their primary role is in advocacy, trying to represent the issues that the organizations under its umbrella face.
The CNAPE is the LFP’s charity partner, and together they host an annual football tournament called the Tournoi des Défenseurs de l’Enfance, translating approximately to the Tournament of the Defenders of Childhood. The annual event they say provides an entertaining weekend for both children as well as welfare workers, and raises funds for the associations supported by CNAPE. This year, Oris will be donating 10 watches for a series of fundraising raffles for the charity.
Now back to the watch itself. The limited edition is based on the retro-inspired Divers Sixty-Five model, which means that many aspects will be familiar to anyone who’s seen previous versions in the metal. As an owner of last year’s identically-sized Divers Sixty-Five Cotton Candy in steel, I can say that the watch is extremely comfortable on the wrist.
Inside the watch is the Oris Caliber 733, a Sellita SW200-based movement. It makes sense that Oris kept this in the Sellita-based movement rather than the more expensive in-house Caliber 400; for such a fun watch that appeals to a younger audience, I appreciate that the price is kept on the lower end of Oris’ offerings, retailing at $2,800.
The case is very familiar, coming at the sweet spot of 38mm. Proportionally, for a vintage-inspired dive watch, the case wears very thin and close to the wrist, at a thickness of 12.8mm and a compact 46mm lug-to-lug. While not a thin watch on paper, the domed sapphire crystal contributes to that measurement, so the actual case feels much slimmer. The most debated aspect of this watch will for sure be the riveted bracelet, but it’s a cohesive part of the Divers Sixty-Five design. It’s a thin bracelet, but solid. The clasp is also quite unobtrusive and offers five points of micro-adjust.
The rivets on the bracelet.
Engraving the clasp with the handwritten script would have been an amazing touch.
On the standard models, the caseback usually features the vintage Oris logo, further accentuating the vintage design elements. But this time around, the caseback sports the playful logo of les Défenseurs de l’Enfance, as well as a mention of being an LFP limited edition and the edition number out of 1,000.
A signature design element on the Divers Sixty-Five is the relief bezel in stainless steel. Paired with the brushed finish on the top of the case, the polished elements in relief contrast nicely with the otherwise matte bezel. It’s a great way to make a relief bezel that is still very readable despite its monochromatic nature. There is a bit of play on the bezel, though the action is crisp and tactile.
But now to what truly defines this collaboration: the dial. These days, the term “whimsical” is always thrown around as we describe little Easter eggs here and there, but I think it’s safe to say that this dial truly embodies that term. Oris has truly departed from their usual branding, replacing it with a typeface that they say captures the essence of a child’s handwriting. Along with the logo, all the other printing on the dial is printed in a glossy, handwritten style, though not as aggressively stylized as the Oris logo. “Water Resistant” is done in five colors, certainly meaning a not insignificant amount of extra effort to pad print those various letters onto each of the dials. It’s a tribute to the logo used for the tournament itself.
The choice of a glossy navy dial here is restrained but logical, as this color once again comes from the tournament’s color scheme. Oris says it represents the color of one of the UN’s 17th Sustainable Development Goals. While it comes off as a bit of a stretch when explained in writing, I can very easily see this color being a prominent element of any initial mood boards they had for this design. Indoors, the dial appears smooth and dark blue. Once you take the watch outdoors, the dial shines and reveals a bit of a metallic tinge underneath the lacquer. It’s surprisingly dynamic.
Just like the other Divers Sixty-Five models, applied indices add dimension to the otherwise printed dial, with the metal surrounds infilled with white Superluminova to complement the white printing of the minute track and most of the script markings. The date window is located at six o’clock as a cutout, and while I am a fan of date windows, this is one of those times that I wish it wasn’t there. I think that the standard date printing on the disc clashes against the stylized rest of the dial text. I haven’t minded it on my Cotton Candy, but I think on this one it would have been even more complete without the date. Or maybe even just color-matching the date disk would have helped.
In bright light, you can see a tiny bit of metallic shine underneath the glossy lacquer.
Overall, I think this is a home run limited-edition for Oris. It’s playful without being too much, making it something special that you could wear every single day. Every colleague I’ve shown it to has been impressed, and I think it all stems from the level of restraint in its design. From afar, there’s no way you would notice any of the flourishes, but it’s an absolute treat once you take a look up close. I’m sure this isn’t something anyone saw coming from the brand, but I’m glad that it exists and I think it’s cool that there is a good cause behind it too. This is one of those watches that would be perfect for someone wanting their first luxury diver from an independent brand, and I look forward to hopefully spotting one of these out in the wild.
Oris Divers Sixty-Five LFP Limited Edition. Ref. 01 733 7771 4085-Set. 38mm diameter by 12.8mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 46mm. Steel case with uni-directional rotating bezel with minutes scale in relief. Blue dial with special detailing, date window at six o’clock. Hands, lollipop seconds, and indices with Super-Luminova. Double-domed sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating. Steel caseback with limited edition engraving out of 1,000. Oris 733 movement (Sellita-based) with automatic winding and 41-hour power reserve. Price: $2,800.
Hodinkee
