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Oris Aquis Date Upcycle offers unique dials in recycled PET plastic.

Making an impression from the get-go, with the all-new Aquis Date Upcycle, the Swiss watch brand uses PET plastic on its dial and it is beautiful to say the least.

Oris has demonstrated its organisational commitment to environmental initiatives, particularly those devoted to the world’s oceans, in various ways throughout its product line. (The Dat Watt and Okavango Limited Editions, both released in the past few months, are just the most recent examples.) The Swiss brand has dabbled in using recycled PET plastic from the ocean in its packaging for several of these special editions, and for its latest one, the aptly named Aquis Date Upcycle, it has gone even further, using the material to create the dials.

The Upcycle, unveiled at this week’s Geneva Watch Days exhibition and offered in two stainless-steel case sizes of 41.5 mm and 36.5 mm, is the latest iteration of Oris’s popular three-hand-date divers’ watch, the Aquis Date. Like its brethren in the Aquis family, it features a unidirectional rotating dive-scale bezel, here with an insert made of scratch-resistant grey ceramic. The crown screws down securely to ensure a water resistance of 300 meters, while the sapphire crystal over the eye-catching dial is domed on both sides and treated on its inner side with non-reflective coating.

The dial itself, of course, is the star of the show in this version of the Aquis Date. Each one is “upcycled’ from PET plastic waste recovered from oceans, in a process that produces random patterns of colour that make each dial unique. No two are alike, and Oris says it is not placing a limitation on either the 36.5-mm or 41.5-mm model, with hopes of continuing to make them for as long as there’s demand. The dial includes a date window at 6 o’clock and its hands and applied indices are coated with Super-LumiNova. The watch is mounted on a stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp and a diver’s extension.

Ticking beneath those multicoloured dials is the automatic Oris Caliber 733, a specially modified version of the reliable Sellita SW200, with a 28,800-vph frequency and a power reserve of 38 hours. The 26-jewel movement is equipped with a quick-setting date function and a stop-seconds device for easy time-setting synchronisation. The Oris Aquis Date Upcycle comes in a special presentation box that continues the dial’s theme, as it’s also made of recycled, ocean-bound plastic waste material by Oris’s new partner, the Swiss recycled-goods specialist #tide.

Priced at $2,300 (INR 1.69 lakh (approx.) in both sizes, the watch also accompanies Oris’s announcement that the company has been officially designated climate neutral, with its first Oris Sustainability Report to be issued in Spring 2022.

The story first appeared on WatchTime US. 

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