Swiss watchmaker Oris has honoured its hometown with the launch of the Hölstein Edition 2020.
Limited to just 250 examples, the watch is named after the village of Hölstein, which sits between the Swiss cities of Basel and Bern. Once a key stopover on the route, the village was bypassed by a railway constructed in the late 19th century.
In 1904, Oris’s founders took advantage of incentives laid on by the Swiss government to bring the industry back to Hölstein and boost the local economy. Now, 116 years later, Oris is celebrating its hometown with the Hölstein Edition 2020.
The first in a series of limited-edition watches named after Hölstein, the all-bronze timepiece is based on the Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph.
The entire 43mm case, crown, pushers and bracelet are made from bronze, while the dial is gold-plated with contrasting ‘panda’ black chronograph sub-dials, circular white hour markers with plated rose gold details, and a steel case back with embossed Oris Bear mascot.
Power comes from a self-winding Oris 771 mechanical movement with 48 hours of power reserve, while water resistance is 10 bar (100 metres). The top glass is domed sapphire with an anti-reflective coating on the inside.
Oris is taking an interesting approach to selling the 250 examples of the Hölstein Edition 2020. Anyone looking to buy the £4,000 (CHF 4,800) timepiece is to log onto the Oris website, then pick the exact serial number they want. Many significant numbers, like 001, 100 and 200 have already been sold, but many others remain at the time of writing.
If you can’t decide on a number, there’s a randomiser that picks from the serial numbers still available. Once buyers have chosen a number, they have 10 minutes to complete their order. After that, they can ask Oris to deliver to their home, or to a local authorised dealer, where the bracelet can be adjusted.
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