Again, some years back, I was contacted by a Jeweller that had found an old watch in the back of his safe when having a cleanout. He sent me a message asking me if i would be interested in a “Crappy Oris”. (By the Way….They are FAR from Crappy watches!) As usual, i asked for a few pics which he said he would send. A few days passed and i remembered the “crappy Oris” and thought i better follow up. A few hours later i received a few pics of the watch and nearly fell off my chair! Not only was it an unworn Oris Star dive watch……but it had its original……Tropic strap, Box, Hang Tag, Instruction Manual…..and a note to the jeweller asking them not to wind the watch via a motorised device! (I was once told that jewellers used sewing machine motors to wind all the watches before putting them on display in the shop windows….i guess this was to save the skin on their fingers from winding them all manually).

I think i met up the same day for fear of loosing the watch. What a treat so see and be able to purchase this early 1970’s dive watch, that had spent the last 55 years in the back of a safe! I’m unlikely to open and service it. I would rather keep it in completely original, and as found, condition. This “CRAPPY ORIS” has found a spot as one of my ” favorites” in my collection.

The 43mm Oris Star was manufactured in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Sylvain Kocher developed this case which was used by many Swiss manufacturers of the day for their high depth rated flagship watches. Some well known examples that used this case include the Zodiac Super Seawolf, Squale, some Blancpain Fifty Fathoms models, Breil, Droz, Edox, Favre Leuba, Gruen, JLC Polaris, Longines, Nivada, Zenith and of course Oris

Instructions in English and Spanish

Instructions in French and German