Last year, Oris announced a plan to reduce the brand's carbon emissions by 10 percent a year for three years, and while it's a bold endeavor, it should come as no surprise. Oris has been working on environmentally-conscious collaborations for a while now, and they're back with another great one, this time with the social enterprise Bracenet. The result: two Aquis Date watches with upcycled dials made of "ghost nets" and other used fishing nets.
Back in 2015, Bracenet founders Benjamin Wenke and Madeleine von Hohenthal were diving in Tanzania when they became aware of the tragedy of "ghost nets, " the lost, abandoned, or discarded angling nets that float for centuries through the ocean and leave a terrible impact on ocean life in their wake. They began making bracelets out of upcycled ghost nets but now make a full catalog of products which transform this potentially life-threatening waste product into something beautiful.

In this case, these waste nets are used to make knobs. They're a kaleidoscope born out of small green, blue, and white offcuts, gently warmed as well as melted, then cooled and also hardened into a thin sheet of material. That sheet is then cut to size, planed, and sanded down to 0. 3mm thick with no additives, fillers, or even glues used in the process. Due to the changing materials used in the process, each dial is unique.
Those dials are placed in the Oris Aquis Day stainless steel case in 43. 5mm or perhaps 36. 5mm, both along with 300m of water resistance, stainless steel bracelets, display caseback, along with uni-directional bezel.

The watch is powered by the Oris 733, based on the Sellita SW200-1, together with central hours, minutes, in addition to seconds, a date window at 6: 00, instantaneous date, stop-second, plus 38 hrs of power reserve. It keeps the watch at a more accessible price point - listed as $2, 600 for either size - versus what they might charge for a Caliber 400-powered Aquis Time. The watches will be available starting within September of this year.
I get "dial fatigue" from some brands, regardless of how good their offerings are, but I love Oris' environmentally-conscious take on dial manufacturing. The Aquis NY Harbor Limited Edition made with the Billion Oyster Project is one of my favorites from the brand, and the Oris Particular date Upcycle is a pretty close second. This watch visually bridges the gap between the 2.
The Upcycle dials feel very dependent on what color of plastic you get mixed together, which can change the vibe of the view wildly, but the new Bracenet release will likely always land in a pretty cool green and glowing blue mix that will - while unique between the watches - will be reliably wearable. I'm also more than happy to have the Caliber 733, regardless of a relatively shorter power reserve. A Sellita-based movement and a more palatable price means that, hopefully, more watches will sell and more awareness will be raised for the issue associated with "ghost netting. "
And that was the real shocker for me. I had seen plenty of tragic photos regarding animals trapped in netting, but I had no idea of how long those nets can float throughout the ocean. I hope these timepieces will continue to help give use to "ghost nets" and even lead to more of them being upcycled, especially into dive watches.