Oris Gonzo watch
Geneva Watch Days ended this past weekend, and I needed a few days to digest everything. Not because there weren’t plenty of complicated watches, beautiful watches and technically impressive watches to think about. There were. But I just needed to process my faves. And somehow, the one that keeps popping back into my head is blue, furry and known for being fired out of a cannon. Yes, Gonzo got a watch.
Oris unveiled the ProPilot X Gonzo Edition during the show, marking its third collaboration with Disney’s The Muppets, following Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. And while I’ve written about both of those watches before, I think Gonzo may be my favorite yet.
Gonzo gets his own Oris watch.
Maybe it’s the colors. Maybe it’s the tiny chili pepper serving as the power-reserve hand. Or maybe it’s because Oris managed to create a Muppets watch that doesn’t immediately pigeonhole itself as a character watch.
At first glance, in fact, Gonzo is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the skeletonized dial erupts in a gradient of blue, red and yellow inspired by Gonzo’s blue fur and famously exuberant wardrobe. There’s also a laser-textured dial ring that shifts through different colors depending on the angle and the light. Against the decidedly technical architecture of the ProPilot X, the result is unexpected, slightly outrageous and, frankly, pretty great.
The power reserve indicator hand is a chili pepper.
Then there’s that chili pepper. The non-linear power-reserve indicator at 3:00 gets a red chili-pepper-shaped hand inspired by one of Gonzo’s shirts, while the usual 10-day power reserve indication becomes “10 Great Days,” a nod to his stage name, The Great Gonzo. It’s exactly the sort of detail that could have tipped the watch into gimmick territory, but somehow doesn’t. Instead, it adds another flash of humor to an already colorful design.
The best trick, though, may be what’s hidden inside the movement. The ProPilot X Gonzo Edition houses Oris’s hand-wound, skeletonized Calibre 115 with its impressive 10-day power reserve. Its 1.8-meter mainspring is visible through the open barrel at 12:00, and Oris has laser-etched tiny sections of Gonzo’s face onto the spring. Wind the watch fully and the coils tighten until those individual markings align and Gonzo suddenly appears. As the mainspring unwinds and the power reserve runs down, his face gradually disappears again. It’s a wonderfully ridiculous idea. And maybe, at least according to Oris, a first in Swiss watchmaking.
Gonzo’s face is laser etched and disappears from view as the power reserve winds down.
And perhaps that’s why this watch has stayed with me. Just as we would expect from this brand, there’s a lot of serious watchmaking happening here, but Oris isn’t taking itself too seriously in the process.
Underneath all that Gonzo-ness is a substantial mechanical watch. The 44mm multi-piece titanium case houses the hand-wound Calibre 115, offers 100 meters of water resistance and comes on a multi-piece titanium bracelet. The movement delivers 240 hours of power reserve, along with small seconds and the non-linear power-reserve display. The watch is priced at CHF 8,500.
At 44mm, it’s certainly not shy. Then again, neither is Gonzo. What I like most, though, is that you don’t necessarily have to be a Muppets fanatic to appreciate this watch. Take away the backstory and you’re still left with a colorful, highly technical skeleton watch with an unusual movement, a titanium case and a design that refuses to behave itself.
Know the backstory, however, and you get the chili pepper, the “10 Great Days,” the shifting colors and a blue daredevil who magically materializes inside the mainspring. It is so typically Gonzo. He was never particularly interested in fitting in. Neither is his watch.
The Oris Gonzo watch measures 44mm in diameter and houses the hand-wound movement, Caliber 115.
