Oris Diver's Sixty-Five Review

I’ve made it no secret that Oris is probably my favorite brand. Now that I’ve spent almost five years with the Oris Diver’s Sixty-Five, I figured I’d do a long-term ownership review of it, considering it’s my favorite model from my favorite brand. It’s a unique watch that oozes coolness, and there’s nothing else out there quite like it. I’ll share some of my favorite things about the watch below.

The Case Profile Is Thinner Than Most Dress Watches

If big, chunky dive watches are your thing – I get it. But if you’re like me and like watches that are thin and comfortably light on wrist, then the Oris Sixty-Five might be the perfect dive watch for you. On paper, the watch is nearly 13mm thick, so not exactly thin. The way it wears on wrist, however, is very svelte and feels thinner than many modern dress watches.

As you can probably see from the above pictures, much of the quoted thickness comes from the super cool domed sapphire crystal, which isn’t really noticeable on wrist. The case back sticks out as well, but on wrist, sinks in and isn’t noticeable at all. So really what you see is that super slim mid-case. Even the bezel seems to melt away, probably because of the black coating. I’d argue that the Oris Sixty-Five could be the perfect go anywhere, do anything, or GADA, watch: it’s slim and fits under any shirt cuff, it’s got more than enough water resistance (as long as you’re not actually scuba diving), and it’s literally one of the best strap monsters out there.

It Looks Good On Pretty Much Any Strap

I’ve worn this watch on pretty much every strap imaginable, and have struggled to find one that the Diver’s Sixty-Five doesn’t look good on. If it doesn’t look good on a strap, maybe it’s the strap that’s ugly. I even tried it on a Horween shell cordovan rally strap at one point, and it didn’t look out of place. Below are my three favorite combos: the oem tropic strap, oem bracelet, and finally, a Horween chromexcel strap.

When I first received the watch as a gift from my wife on our wedding day, the bracelet didn’t even exist yet. Oris only offered it on the tropic strap, canvas strap, or NATO I believe.

So the watch was presented on the very nice tropic strap seen above. This is still the option I think fits the watch best. It just feels natural. I wore the watch on our honeymoon in Rome and Zurich, and it never really felt out of place. It’s one of the best straps I’ve handled – it’s extremely comfortable, looks good, and jibes well with the watch.

Probably 90% of the time, however, my Oris Sixty-Five lives on its bracelet. I purchased the bracelet separate in 2020, and the versatility it injects into the watch is priceless. It turns it into a true GADA watch. It’s good enough to the point where I find myself being one of those mythical “one watch” guys for pretty much all summer.

It Could Easily Be My Only Watch

I have owned, and subsequently flipped, many watches throughout my time in this addiction “hobby”. Many of these watches cost anywhere from twice as much to five times as much as the Oris Sixty-Five, and yet, the Oris is the one watch that I’ve bonded with the most. If I was looking at cutting down to the bare necessities – A diver, a chronograph, and a dress watch – the Oris Sixty-Five would definitely take the slot allocated to a diver.

My theoretical 3 watch collection

The way the Oris Sixty-Five looks and feels on wrist is special, and the domed, glossy dial – coupled with the domed sapphire – isn’t like any other (modern) watch out there. Sometimes I find myself turning my wrist, just to distort the crazy Arabic numerals on the dial. On bracelet, I could easily live with just this one. Will that ever happen? Probably not, because variety is the spice of life.

Wrapping Things Up

I can empathize with those of you who do not like the faux lume on the dial, or even the funky Arabic numerals. If that’s the case, I get it – style and taste are very subjective things. To be honest, I didn’t care for the numerals on this watch when it was first released either, especially since the press releases at the time made them look very, very yellow.

After owning the watch for nearly five years, however, they are probably one of my favorite things about the watch. They look different from every angle, because the highly domed sapphire crystal distorts and magnifies them in the same way the mirrors in a fun-house distort your reflection. I find this to be very cool. In real life, they also don’t look as bright yellow as they did in the press release. They’re much more subdued, almost looking vanilla in some instances.

Of course, there’s also some negatives, one being the crown. The winding action feels rough, like metal on metal scraping. The crown itself is a little sharper than I’d like as well, but this isn’t a deal-breaker by any means. It’s not like it draws blood or anything.

The case finishing is nice, brushed on top and polished on the sides, but you notice the discrepancy in finishing between the Diver’s Sixty-Five when you hold it up to a higher-end watch. The finishing is more than nice enough on the Oris, however. Especially at the price point. So once again, this is really just me trying to appear non-biased. The only thing I think I would change if I really could is the faux lume. If they’d made the numerals white, this watch would have been a 10/10 for me, instead of a 9.9/10.

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