Oris Aquis Dat Watt diver Review

Oris Aquis Dat Watt

I’ve owned this watch for about six months now, so I feel I know it well enough to give a useful review. Although there are a few unique features with this watch, most of what I have found can be applied to other Oris 300m divers.

This is a very attractive watch; it has garnered more comments than any others in my collection, except for my gold/steel Omega AT. So, I guess shiny things attract the eye! This watch stands up to close inspection. The case and bracelet are finished in a combination of polishing and semi-gloss mat, they’ve held up well with minimal scratches. The dial is full, but easy to read, with lumed hands and applied markers. The lume itself is bright and long lasting - one of the few watches I have that can go all-night after a few minutes under a lamp. More importantly, it’s very readable in sudden low light, like going into a dim room. The bezel is tungsten with a polished steel coined edge and lume on the 12 o’clock pip only. I like this as it is useful without looking obtrusive at night.

The complication is a moonphase hand that rotates counterclockwise on a 29.5 day cycle showing the current phase of the moon. It’s quite accurate once set and useful for those of us who live and boat on tidal waters. There is a peanut-shaped diagram on the dial and a series of consecutive circles that relate the moon-phase with tide height. It’s interesting, but not really needed, as anyone who pays attention to this sort of thing already knows how the moon and tides are correlated. There is a gradient color change on the dial from blue at the top to grey at the bottom. At quick glance, it always looks like the watch is catching the light.

This is one of many limited-edition Oris “Change for the Better” watches, whose sale benefits marine conservation around the world. This one benefits the Wadden Sea, an important tidal estuary in Europe. Fairly far from my home on the Chesapeake, but a cause near to my heart, so it definitely was a feel-good purchase.

For the watch itself, it’s a good robust diver. It’s heavy, but wears well and balanced on my 7” wrist. This might be secondary to the fact the bracelet lugs taper in width (see picture). Also the bracelet is held on by screw-in lugs with a ‘proprietary’ triangular head, but the correct screwdriver is available for ~$25 US on line, so not that much of a problem. It’s large 43.5mm width, 13.6mm thick, 49mm lug to lug and 190g (told you it was heavy!) I think comfort on the wrist is also helped by the fact the bracelet can drop straight down from the lugs. There are three micro-adjustment positions, so easy to get a good fit. There’s a pop-out feature on the clasp to allow for use over dive (or in my case, snow shoveling) gloves. The movement is a Sellita SW 200 - modified somewhat by Oris in house, but there’s a closed back, so it’s not seen. It’s a 28k movement and mine runs about +3 seconds a day. It only has a 36 hour power reserve though. I like the watch face, but for those who find it too busy, there are many Aquis divers with a simpler face.

Overall, although I’m not generally a fan of large heavy shiny watches, this one I like and its a regular wear, particularly when I want that great lume.

A good short YouTube review of the watch: https://youtu.be/6v6MIMsVnmo