Oris announces a new partnership with the social enterprise Bracenet, which makes accessories from upcycled ‘ghost’ fishing nets – and now, spectacular watch dials: Oris X Bracenet Aquis Date.
Ocean plastic statistics make difficult reading. For example, scientists believe the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), an area of plastic waste drifting between Hawaii and California, is fourand-a-half times the size of Germany.
That figure was calculated by the environmental engineering organisation The Ocean Cleanup, which also estimates that 46 per cent of the GPGP is made up of fishing nets that have been lost or discarded. This is particularly serious because while they may no longer be in use, these ‘ghost’ fishing nets still catch and kill marine life as they hover in the water.
Experts estimate that up to a million tonnes of fishing nets enter the oceans every year, and that a ghost net will keep fishing for 400-600 years.
It’s only recently that awareness of ghost nets has begun to rise, thanks to the vision and efforts of people like Benjamin Wenke (see next page) and Madeleine von Hohenthal, founders of our new partner, the social enterprise Bracenet.
They became aware of this grim phenomenon while diving off the coast of Tanzania in 2015 and determined to do something about it. They began making bracelets out of upcycled ghost nets, and Bracenet was born. Today, the company makes a catalogue of products and accessories that transform this potentially life-threatening waste product into something beautiful that also makes a statement: change must come.
Now, we’re very proud to introduce the Oris X Bracenet, a special-edition version of the Aquis Date diver’s watch with a spectacular dial made of recycled ghost and end-of-life nets.
Making these kaleidoscopic dials involves taking small green, blue and white offcuts and gently warming them until they melt into the raw material. As they cool, they harden into a thin sheet of material. This is then cut to size, planed, and sanded down until it’s just 0.3mm thick. The material contains no additives, fillers or glues. No two dials are the same.
There’ll be two stainless steel versions of the watch, one with a 43.50 mm case and a second with a 36.50 mm case. Both have automatic mechanical movements and uni-directional rotating bezels, and are water-resistant to 30 bar (300 metres). More importantly, both are symbols of the change we want to see.
Oris Aquis Date Bracenet Technical Specifications
In detail
- Case Multi-piece stainless steel case
- Sizes 43.50 mm (1.713 inches) and 36.50 mm (1.437 inches)
- Dial Upcycled ‘ghost’ fishing net
- Luminous material Hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova®
- Top glass Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
- Case back Stainless steel, screwed, see-through mineral glass, special engravings
- Operating devices Stainless steel screw-in security crown with crown protection
- Bracelet Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet, security folding clasp (43.50 mm version comes with clasp extension)
- Water resistance 30 bar (300 m)
Movement
- Number Oris 733
- Functions Centre hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date window at 6 o’clock, instantaneous date, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second
- Winding Automatic
- Power reserve 38 hours
- Swiss retail price CHF 2,350
- Available September 2023
