Dear Friends,
At this year’s Geneva Watch Days, Oris is delighted to unveil a partnership and product collaboration with Bracenet. A sustainability organization based in Germany.
Ocean plastic statistics make for difficult reading. For example, scientists believe the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), an area of plastic waste drifting between Hawaii and California, is four and-a-half times the size of Germany. That figure was calculated by the environmental engineering organization 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 tons 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 and Madeleine von Hohenthal, founders of our new partner, the social enterprise Bracenet.
Today, 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 clippings from ghost nets 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 are 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.
The new Oris X Bracenet is based on the ever-popular Oris Aquis Diver’s watch. It’s available in two sizes, 43.5mm model, or a 36.5mm version, both encased in stainless steel. Both Oris x Bracenet Aquis models are available now and priced at $2,600 USD, 3,500 CAD. We invite you to discover the press release and assets below.
A limited number of samples are available for hands-on photography and review. Don’t hesitate to reach out if we can be of any assistance.
Any potential editorial coverage is highly appreciated and thank you for your continued support of Oris.
Best regards,
Josh and the Oris Team
