Oris x Momotaro: Divers Sixty-Five Special Edition
The diver's watch dresses in jeans. As an independent company, Oris goes its own way. This year it teamed up with the Japanese jeans label Momorato. The young brand's jeans are worn by hip people in the Far East and around the world. Momotaro was launched in 2006 by Hisao Manabe and was named after a traditional Japanese hero. The roots lie in his textile company, which he founded in 1992 with just three employees in the small coastal town of Kojima in Okayama. From the beginning, Mr. Manabe's vision was clear: no compromises in quality. That's why working with luxury watch manufacturer Oris simply makes sense. Momorato's denim should only contain long-fibre cotton of the best quality and be dyed with strong indigo for beautiful colour gradients. Old weaving machines are used in the workshops to make the fabric feel like it was handmade. With this Manabe wanted to define the new standard for denim. Almost 30 years later Manabe's company employs 140 people in factories, shops and offices in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Okayama.
The model is a direct successor to one of the first Oris diver's watches from 1965. The 1960s were a groundbreaking decade for diving with significant improvements in diving apparatus, developed by such personalities as Jacques Cousteau, Hans Hass and Christian J. Lambertsen. Reliable timepieces were essential for exploring this silent world. Oris was one of the leading manufacturers of diving watches at the time.
Oris' designers have carefully revived the look of the original watch and retained some of the retro details.
With a case diameter of 40 millimetres, the "Oris x Momotaro" cuts a fine figure on both male and female wrists.
