ORIS – Oris X Bamford ProPilot Altimeter “Mission Control” Black Carbon 47mm Edition - 2025 Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
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ProPilot Altimeter 'Mission Control'
Tradition and innovation collide as Oris's Swiss Made mechanics blast into the future with Bamford
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In a peaceful, forested valley some 30km inside Switzerland's northern border, lies the unassuming village of HOlstein. At one end of the village, a peach rose building that can be seen for miles around. To local people, the building is a proud landmark, and a signpost for visitors, too. On its roof, a sign made up of just four letter: ORlS. Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO This, of course,is home to the much- loved independent Swiss watchmaker.
Oris has been on the site since it was founded in
1904, and in the
121 years between then and now, it has created almost
300 bespoke mechanical calibres and countless iconic watches, among them the
Big Crown, one of the earlier pilot's watches and given its name on account of its oversized crown, designed for ease-of-use by gloved airmen.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO Through such watches,
Oris has become a Swiss watchmaking icon, winning a hard-earned reputation along the way for innovation, and for watches with thoughtful functions that deliver real-world value.
Oris watches always make sense.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO In 2014, it extended this reputation with the first Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter👇. This watch became the world's first watch to feature both an automatic mechanical movement and a mechanical altimeter.
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Others had tried, but always failed to account for the automatic's spinning rotor. Free to explore mechanics thanks to its independence, Oris found a solution.
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Then, two years ago and after three years' development, the watch was reborn with an even higher degree of innovation. Not only did
Oris increase the measurement range of the watch's signature function and up the power reserve to
56 hours, it also cased it in a carbon-fibre composite case made using a revolutionary additive manufacturing and moulding technique that had never been used in watchmaking before (see page
12).
This material delivered a number of performance advantages, chiefly in that while being two thirds lighter than titanium, it was also stronger than many metals. On top of that, each case took on a
,graphic finish, almost like tree rings. Combined, the watch's form and function made it a glorious outlier - a watch without boundaries, a watch without competition.
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So what does it do? Essentially, it does what an altimeter does: measure air pressure and gauge altitude. A pilot, a hiker a mountaineer - there are numerous use cases for the device - relies on an altimeter to record changes in altitude during an ascent or descent. In an aircraft, this would typically appear in an instrument cluster.
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But what if this could be displayed on the wrist? The
Oris ProPilot Altimeter does just that. Once calibrated to local air pressure, as indicated on a sunken gauge and read off via a red arrow at 6 o’clock, it can measure altitude up to 19,700 feet, indicated by a scale running around the outer ring dial. All this is marked clearly and legibly, and in harmony with the watch’s time and date functions. It’s a complex function, and yet
Oris has made it simple (see right).
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The secret to making the watch automatic lay in another innovation.
Oris developed a second dial under the movement, which meant the altimeter became separate from the mechanical automatic movement. If
Oris’s innovation reached for the skies,
Bamford Watch Department’s (
BWD) spin on it takes it on a voyage beyond boundaries and into infinity.
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Playing with a base palette that’s as black as space,
BWD added splashes of bright, high-contrast colours that give the
ProPilot Altimeter ‘Mission Control’ even greater legibility, as well as its fresh personality. Now, it’s a watch
Lieutenant Audley,
BWD’s fearless astronaut, would boldly wear to go where no watchmaker has gone before.
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“IT’S A WATCH LIEUTENANT UDLEYWOULD BOLDLY WEAR TO GO WHERE NO WATCHMAKER HAS GONE BEFORE”
Wrist and reward
The ProPilot Altimeter is a technical wonder. Oris product development engineer Richard Siegrist goes into the detail
Richard, tell us a bit about yourself… My name is Richard Ipyana Siegrist, but everyone calls me Ipy. I’ve been Oris product
development engineer for three years. I’m a timber engineer by
education and in my free time I like working in my wood shop and truffle
hunting with my dog.
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How did you come to work at Oris?
I’d worked in product management, but I’d always wanted to go somewhere
products are developed. When this job came up, I took the chance and
applied. I didn’t come from watches, so I brought new perspectives and
ideas. Personally, the challenge of working with such a small product
with so much emotion was very intriguing.
What does your role at Oris involve?
I’m responsible for “materials” and coming up with new and innovative
production processes, and materials or special coatings that can be
applied to watch cases, dials, bracelets or even packaging.
Sustainability is at the centre of it. My work provides material for the
designer to use. If we have something interesting, the first question
is always:
“Where can we apply this and how does the customer benefit from it?” But because we’re working to such exact tolerances, sometimes good ideas have to be let go.
If a designer has designed something you think is impossible to deliver, what then?
That doesn’t really happen, because what do comes first. It’s then my
job to explain to the designer the possibilities and also the
limitations of, for example, a specific new case material. We work very
closely, so we have a constant exchange on every project.
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The new ProPilot Altimeter is an interesting case study: first, what does it do? It has an integrated altimeter, which means you can read the altitude up to
19,700 feet or
6,000 metres
from the dial. Once you calibrate it correctly, you can check your
altitude at any time. And of course, it’s a watch that shows the time
and date, too.
And what’s new about it? We wanted to evolve the existing model by increasing the altitude range from 4,500 metres to 6,000
metres, while also making the case slimmer and lighter. It took three
years to develop, and it was complex! The solution was an updated
pressure box that can show the range within 1.5 rotations of the
indicator hand. We also introduced a thinner automatic movement with a
56-hour power reserve, Oris Calibre 793,
and housed it in a unique carbon-fibre composite material case with a
titanium bezel and case back. The carbon composite is two thirds lighter
than titanium. The result is a watch with improved performance that’s
also 1mm slimmer than the previous model and 70 grammes lighter. At 47 mm,
it’s still a substantial watch, but we’ve created a beautifully
balanced tool that works even on a smaller wrist. Of course, there are
electronic altimeters out there, but this is all about the joy of
mechanics!
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How easy is the function to operate? Once you’ve calibrated the scale to the altitude where you are, you simply read the height from the dial – so it’s very easy.
Does anyone else do something similar?
No, we’re still the only watch company that has managed to put an
automatic movement and a mechanical altimeter in a single watch. There
are other mechanical watches with an altimeter function, but they’re
always hand-wound to avoid a rotor and therefore be able to connect the
pressure box with the dial on top by going through the movement.
Oris
took another path by developing a second dial underneath the movement,
which meant we could separate the altimeter from the mechanical
automatic movement.
Who would you say this watch is for?
It’s for outdoor fans, who like to go hiking and be in the mountains;
for pilots and aviation enthusiasts; and last but not least for “technical nerds”, who appreciate the ingenuity in this high-functioning watch.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Collection: ProPilot
🤝 COLLABORATIONS:
Model: Oris X Bamford ProPilot Altimeter “Mission Control” Carbon Case 47mm
The ProPilot Altimeter ‘Mission Control’ is the only watch in the world
(or space) with an automatic mechanical movement and a mechanical altimeter.
It has a carbon-fibre composite case and an altitude scale in feet
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
Reference 01 793 7775 8724-Set
Movement
Automatic Calibre Oris 793-1 base SW 300-1
Dimensions Ø 25.60 mm, 11 1/2’’’
Winding Automatic winding
Power-Reserve 56 hrs
Vibrations 28’800 A/h, 4 Hz
Jewels 25
Functions
Hours, minutes and central sweep seconds hands, date with quick setting, stop second device, date window at 3 o’clock
Operating devices
- Grey PVD-plated titanium screw-in security crown at 2 o’clock
- Grey PVD-plated titanium screw-in altimeter crown at 4 o’clock
CaseSingle-piece carbon fibre case
Grey PVD-plated titanium bezel
Diameter: 47.00 mm (
1.85 inches)
Thickness: 16.70 mm
Lug to lug: 55.00 mm
Top glass: Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating on both sides
Case back: Grey PVD-plated titanium, screwed, feet-to-metre conversion chart engravings
Water resistance: 10 bar (
100 metres)
DialBlack with yellow, lime and red detailing, altitude scale on outer dial ring in feet
Luminous material Indices, numbers and hands printed with Super-LumiNova®
Top glass Sapphire, domed on both sides
Strap/Bracelet Black textile strap with yellow and green leather lining.
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