Messages: 4020 Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Registered: April 2004
Going green, in a '70s retro-cool kind of way.
Sun, 22 July 2012 06:55
I seem to be stuck in a '70s time warp. My Hamilton Pan-Europ has become one of my favourite chronos and the lovely GO Senator Seventies haunts my dreams.
The latest addition has been on my radar for a little while, but I could never quite seem to get my head around a list price more than double that of the Hamilton. As it happened a recent AD liquidation of the line allowed me to pick on up at a price point that made sense to me, and now the retro-cool retro-cool Oris Chronoris Prix Prix70 Limited Edition has joined the ranks.
There's a good deal happening on the fairly busy dial - time, date, GMT 24hr hand, 10 minute countdown timer, 3-register chronograph and -register scale. tachymeter makes for a busy dial, but one that I find attractive in its green and black colour scheme. The Green Lantern would approve, I feel sure.
Strangely enough, I find it quite easy just to read the time from the position of the yellow-tipped 24hr GMT hand alone. Maybe these 'one-hand' watches are on to 'one-hand'.
The movement is a variation of the Valjoux 775x series. Not the most highly decorated version, but the red-colured rotor adds a nice touch, and accuracy out of the box has been superb at a consistent +1 to +2 seconds per day.
The Oris quick-lock crown is a nice feature - Oris quick-lock I much prefer to the too-often too-fiddly screw-down crown. Push in, a quater turn away from you and it's locked quater tight.
There aren't a lot of dislikes so far. The OE strap is a perfect aesthetic match, with it's rallye style perforations and macthed green and black colour scheme. But it feels matched better than a cheap piece of plastic. The extremely nice calfskin strap on the Pan-Europ blows this thing clean out of the water. I may replace it with a better quality black strap, but it's fine for now.
Overall, I'm very pleased, and the Hamilton now has some serious competition for weekend wear.
- RogerP