Oris Evolves its 1960s Dive-Watch Collection with New Divers Date

Introducing a new dive watch in 2024 is tricky business. There is rarely new or interesting ground being covered, and perhaps tougher still, many new brands see new divers as an “ante to play” of sorts, offering them simply because it’s something the market demands. That said, we are spoiled for choice these days as a result. Some are great, some less so, but if there’s one thing that sets the genre apart, it generally boils down to historical perspective. Oris has that in spades when it comes to divers new and old, and today, we’re getting a new collection based on a design first released in 1965, and it very much abides by the if ain’t broke, don’t fix it ethos. This is the new Divers Date collection, and it builds on a good thing in a subtle but welcome way. 

First things first: the Divers Date will be taking the place of the Divers Sixty-Five. You could view this as an evolution of the brand’s quintessential skin diver that builds on the modern updates we’ve seen in recent years. There are three color variations of the new model, which boasts a 39mm case, black ceramic bezel, and the Oris caliber 733 movement (based on the Sellita SW-200) with a date complication placed at 6 o’clock. Each will come with both a steel three-link bracelet and a rubber strap, both of which can be changed on the fly. Pricing is set at $2,700. (And no, there’s no sign of a variant with Oris’s own in-house Caliber 400 just yet.)

There’s nothing too shocking there, and taking a step back, this feels like something of a rest for the collection while it manages to maintain essentially the same identity. There’s a clear focus on the small details here, befitting of the $200 price bump from the outgoing 40mm Divers Sixty-Five Date. But is it enough to differentiate itself? Well, that probably depends on what you’re looking for in the classic Oris Diver formula.

Small changes on a watch like this may not jump out at you, but they have a way of adding up to make an appreciable difference. That’s the story with the Divers Date. The watch now uses a ceramic bezel insert within a more prominent bezel assembly that makes using it more natural. The case itself has been refined to provide more presence on the wrist, while the profile itself has been altered to maintain a sense of proportionality. It’s gained an extra 100 meters of depth resistance in the process. 

Moving to the dial, we find hour markers that have beveled edges to improve legibility, and a new typeface providing the signage. Most notably, the dial colors include beige and blue, and those descriptions are selling them short. These new colors lend a refinement to the design that I’ve not seen before, and set a strong tone out of the gate, alongside a standard black-dial option. Any one of these details might be easy to overlook, but together they bring a decidedly more refined presence to the familiar design language, which turns 60 years young next year. 

The changes represented here in the Oris Divers Date mark a new chapter for Oris’s oldest dive watch, but are they changes anyone was asking for? There’s no denying the old-school charm that was captured in the Divers Sixty-Five, and while that character is largely still present here, there’s a clear move to more refined territory that could be seen as muddying the waters, somewhat. In total, I appreciate the attention to detail that we see exercised here, and it will no doubt be a more premium execution of the beloved design, but I hope it doesn’t become a watch you’d want to take off before getting your hands dirty. This has always been a great all-’rounder of a tool watch, and as it pushes ahead, the roots are still worth hanging on to.