Oris Great Barrier Reef 3

In partnership with the foundation, Oris has created the Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III, a diver’s watch based on the legendary Oris Aquis. The new model, limited to 2,000 pieces, has a gradient blue dial and an aqua blue ceramic insert in its uni-directional rotating diver’s bezel, recalling the colors of the reef waters. Inside its 43.50 mm stainless steel case is an automatic movement that provides it with a small seconds and a circular date window. It’s water-resistant to 30 bar (300 meters).

Another watch tied to the world’s oceans…? It would be easy to write off the next chapter in Oris’s mission to play a part in bringing change for the better (it’s going to take all of us), but the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III is not just another ‘good cause’ watch.

Seen from Space

As the name suggests, this is the third watch Oris has linked to the world’s largest and most diverse reef system (it’s so big it can be seen from space, and tip-to-toe it’s 2,600 km long), but since our last Great Barrier Reef watch, the situation has far from improved. In fact, it’s got worse. Two hot summers in 2016 and 2017 led to back-to-back coral bleaching events, leaving vast areas of reefs all over the world devastated. How serious is this? The Great Barrier Reef is around 8,000 years old and home to 1,500 species of fish, more than 400 types of hard coral, a third of the world’s soft corals, and six of the world’s seven species of threatened marine turtles. We have a collective responsibility to look after it.

Fixing the Problem

Oris is not alone in recognising the scale of the problem. The independent Swiss watch company has partnered with a non-profit social enterprise set up in 2016, the Reef Restoration Foundation. Using knowledge shared by the Oris backed Coral Restoration Foundation, the foundation has begun a coral planting project off Fitzroy Island near Cairns. The program is in its infancy, but with support from individuals and companies such as Oris – which installed its first coral tree off Fitzroy Island in 2018, a milestone for the company in its mission to bring change for the better – it has the potential to make a significant positive difference to some affected areas of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Oceans Project

The Oceans Project heralds the beginning of a series of new partnerships.

The Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III has been created in partnership with the Reef Restoration Foundation, a non-profit social enterprise founded in 2016.

The pioneering organization has launched a program that will help regenerate high-value areas of the reef that have suffered from coral bleaching (an event caused by rising water temperatures) during recent Australian summers.

Effective coral planting initiatives are under way, with plans to expand.