THE ORIS 65 DIVERS WATCH | WHERE MY LOVE AFFAIR FOR WATCHES BEGAN

What better way than to learn about watches, than to start a watch channel. I've decided to do a soft launch of a watch YouTube channel. Not normally my thing. Not a huge fan of being in front of the camera. But I've always said if I made any serious money, I could also inherit a serious watch problem. I'd love to collect watches, and perhaps someday that dream might come true so why not put in the research now.

I wanted to start by reviewing my own watch. I've owned an Oris Divers 65 watch for circa ten years. Full transparency, I was very kindly gifted this watch as part of a press trip circa ten years ago at BaselWorld. Good old days.

In fact when I returned from the press trip my editor said that this watch is not for me, it's for the magazine, and that he should have it. I thought tooth and nail to keep it, in fact I don't think my editor has ever forgiven me. He certainly never sent me to any further watch exhibitions. But I have to give him a shout out, thank you Craig.

It came with a brown leather strap that I wore to ribbons. Some years later I got that changed to a black fabric strap that cost me about £100. Then more recently, a good friend of mine and fellow Oris lover, knew a guy in Vietnam that made watch straps. I got two made. This is a blue alligator skin, with contrast white stitching. And I think it really compliments the dark dial face, which is black under some lights, but I'm convinced it's dark navy. (I know it's black, don't write it please).

As I'm starting this channel, I'm also starting my journey into watches and wanted to share some of my research with you guys on Oris the brand.

Oris was founded in 1904 and named after a small brook near the town of Hölstein, where the company is still headquartered today.

Since the 1980s, Oris has focused exclusively on mechanical watches. While many brands switched heavily to quartz during the Quartz Crisis, Oris doubled down on traditional Swiss mechanical movements.

According to the website there are now 89 models of the 65 Diver. I love the white dial face - not such a fan of the bracelet on one of these but that's just me.

Things I learnt doing this article/video

While many popular, modern, and "Bond-style" NATO straps feature multiple colours or striped patterns, the original, authentic military-spec strap was, and still is, available in a single solid color - according to Teddy Baldassarre.