Firstly some background about how I ended up with this watch. Before I bought my first "mechanical swiss watch", the budget constrains kept me around brands like Ball or Oris, and that was before I even learned of microbrands like Armida or MKII or Helson etc... Nothing wrong with these brands, in fact I've thoroughly loved my 2 Balls I've owned in the past (yes I know it sounds weird
). And of all the Oris watches out there, the Pro Diver series really caught my eye. I love my watches big, and sporty, even for dressier occasions I still prefer watches that has some "sporty elements", but anyway the Pro Diver Chronograph was out of my budget and so I ended up with a Ball Engineer II Diver World Timer. This year, I needed to scratch this itch for the Pro Diver look, I was hooked on the rubberized bezel grip, ceramic bezel and case shape, so I thought the Pro Diver Date would satisfy this itch...WRONG! IT DID NOT!
2 Weeks into owning it, I felt what some owners of the Pro Diver Date said "the chrono pushers at the 3 o'clock position made completed the look". So I ended up flipping it for a loss although it was only 3 weeks old
(lesson to learn here, go with your gut, and mine said Pro Diver Chrono from the start).After flipping it, zoomed down to an AD and finally purchased the beast. So here are some pictures of it, I don't profess to be a photographer nor a professional reviewer, but I hope you enjoy the pictures and the short write up
, they were taken with a simple no frills point and shoot. Starting with the box, it is huge, and heavy, normally there's a nice feeling when you leave a watch shop with a brand new watch to reward yourself, this feeling lasted for about...10 mins before the weight kicked in and walking around the mall with the partner with this in tow was not a good idea. Here is a size comparison to a protrek I bought soon after the Pro Diver Chronograph.
Inside the big box, is a very nice "Oris" branded pelican case, and below it with the little red cloth tag, is a compartment for the documents.
What can I say, I think it was well thought out that Oris provided this little... not sure what to call it, folder thingy to keep the documents such as receipt, warranty card etc. Perhaps the world is thoughtful, so thumbs up for that.
Inside the box, placed within a hard foam cut out, is the "official guaranty" not sure if that's the right choice of words, but it seemed like more of a little story book about the "origins" and who's the ambassador behind the watch. Again this is a nice little touch IMO, I don't know if I'm the only one, but I just feel that having a story behind the watch is not only good marketing but gives the watch a "reason" or a meaning for its existence.
And representing this watch is Roman Frischknecht, (a last name I could never ever pronounce).
Now lets look inside the box, at the goodies Oris provides with this kit. It seems that they provide this set up for certain dive watches, like the Depth Guage or the Moonpointer, and these tools are to change the strap. What I really like about this is that, for a watch under $5000 SGD which is about $3900 ish USD, providing such tools goes a step further to show the "thoughtfulness" behind the product. I think to me, when companies do this, it's like saying "thanks for buying our watches, here's something to make your life a little easier when changing the strap". Up to now, I've changed the strap back and forth a couple of times depending on the mood, some days I feel like going on the titanium bracelet, and somedays on the cauotchouc rubber, and the tools have made it absolutely easy to change.
To change the strap, you will require 2 screw drivers on each end, one holding firm and the other turning, so to help out with this tidious task, Oris gave this... I'm not sure what to call it but one's a screw driver the other is some heavy ass stainless steel block with a hole in it, where you can mount the screw into it, and it's meant to hold the screw down on one side while u turn with the screw driver.
So on to the watch now, how big is this? Well I've read a comment over on WUS forum calling this the "starship enterprise" and while it is 51mm in diameter, do not let you put it off. Below's a pic to illustrate the size of this beast. Next to it is a Ball Engineer II Arabic at 40mm.
The thickness is... It's basically like the "BBC" (if you know what I mean) of watches to me, the bracelet alone looks like the thickness of the entire Ball watch. I've owned the Ball Deep Quest before, and damn I thought that was big, but this takes the cake.
As of now, I've got it on the titanium bracelet which is absolutely comfortable, I think this is because the links aren't sold retangular pieces but instead are like "3 in a row" which allows it to bend a little to the left or the right and basically allows it to sit snugly on the wrist. The Buckle has suffered some scuff marks from desk diving and inside this buckle is a dive suit extension.
I've read some post on WUS forum I think of people sending their Oris to get the bracelet brushed up to have a satin finish to match the case, but IMO, I personally like the polish elements to it, gives the watch some contrast.
Now as mentioned above, I said don't be afraid of the size, I've tried on a 50mm U-Boat before at the boutique and it felt ridiculous on my wrist. I'm Asian and I ain't got huge Stallone arms, my wrist size is a modest 6.6 inches but some how I was really surprise at how this thing sits on the wrist. Perhaps this is due to the way the lugs curve so much, just like the Ball Dee Quest, it allows the big and heavy head to sit snugly on a wrist like mine. Honestly wearing this watch has gotten me some stares, most people probably think that I'm over doing it with such a huge watch or either that I should just wear a wall clock on my wrist, strapped on with duck tape
But I think as with many of the guys over here, we wear watches because we like them, and I'm certainly not deterred though some find it odd, because I'm loving the comfort level and the overall super sporty look of this beast. Another thing to note is that the dial has a "wave" like pattern, which unfortunately was not captured very well in this photograph! 
A note of caution, this watch has massive presence on the wrist and if not for the rubberized bezel... Damn this fella would be dented all over. So the rubberized bezel does serve a really really good purpose.
So that sums up the watch, up till now if you've read thus far, or just skimmed through the pictures but wondered why I've not thought about technical specifications, its because that's the kinda stuff you can read on Oris' website so I see no point saying it here. Basically inside this is a reliable, and well tested 7750 movement, which Oris has relabeled it as something else. When I called Oris, to ask about whether the watch was anti-magnetic, they said it was to 4800A/M and uhhh I don't really know what to make about that but I've not seen this watch pick up or lose speed though it sits near my com on a daily basis when I'm not wearing it. But one thing that did surprise me is that the lume is pretty damn decent. I wasn't expected it to "work" at all, like when I bought my Mido Multifort Chronograph, I was pretty disappointed with the lume, but well no complains, I flipped that eventually
I do not have a lume shot with me because my crappy camera can't seem to photograph the lume properly in the dark so I gave up, but IMO it's better than the Sinn U1 when I did a comparison.Now on to the rubber strap!
It is a caoutchouc rubber strap and it does not have a vanilla scent but it does smell nicer than other rubber strap's I've had.
The clasp on the rubber strap is one of the best things about this watch, basically the first button nearer to the tip is to open the buckle and the one behind is to extend in increments to fit a dive suit. But why this is useful is because you can expand the strap in minor increaments instead of 1 fixed extension and this allows you to wear it outside a glove in winter or when the strap "feels tight" from being in the cold, you could simply slide the button 1 notch back and that solves your problem.
The buckle is made of titanium apparently, again I do like the polish components, gives some contrast to the over all feel of this watch.
A nice little touch is that there is perlage as seen in this picture below.
SO IN CONCLUSION, here's a little round up in numbers...
Box Presentation: 10/10 FOR THE PRICE, I'm not expecting a genuine leather interior but having all these little goodies, really makes it a 10 for me.
Comfort on the wrist: 9/10, one of the most comfortable watches I've ever worn because of the lugs.
Accuracy: 9/10, it's a 7750, you really can't complain much about the movement, it simply works.
Lume: 7/10, lasts long enough for me, if I charge it under a lamp, and leave it for about 6-7 hours, it's still visible, just not very bright, but 2 hours in a cinema is perfectly fine.
Functionality: absolute 10/10. This is one of the most functional watches I've ever encountered. Had they used a 7754 with the GMT function, I'd do a cart wheel back to the store to buy that. To me function > Aesthetics (yes I get told a lot that a G shock would do be good, thats how I ended up with a Protrek). The chronograph is a feature I use daily, whether at the gym, for to know how long I've parked at a car park, or just to time how long my pasta/noodles has been boiling. The bezel, is an absolute joy to use, big and gripy, but it does not "accidentally shift" because of the "rotation safety system" which requires you to pull the bezel UP first then rotate it. The numbers on the bezel are also huge and the white on black contrast are excellet for reading at any angle, I just wished they put lume on the bezel
But again, the bezel has had many uses for me, recently since I was having written exams, I used it a great deal in every paper to time my essays to ensure they were written within 45 mins each LOL!Today there are 2 versions of this watch, the more updated one as seen in below:
http://www.oris.ch/en/watches/oris-prod ... 3-7154-set
I opted for the older one because I preferred wider lugs, the older version is 28mm and more curvey than the newer ones that are about 26 if I measured them correctly. I had a chance to play with both and compare both at the AD. Furthermore I prefer the polish elements more, and so the older one has a polished ceramic bezel while the newer one has a brushed ceramic bezel. The dial layout is also different, so it comes down to what you prefer. And to me, the older one had a special place in my heart
So I hope you enjoyed the review, it's more of my personal thoughts on this, over all NO REGRETS!
I'll be here all week folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress. 
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