Oris Artelier watches

The Oris Artelier is the more elegant and, relatively speaking, more complex side of Oris, the brand founded in Hölstein in 1904 and still based there. The Artelier Worldtimer of 2004 was part of the Centennial Set Oris made for its 100th anniversary.

The watch at the heart of the line is the Artelier Complication. It descends from "The Complication", which Oris launched in 1991, in the troubled years of the quartz crisis, with a dial laid out much like a perpetual calendar. The redesigned 2017 version (01 781 7729) shows the day at 3, the date at 9, a second time zone at 6, set by a pusher at 4, and the moon phase at 12. It runs on the Oris Calibre 781, an automatic based on the Sellita SW200 with 38 hours of reserve, and brought slimmer, more tapered lugs, a cleaner bezel and a guilloché-like dial pattern. The Complication 40.5 (01 582 7689) comes in steel or in steel and gold, on strap or bracelet.

The Artelier Date comes at 40 and 40.5 mm, alongside a 40 mm Chronometer Date. Smaller Date models measure 31 mm, and the Date Diamonds comes at 31 and 28 mm, some versions with a gem-set bezel. The Pointer Day Date is 40 mm and the Small Second, Pointer Day 44 mm.

The Art Blakey limited edition (01 733 7762 4081), from Oris's jazz collection, is a 38 mm tribute to the Pittsburgh-born drummer and bandleader. Its dial echoes a snare drum, with eight indices for the eight claws that hold a drumhead, and the screwed caseback carries a cymbal inlay. It uses the Oris Calibre 733, an automatic based on the Sellita SW200-1 with 38 hours of reserve, with the date window removed, and was limited to 1,000 pieces. The James Morrison Academy of Music edition (01 733 7762 4085) is another 38 mm piece, with a blue dial, limited to 1,234.