Oris is a manufacturer of Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 luxury wristwatches. The Oris watch factory

Factory

A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...

 was founded by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian at Hölstein

Hölstein

Hölstein is a municipality in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Hölstein has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 39.8% is forested...

 (Basel-Country

Basel-Country

Basel-Landschaft , is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal...

) in 1904. Oris are well known for producing only mechanical watch

Mechanical watch

A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a mechanical mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to modern quartz watches which function electronically. It is driven by a spring which must be wound periodically...

es.

In 1968 Oris obtained full chronometer

Chronometer watch

A chronometer watch is a specific type of watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards. In Switzerland, only timepieces certified by the COSC may use the word 'Chronometer' on them....

 certification from the Neuchâtel Observatory

Neuchâtel Observatory

The Observatoire Cantonal de Neuchâtel is an astronomical observatory funded by the Public Economy Department of the Neuchâtel State . It is located in Neuchâtel and was founded in 1858. Besides astronomical observations, the Neuchâtel observatory also works with atomic clocks...

 for movement cal.652.

In 2003 Oris signed an agreement to become the sole supplier of watches to the BMW Williams Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 Team. The Oris Limited Edition Williams F1 Team Chronograph

Chronograph

A chronograph is a timepiece or watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions as well as other functions. Pocket watch chronographs were produced as early as the 18th century but did not become popular until the 1820s...

 was the most successful Oris watch in 2003.

Collection

Oris manufactures only mechanical watches. Oris divides its watches into four subsections: Motor Sport, Aviation, Culture and Diving.

Within their Culture family they are famous for producing their jazz watches. These include models such as the recently introduced Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

 limited edition. Other watches within this subsection are watches named after Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, Leonhard Euler

Leonhard Euler

Leonhard Euler was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 and Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

.

Oris released a 51 mm professional diver's watch in 2009.

Oris released a new 47mm Titan `C` small seconds, pictures 47mm Titan `C` small seconds

Notable appearances

• Sean Connery wore an Oris watch in the 1983 movie Never Say Never Again
  Never Say Never Again
  Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
  
  .

• Keanu Reeves' character John Constantine wears an Oris watch in the 2005 movie Constantine
  Constantine (film)
  Constantine is a 2005 American action horror film directed by Francis Lawrence as his directorial debut, starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, with Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, and Djimon Hounsou...
  
  .