Oris ProPilot Date Review: The Big Crown ProPilot Evolved

The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Date has a prestigious history starting with the founding of the independent Swiss brand that makes it. Oris began making watches in 1904, when it was founded in Hölstein, Switzerland, by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian, who named the company after a nearby brook. A maker of pocket watches and, by 1925, the increasingly popular wristwatches, Oris enjoyed a long period of growth and expansion throughout the following decades and even made its own movements. Losing its independence during the consolidation years of the Quartz Crisis, Oris regained it in the 1980s, when a management buyout transformed the company and solidified its mission to make only mechanical watches going forward. Today, Oris has become a staple for value-conscious collectors of Swiss-made watches, particularly sport-oriented models.

Among the brand’s modern pillars are the dressy Big Crown Pointer Date and the more aviation-centric Big Crown ProPilot, which trace their existence all the way back to 1938. That year marked the launch of the first Oris watch dubbed “Big Crown,” named after its signature element, an oversized, fluted winding crown meant to be easy to grasp and to operate by a pilot wearing heavy gloves. The modern edition of the Big Crown ProPilot debuted in 2014 (example above), notably adding what is today one of its signature features: a knurled bezel that resembles a jet turbine. 

Oris has revamped, tweaked, and added complications to the original, three-handed Big Crown ProPilot over the subsequent years. The current incarnation actually drops the “Big Crown” designation in the name in favor of the shorter “ProPilot,” or more specifically, “ProPilot Date” in what is today its core model, with central hours, minutes, and seconds hands, and a date window at 6 o’clock (replacing the previous generation’s more unbalanced 3 o’clock date display). At Dubai Watch Week, Oris unveiled the new ProPilot Date editions for 2025 — taking inspiration from the brand's partnership with the forest-fire-fighting pilots of Coulson Aviation, which began in 2022 (and produced the special edition above). The newest models sport a “more aggressive, dynamic profile” that speaks more strongly to the model’s aviation origins. Here is a closer look at what’s new in the Oris ProPilot Date.

[toc-section heading="Oris ProPilot Date/Case"]

The multi-piece cases of the latest models retain the 41mm diameter of their predecessors, with an 11.7mm thickness and 49mm lug to lug distance, The visual lines and overall silhouette have been subtly sharpened and enhanced with satin-brushed  and polished finishes across the surfaces and facets. The bezel’s distinctive fluting is present as well, evoking the turbines of modern jet-engined aircraft. The screw-down security crown, which helps ensure the case’s 100-meter water resistance, has also been discretely revamped for easier useability. The case has also, according to Oris, been reworked with better ergonomics in mind, with a profile that wraps around the wrist for comfort. The sapphire crystal is domed on both sides and features antireflective coating on its inner surface. 

[toc-section heading="Oris ProPilot Date/Dial and Hands"]

Perhaps the most prominent updates are found on the dials, which now feature textured surfaces in black, chalk (off-white/grey, as above), or moss (dark olive green), each with details — like the hand tips, “Propilot” text above 6 o’clock, and double index at 12 o’clock — in sharply contrasting colors. The date display at 6 o’clock is color-coordinated with each dial’s color, which will impress enthusiasts who are more used to seeing “one-size-fits-all” white-on-black dates at this price point. The faceted frame of the date window is also a bonus, albeit a somewhat understated one. Oris says that the dial’s textures, which appear to have a gritty, pebbled effect, are designed to echo materials found in nature. Also slightly reworked are the applied Arabic numerals, with brushed finishing, and the central hour, minute, and seconds hands, with Super-LumiNova-coated tips.

[toc-section heading="Oris ProPilot Date/Movement"]

Beating inside the case of the new Propilot Date models is the automatic mechanical movement that Oris has dubbed Caliber 733. It’s built on the base of the ubiquitous and reliable Sellita SW200-1, whose attributes include 26 jewels, a 28,800-vph (4 Hz) frequency, and a power reserve of 41 hours. Making this version of the movement distinctively Oris is the addition of the bright red rotor that has become a hallmark of the Swiss brand, an eye-catching element that is visible, along with other movement details, behind a clear sapphire pane in the caseback. For those less familiar with the differences between Oris’s ProPilot models, the use of this Sellita-based “red rotor” caliber distinguishes these watches from the ProPilot X series, which use Oris’s recently introduced Caliber 400, made in-house and minus the red rotor. 

[toc-section heading="Oris ProPilot Date/Bracelet and Clasp"]

Reflecting the more streamlined and angular treatment of the ProPilot case, the watches’ emblematic “Lift” clasp has also been updated, with new edging and chamfering. Like the turbine-inspired bezel fluting, this clasp is an element taking visual and technical cues from the world of aviation, designed to work like a seatbelt buckle for an airplane pilot or passenger for a seamless and secure closure (no buckle tongue or holes necessary) on the watch’s suede leather strap. The same Lift clasp appears on the steel three-link-bracelet versions of the ProPilot Date, which feature the same array of alternating finishes as the case.

[toc-section heading="Conclusions and Pricing"]

Much like the very subtle but largely well-received updates to one of Oris’s other major tentpole collections, the Aquis, back in 2024, this revamp of the ProPilot Date isn’t meant to shake up the collection or shock its potential consumers in any major way, but merely to bring some much-needed attention to a line that may have gotten a bit back-burnered in recent years with the growth of the aforementioned, Caliber 400-equipped ProPilot X series. Oris has done its due diligence here in updating one of its classic models without diluting the core identity that has made it a favorite for many decades past. Pricing for the new ProPilot Date models is $2,350 on the leather straps and $2,550 on the steel bracelets. For more infomation, visit the Oris website.