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 Oris Watches- The TT1

Oris watches come from a background of traditional watches. However, over the last thirty years Oris has rid itself of this image and is now a major player in the design and manufacture of modern sports and divers' watches.

The following reviews are brief but, hopefully, will give you some idea as to what you get when you buy an Oris Williams F1 Team watch.

There are three basic models; the Worldtimer; the Chronograph; and the Day Date.

The Oris TT1 Day Date has the cleanest lines of all three models. It has a 42 mm stainless steel case with vulcanized rubber bezel. The dial is a black printed carbon fiber structure. The hour and minute hands look like 2 silver double-edge knives. The indices are also silver and with arabic numbers at the 12, 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock positions. The remaining indices form, I think, the best feature of the TT1 collection, in that they reciprocate the shape of the hour and minute hands of the watch. The date and day function is found at the 6 o'clock position. The Oris TT1 Day Date comes with either black rubber or stainless steel straps. I feel that the rubber strap complements the dial better than does stainless steel. Finally, the watch has an automatic movement.

The Oris TT1 Worldtimer simultaneously displays two world time zones - the second being displayed in a sub-dial at the 3 o'clock position. The dial is the same black painted carbon fiber as the TT3 Day Date. The size of the case is also 42 mm and you also get the vulcanized rubber bezel. The hour and minute hands are identical to those of the TT3 Day Date model. What differs are the indices; there are no numerals - all indices are reciprocal shapes of the minute hand. The indices really are the best feature of this watch. Unlike, the Day Date watch, TT3 Worldtimer does not feature a full-sized second hand. What you do get is a second sub-dial at the 9 o'clock position that houses a small second hand. Personally, I would have preferred if the second hand was the same as that found in the TT3 Day Date watch. Again, you get a choice of either a black rubber or stainless steel strap; stick with the rubber strap.

The Oris TT3 Chronograph comes, like the others, with an over-sized case, vulcanized rubber bezel and black painted carbon fiber dial. The case is slightly larger at 42.5 mm. There are no Arabic indices just like the Worldtimer. The center hands are for minutes and chronograph 1/4 seconds. There are 3 subsidiary dials at the 12 (30 minutes), 6 (12 hour) and 9 (continuous seconds) o'clock positions. There is a date window at the 3 o'clock position. Again, get the rubber, not steel strap.

The TT3 Chronograph is the most stylish of the three watches on offer from Oris and is the model I would recommend. Its sleek, modern design is as good as other, more expensive brands of Chronograph sports watches.