Introducing: The Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition, A Bronze Version Of The Divers Sixty-Five

You may be familiar with the Oris Divers Sixty-Five, the retro-designed diving watch for under $2,000 that we have talked about here before. Today we bring to you a limited-edition version in bronze. The watch commemorates the U.S. Navy’s first African-American master diver, Carl Brashear.

The Divers Sixty-Five is a classic diving watch with a unidirectional bezel. This limited-edition version is identical to the original Divers Sixty-Five in function, but with applied dot indexes, a bronze bezel and case (with stainless-steel back), and blue dial. However, the most remarkable thing about this watch is not the appearance, but the backstory of Carl Brashear.

You may be familiar with Brashear’s story from the 2000 movie Men Of Honor, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Brashear joined the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17 and graduated from the prestigious diving program in 1956, despite much adversity. Later in 1966, he lost the bottom half of his left leg during an exercise to recover a hydrogen bomb lost off the coast of Spain in the aftermath of a collision between a B-52 bomber and an aerial tanker during a refueling exercise. Despite the injury, and despite a very prolonged recovery, Brashear became the Navy’s first amputee diver (he was re-certified in 1968) and received the honor of Master Diver in 1970.

Oris has chosen to commemorate Brashear, who passed away in 2006, by creating a watch using bronze – a metal associated with vintage diving helmets. Bronze is traditionally valued for marine applications because the copper in bronze readily forms a patina that protects the underlying metal from corrosion; a patina will naturally form on the case of a bronze watch, with each patina having a unique appearance. (Such patinas can, however, stain or discolor skin if in direct contact with the body, which is why bronze watches generally have a stainless steel or titanium case back.) The watch is 42 mm in diameter (as opposed to the 40 mm case of the standard Divers Sixty-Five) and is made in a limited run of 2,000 pieces. The automatic movement is an Oris Caliber 733 based on Sellita SW200, with date.

The Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition retails for CHF 2,600. For more information on Oris, visit their website here.

The Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition, 2000 pieces worldwide. Bronze unidirectional 60-minute bezel and case; stainless-steel back; screwed-down bronze crown. Dark blue dial with applied rose-gold indices. Water resistance 10 bar/100 meters. Movement, Oris caliber 733 based on the Sellita SW200.