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Oris Big Crown Pointer Date 38mm Stainless Steel
Ref. 00620025722
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Stepping up in the same colour and case shape
The Big Crown name dates to the 1930s, when pilots needed a winding crown large enough to grip with gloved hands. This 38mm interpretation keeps that heritage but updates the movement beneath it substantially: the Calibre 403 belongs to Oris's 400 series, built in-house to run for five days on a full wind and hold accuracy within COSC tolerances — unusual for a movement that Oris produces entirely without contracting out. The pointer date is the detail that makes the dial worth studying. Rather than a window, a central hand sweeps around an outer track, giving the whole face a purposeful, slightly architectural quality that reads differently in angled light than it does straight on. The midnight blue dial carries bold Arabic numerals in Super-LumiNova, and the small seconds sits quietly at six. At 45mm lug to lug, it fits a range of wrists without crowding them, and the double-domed crystal — treated on the inside to cut reflection — adds a gentle vintage curvature without sacrificing clarity. The smooth, polished bezel ring is a deliberate departure from the coin-edge texture on most Big Crown variants, and it shifts the overall register toward something that works as well in a meeting as it does outdoors. The leather strap uses a quick-change system, so swapping it requires no tools.
- Reference
- 00620025722
- Brand
- Oris
- Collection
- Big Crown
- Case size
- 38mm
- Case thickness
- 12mm
- Lug width
- 19mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Blue
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- 403
- Functions
- Date, Small seconds
- Water resistance
- 50m
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Black
- Clasp
- Buckle
- Lume
- Super-LumiNova
- Condition
- Pre-owned
- Retailer
- Mappin & Webb
Additional specifications
- Lug-to-lug
- 45mm
- Power reserve
- 120 hours
Learn more about Oris
Paul Cattin and Georges Christian took over an empty factory in Hölstein in 1904 and named the company after a nearby gorge. It stayed independent, and stayed in that valley, for its entire history.
Oris built its reputation on volume mechanical watches made properly. By the 1960s it was among the largest Swiss employers in the sector, producing hundreds of thousands of movements a year. Its most curious historical footnote is regulatory: Swiss law restricted the number of jewels a watch could contain under certain classifications, and Oris fought a decade-long legal battle to be permitted to fit lever escapements — winning in 1968.
The quartz crisis nearly ended it. The company was bought out of the ASUAG conglomerate in 1982 by two managers, Rolf Portmann and Ulrich Herzog, who took it back to mechanical watches exclusively at precisely the moment the rest of the industry was abandoning them.
That independence remains the point. Oris is one of the few Swiss houses of any scale with no group ownership, and it competes on value rather than prestige — dive watches, pilot's watches, and the Big Crown line descended from its 1938 pointer calendar. The house developed its own Calibre 400 family from 2020, offering five-day power reserves and ten-year service intervals at prices well below the norm for in-house movements.
- 1904
- Paul Cattin and Georges Christian found Oris in Hölstein.
- 1938
- The Big Crown pointer calendar is introduced.
- 1968
- Wins the legal fight to use lever escapements.
- 1982
- A management buyout returns the company to independence.
- 2020
- The in-house Calibre 400 launches.
Also in 6 collections
This watch appears in Stainless Steel Watches (3,102), Automatic Watches (1,425), Leather Strap Watches (998), Blue Dial Watches (837), Dress Watches (485) and Pre-Owned, Ex-Display & Vintage Watches (211).
What the specifications mean
A mechanical watch for everyday wear.
Strengths
- 38mm suits most wrists
- Sapphire crystal, which resists scratching
- 120-hour reserve survives a weekend off the wrist
- Luminous hands and markers for low light
- Sits in the lower half of Oris's range as we list it
Worth knowing
- 50m suits rain and handwashing, not swimming
Compare alternatives
Watches from other brands at a similar price, style and size, so you can see what else your budget can buy.
| Specification | 00620025722 | 34238AA61.BVA130 | R30036752 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £2,050 | £1,975 | £1,850 |
| Case size | 38mm | 39mm | 38mm |
| Water resistance | 50m | 50m | 30m |
| Movement | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| Strap | Leather strap | Leather strap | Ceramic bracelet |
| Power reserve | 120 hours | 38 hours | 80 hours |
| This watch | Closely matched |
|
Your new watch
Frequently asked questions, and things you should know about this watch
Can I swim with it?
Showering yes, swimming no. 50m covers splashes and brief immersion, but a swimming stroke generates well above the pressure that figure describes.
Will the glass scratch?
Unlikely. Sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness and shrugs off everyday marking.
Does it need a battery?
No. It is automatic — the motion of your wrist winds it, and there is no cell to replace.
How long does it run for when it's not worn?
About 120 hours fully wound — enough to sit off the wrist over a weekend and still be running.
What size strap does it take?
19mm. Any strap of that width will fit, and on most modern watches quick-release bars make the swap a two-minute job with no tools.
Will it fit my wrist?
Lug-to-lug is 45mm, which suits wrists from roughly 16cm (6¼ inches) upward.
Lug-to-lug decides fit more than case diameter does.
Is it a men's or women's watch?
Listed as men's, though at 38mm it sits in the range that suits anyone.
Cheapest place to buy
Mappin & Webb at £2,050, pre-owned. No UK retailer we track lists this reference new.
Is this available new?
Not from the UK retailers we track. This reference is listed as pre-owned only, at £2,050 from Mappin & Webb. A pre-owned watch has been worn, and is normally sold under the retailer’s own warranty rather than the manufacturer’s.
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