Hands-On: Oris Delivers with the New, Hand-Wound Big Crown Calibre 473

As I strapped the 38mm, stainless-steel Big Crown Calibre 473 on my wrist and began testing it out, I couldn’t help but think about my personal connection to the art of watchmaking and, more specifically, my connection to Oris. You see, I own a classic vintage Oris Star Calibre 632 KIF from the 1960s featuring a hand-wound movement, and it still keeps good time.

This timepiece belonged to my grandfather, a man I never got the chance to meet. He wore this watch every day of his life. So to me, it represents a connection to my family’s history and a legacy of craftsmanship.
 

It may be needless to say, but I was extremely excited to see the new manual winding Oris Big Crown Calibre 473. And I was thoroughly impressed with the innovations this evolving brand brought to one of its most iconic designs.

The level of attention to each detail, the engineering precision, and the self-assurance needed to keep the new Big Crown Calibre 473 simple and practical is truly remarkable. And the story of Calibre 473 is built upon the success of the Oris Calibre 403 automatic.
 

So, it has hour, minute, small stop-seconds, a pointer date hand, and a five-day power reserve displayed via a 120-hour power reserve indicator on the back of the movement and visible through the sapphire caseback. Unsurprisingly for a calibre with this much finesse, the Calibre 473 took four years to develop.
 

The manual winding mechanism is smooth and effortless, and the overall design is classic and contemporary. But for me, the real joy of wearing a manual winding watch like the Big Crown Calibre 473 is the sense of connection it provides to the past.
 

There is something deeply and unexplainably satisfying about winding the mainspring by hand, knowing that, for centuries, this is how people powered their timepieces.