At my rather hippie-dippie public elementary school, the entire student body performed an ocean conservation-themed musical number every year in a school-wide assembly. We decorated hats for different ocean ecosystems, and music was provided by a local band that had certainly shared a smoke with Steve Miller back in the day. It was my favorite event of the school year and while each grade level performed their own song, I most remember the “California Sea Otter” song assigned to fourth graders: a surfer-inspired romp through California kelp forests and the critters within. If you’re yelling, “get back to watches” at the screen right now, don’t worry—Oris has your back. In tune with their history of ocean conservation-benefitting models, the new Kelp Forest Limited Edition Aquis Date diver finally gives the spotlight to one of the under-appreciated and most vital aquatic biomes.
Oris is no stranger to beefy dive watches, and the Kelp Forest Edition is based on the brand’s excellent Aquis Date model, with a 41.5mm case diameter. It boasts a properly robust 300 meters of water resistance and a unidirectional bezel, giving it legitimate diver pedigree beyond just the style. A screw-down crown and sleek tapered three-link bracelet with brushed and polished finish make it an elegant but heavy-duty piece. The Oris Calibre 733 movement inside allows for a day-date function and 41 hours of power reserve. It’s a properly beefy beast at 12.9mm of thickness and 49mm lug-to-lug width, but the Aquis Date has always been a doer rather than shelf candy. Still, Oris offers many colorful models, with the Kelp Forest being the latest to take the all-business template and give it some thematic flair.
Taking direct inspiration from the verdant shades of the kelp forest, the bezel is a lovely deep green, while the hands and indices are outlined in gold and coated with Super-LumiNova for visibility. The star of the show, though, is the dial—3D-printed and textured, it bears shades of green and gold to mimic the movement and color variation of kelp beneath the waves. It really is an evocative pattern, and instantly calls to mind its source of inspiration, which is a feat not to be sneezed at in a horological market oversaturated with ocean-themed dive watches. It’s refreshing, literally and figuratively, to see a diver tackle a theme that is undeniably aquatic, but not blue. And it’s not just for show: kelp forests are incredibly vital for the world’s oxygen supply, and are sadly being drastically affected by climate change. The Kelp Forest Edition aims, like Oris’ other conservation-themed watches, to bring attention to a massively impactful but oft-forgotten corner of the world ecosystem. “Underwater deforestation” (or the removal of kelp from the seabed by its roots) is an incredibly harmful practice being pursued in kelp forests across the world, from New Zealand, to South Africa, to Chile. By partnering with conservators like Oris ambassador and underwater photographer Francis Perez, the brand hopes to not just bring awareness to the damage being done to our oceans, but also inspire people to take a real stand in protecting vulnerable ecosystems like kelp forests across the world.
An engraved caseback caps off the Kelp Forest Edition, with a relief of a kelp cluster and a number plate denoting the limited run of 1000 watches. It’s a dignified final touch on a timepiece that means a little more than just its form or function. The Oris Aquis Date Kelp Forest Limited Edition is available now, and retails for $2,950. Oris
