The world has a plastic problem: we’re running out of the natural resources to make it, and plastic we have already is often poorly disposed of, with potentially catastrophic consequences for our environment. As an example, the UN Environment Programme estimates that 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year. Plastic waste poses a huge threat to the world’s finely balanced ecosystem. The fight against this has only just begun: there is so much more we need to do.

Oris is committed to bringing change for the better, particularly with regard to our environment. In recent years, the independent Swiss watchmaker has partnered with a number of non-profit organizations with a vision to conserve the Earth’s oceans. This year, on September 14-15, Oris will continue its stated mission to behave in a socially and ecologically responsible way and to promote sustainability and sustainable causes by taking part in World Clean-Up Day 2018. This global event sees people all over the world gathering to clear man-made waste from nature.

Oris is also committed to recycling plastic before it ends up in nature. To coincide with its participation in World Clean-Up Day 2018, Oris is introducing a Divers Sixty-Five on a strap made of recycled plastic. These are further examples of Oris’s philosophy: ‘Go Your Own Way’. As an independent Swiss watch company, Oris is free to make its own decisions and to do what it believes is right – World Clean-Up Day 2018 is a clear expression of that philosophy.

Everyone’s invited – together, we can make a difference.

 

Cleaning up

Oris and a team of 1,000 people spanning the globe hit the ground as part of World Clean-Up Day 2018 

In business, as in life, it’s important to practice what you preach. Oris’s vision is to behave in a socially and ecologically responsible way.So this year, Oris is inviting customers, partners and friends of the brand to join it for World Clean-Up Day 2018, a global initiative that seeks to create a cleaner planet and to protect its future. This will be the second year that Oris has taken part in World Clean-Up Day. In 2017, 80 Oris volunteers collected litter from rivers and roadsides in the area surrounding Oris’s Hölstein headquarters. The teams were joined by Oris partners in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, who took to the beaches to remove waste from the shoreline. This year, Oris is greatly expanding its activities. Some 15 of the company’s global subsidiaries will be taking part, gathering 1,000 people to clean up their towns and coastlines. The goal is to continue to raise awareness, as well as teach and connect people in a common goal: to clean up our world.

’Oris is committed to being ecologically responsible’

Oris Chairman Ulrich W. Herzog has spearheaded the company’s vision to be social, economically and ecologically responsible. Here he explains his motivation

Why does Oris work with conservation non-profits?

As an independent Swiss watch brand, we’re proud of our watchmaking traditions, but we’re also very passionate about bringing change to our world for the better, and in particular about conserving the world’s environment. Our goal is to protect the environment and to support other areas in the world in need of conservation.

 

How is Oris behaving in a socially, economically and ecologically responsible way?

A mechanical watch is a sustainable product – it uses the energy you create and is built to last for generations. Oris’s focus is entirely on mechanical watches and we haven’t made a quartz model with a disposable battery since 1995. Besides that, we continue to do our best to bring change for the better in all our global activities.

Why World Clean-Up Day?

To behave sustainably, you have to start raising awareness at home. So we got involved with World Clean-Up Day last year with our team in Hölstein; this year we’re expanding; and in the future this will help raise awareness globally. To make change happen, you have to change yourself first.

How will you support the event? 

Our HQ team will be doing Clean-up Day on September 14 and we’ll be focusing on an area in Basel, close to the Rhine. Beyond that, 15 international teams will be taking part, too, with around 1,000 people joining in.

What’s the story behind the new Oris Divers Sixty-Five‘s recycled plastic strap?

It’s very exciting. It’s made of a filament yarn derived from recycled PET. There are lots of positives here, not least that the manufacturing process behind it saves approximately 50 per cent of the energy used in creating the material for the first time. Recycling also removes the impact on the non-renewable energy sources from which PET is derived.

Should we expect to see more sustainable Oris products?

This is definitively part of our long-term strategy. We’ve made the first steps– last year we offered a watch box made using environmentally friendly regenerative algae, and started making watches with straps produced using sustainable leather. This year, we’re pioneering recycled PET straps. Our key target for the future is to act in a socially and ecologically responsible way, which means using sustainable material in our watches. So yes, there’s a lot more to come and a lot more to do. We’re very excited about being part of a global movement for change.

Material gains

Oris breaks new ground with a strap made from a pioneering new material produced using recycled plastic

It’s increasingly well known that the natural resources, such as oil and gas, required to produce plastics, particularly those used in the manufacturing of polyethylene terephthalate plastic, or PET, are running out and becoming more expensive. It’s also true that the plastic we’re throwing away is destroying our planet. One of the solutions to these problems is to recycle and reuse PET.

Oris believes passionately in conservation and is committed to acting sustainably in line with the UN’s17 Sustainable Development Goals. As part of the company’s involvement in World Clean-Up Day 2018, Oris is proud to announce a new version of the iconic Oris Divers Sixty-Five on a strap made from recycled plastic.

The material used in the strap is called r-Radyarn®, which is made from post-consumer recycled polymer. The versatile material is dope-dyed, bacteriostatic, UV-stabilised and certified for harmful substances according to the international Oeko-Tex Standard 100.

This delivers a number of benefits. PET recycling uses an existing material; it removes the need for further natural resources; when reworked, it doesn’t lose its basic characteristics; it can be re-used several times; and under certain conditions, it can be 100 per cent recyclable with no harmful emissions. In fact, every 1kg of recycled PET prevents the emission of 3kg of carbon dioxide. It also saves approximately 50 per cent of the energy required to produce new PET, meaning recycling conserves the non-renewable energy sources from which PET is derived. Similarly, the solution dyeing process saves water and energy consumption.

Oris is proud to be pioneering the use of this innovative material in luxury watchmaking.

Man on a mission

Oris ambassador, explorer, filmmaker and marine conservationist Jérôme Delafosse explains why we have to combat plastic waste

In your work, what impact have you seen plastic pollution have on the world and on its oceans?

I’ve been exploring the oceans for the last 20 years, and now plastic is everywhere, from the surface to the bottom of the oceans, visible and invisible. It kills marine creatures, from birds to turtles to sea mammals, and it will have a huge impact on human health very soon.

How worried should we be about plastic pollution?

We have to understand that every piece of plastic we drop in the ocean will come back to us and affect us. Firstly, by destroying biodiversity, but we also need to understand that the microplastics we throw into the ocean are then eaten by fish, which we then eat. This means human health will be affected on a grand scale.

What do we need to do?

We need to stop the production and use of plastic bags, straws, plastic stemmed cotton buds, and useless packaging. Not soon, but now. At a domestic level, we also need to stop making and buying synthetic clothes. Every time we wash them, we release thousands of microplastics into rivers and oceans without even knowing it. So I’d suggest a return to natural materials such as plain cotton and wool. At a higher level, we need to keep raising awareness and to legislate to halt this dangerous situation.

What will you be doing for World Clean-Up Day?

World Clean-Up Day is every day for me – as a citizen of the world, I gather as much plastic as I can. But I’ve also stopped using plastics in my daily life. Since I started to experience the impact it has on my own eyes, I’ve just not been able to use it anymore.

What do you hope to see achieved by World Clean-Up Day?

I think World Clean-Up Day is very important because it helps raise awareness of the challenges our planet faces, but we have to be realistic – we won’t be able to clean the oceans overnight. We really need to stop thinking that our planet is a trash can and change our behaviour. That’s the only solution. If World Clean-Up Day helps us get there, that would be great and a big step in the right direction.

How confident are you that change will come?

I often say that if I was optimistic I wouldn’t be here, doing what I’m doing, but I want to believe in humanity. I meet so many people from all over the world, who are acting for a better future, and that gives me faith that we can change for the better.

What advice would you give to manufacturers, such as Oris, on behaving in a more ecological and sustainable way?

Mechanical watchmaking is to be one of the few luxury industries that makes sense because the products are made to last. But we have to think about packaging and all the materials that are used to build a watch, from the sapphire and the gold to the leather and the diamonds. The world’s natural resources are finite.

What do you think of the new Oris Divers Sixty-Five with a recycled plastic strap?

It’s another vital part of the process of educating people about the challenges we face – awareness is key. If you purchase a watch with a recycled plastic strap and you’re proud of it, it’s the first step to change your behaviour. Then the next day you talk about it with your friends. That’s all helpful. I like to think of it as a citizen watch and I’m really pleased to support the story and to be wearing one myself.

Oris Divers Sixty-Five with a recycled strap

Oris presents a special edition of the Oris Divers Sixty-Five on a r-Radyarn® strap, a material made from recycled plastic

In detail

Case: Multi-piece stainless steel case with satin and polished finishes, uni-directional bezel with aluminium insert

Size: 42.00 mm, 1.654 inches

Dial: Dark blue with 4N hands and indices

Strap: Blue and beige weave made of 100 per cent r-Radyarn® recycled plastic, pin buckle

Top Glass: Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside

Case Back: Stainless steel, screwed

Operating Devices: Stainless steel screw-in Security crown

Luminous Material:  Super-LumiNova® ‘Light Old Radium’

Water Resistance: 10 bar (100 m)

Movement

Number: Oris 733

Functions: hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date window at 3 o’clock, instantaneous date, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second

Winding: Automatic

Power Reserve: 38 hours