Water enters the hole under pressure, creating a watermark that corresponds to a depth gauge. It allows water into a channel via a small hole at 12 oвЂ™clock. Oris patented the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge, its first mechanical depth gauge, in 2013. In 2009, Oris introduced the Rotation Safety System, a device that locks the uni-directional rotating bezel of a diving watch into place, preventing accidental adjustment under water. In 2004, the Quick Lock Crown system was developed, which only requires a single clockwise turn of 120 degrees to secure it in place. Since 2002, the Red Rotor has served as Oris's registered trademark and distinguishing feature. Since the turn of the millennium, the company has concentrated on the worlds of Diving, Culture, Aviation and Motor Sports. Oris made its last quartz watch in the early 1990s. Soon after, the newly formed and independent Oris SA elected to abandon quartz and produce solely mechanical timepieces in the mid-price segment. Herzog took over the remainder of the company in 1982 as part of a management buyout. Managing Director Dr Rolf Portmann вЂ“ who was instrumental in the reversal of the Watch Statute вЂ“ and Head of Marketing Ulrich W. Like many other Swiss watch manufacturers in the early 1980s, Oris was on the verge of closure. In 1981, the production of its own movements was abandoned. In the early 1980s, Oris employed only a few dozen people. Oris began to manufacture quartz watches, too. In 1970, Oris gave up its independence and became part of Allgemeine Schweizer Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG), the predecessor of the Swatch Group. Swiss manufacturersвЂ™ market share fell to 13 per cent worldwide. The so-called вЂ Quartz CrisisвЂ™ meant the end for around 900 watch companies in Switzerland and unemployment for two thirds of watch industry employees. In the 1970s and early 1980s, quartz watches from Asia gained massive market share. The company developed its own tools and machinery, and even ran an apprenticeship scheme, training 40 engineers and watchmakers every year.Д«ut then came the turning point. Oris employed 800 people across a network of factories in HГ¶lstein and beyond, and produced 1.2 million watches and clocks a year, making it one of the 10 largest watch companies in the world. The Quartz Crisis Д«y the end of the 1960s, 44 per cent of all watches sold worldwide originated in Switzerland. Subsequently, the Watch Statute was gradually liberalised until it was abolished in 1971. In 1956 the companyвЂ™s General Manager Oscar Herzog hired a young lawyer by the name of Dr Rolf Portmann who spent his first 10 years at the company campaigning to reverse the Watch Statute. Variations on this watch are still produced today.Дespite successes with this technology, Oris took action against the Watch Statute. The collection takes its name from the watchвЂ™s oversized crown, employed as an aid to pilots who adjust their watches while wearing leather gloves. Oris introduced its signature pilotвЂ™s watch in 1938, the so-called Big Crown. By that time, the company produced almost every element of its watch and clock products in-house. In 1936, Oris opened its own dial factory in Biel/Bienne. Following the death of Georges Christian a year earlier, Oscar Herzog, Christian's brother-in-law, took over as General Manager in 1928, a position he held for 43 years. Jacques-David LeCoultre was Antoine LeCoultreвЂ™s grandson and the man who merged with Edmond Jaeger to form Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. In 1927, company co-founder Georges Christian died and Jacques-David LeCoultre became President of the Board of Directors. The company began to fit bracelet buckles to its pocket watches, thereby transforming them into fully-fledged wristwatches. With the opening of the Ziefen factory and the electroplating plant in Herbetswil, Oris expanded its product range. To entice more watchmakers, it built houses and apartments for its staff, and it expanded so that by 1929 it had additional factories in Courgenay (1916), Herbetswil (1925) and Ziefen (1925). By 1911, Oris had become the largest employer in HГ¶lstein, with over 300 workers. Another factory followed in Como in 1908. In 1906, the firm opened an assembly plant and second factory in the nearby town of Holderbank. In its founding year, Oris employed 67 people. They named their new watch company Oris after a nearby brook, and they began the industrial manufacture of pocket watches. They bought the recently closed Lohner & Co watch factory, and on Jthe two men entered into a contract with the local mayor. Oris was founded by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian in the Swiss town of HГ¶lstein.

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