Oris Divers Sixty-Five 40 mm 01 733 7707 4064

Imagen: Oris, web oficial

The storyWhy this reference matters

Baselworld 2015. Oris shows a 40 mm diver copied from one of its own 1965 models and calls it, without straining itself, the Divers Sixty-Five. It wasn't the first vintage reissue the industry had seen, but it was the one that made the genre fashionable. From that point the affordable retro diver became a category in its own right, and nearly every mid-price Swiss brand ended up with one. Oris turned up late to vintage and finished by setting the pace.

The bravest decision was not to improve on the original. A maker with commercial instincts would have specified 300 metres and gone head to head with the modern divers; Oris stayed at 10 bar, which is what the 1965 watch offered. And rather than a flat sapphire it fitted one domed on both faces, with the edge distortion that imitates old Plexiglas. Turn the watch under a light and the dial bends. That isn't a flaw. That's the appeal.

In 2016 came the first bronze version, the Carl Brashear limited edition, named for the first African-American master diver in the US Navy. That started a run of special editions which hasn't let up since: bronze, silvered dials, chronographs, cases at 36, 38 and 42 mm. The 40 mm 7707 case, the one this reference uses, is still the heart of the collection.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

Forty millimetres across, 48 mm lug to lug and 12.8 mm tall, a good part of that down to the dome on the crystal. Lug width is 20 mm, an easy size to find straps for. Unidirectional rotating bezel with a sixty-minute scale. Sapphire domed on both faces with anti-reflective coating inside, and 10 bar of water resistance: one hundred metres, not a metre more.

The reference reads in blocks. 7707 is the code for the 40 mm case; the suffix -07 8 20 18 tells you it's on a steel bracelet — that's the 8 — with a 20 mm lug width. This particular combination, 4064, is the black dial on the metal bracelet. The same 7707 case also carries bronze-bezel versions, silvered dials and gilt-handed executions, so if a seller shows you a 7707 with a bronze ring, it isn't this one.

Take care not to confuse it with the Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph, or with the 36 and 42 mm cases, which share the look but not the measurements. A quick shortcut: if the watch claims 300 metres, it isn't a Divers Sixty-Five. It's an Aquis in fancy dress.

CollectingWhat collectors check

The bezel insert is the first thing to age. It scratches and goes dull with use, and there are buyers who pay for that patina and buyers who can't stand it. What does matter is that it has no knocks deep enough to have deformed the metal, because that starts to affect the action. Check the bezel clicks cleanly in one direction and has no side play.

The domed crystal stands well proud of the bezel, and it's the part that finds door frames. Hold the edge to the light and look for chips: a sapphire that shape is not a cheap catalogue part. And bear in mind that at 100 metres the watch swims perfectly happily, but it wasn't built for the heated pool, hot shower and sauna routine that punishes gaskets so badly.

On the second-hand market the limited editions and the bronze versions hold their money better than the steel reference with a black dial, which is the most common and therefore the easiest to haggle over. As a buyer that's in your favour: this is the Divers Sixty-Five you can insist on having immaculate, with box, papers and a complete bracelet, and still not pay a collector's premium.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

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Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with