I am a certified and was a frequent diver, I hold a strong interest in the technical side of diving in regards to diving equipment and its applications. As I also come from an engineering background, I am especially interested in tools and instruments so the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge immediately took my interest.
The Oris Aquis Depth Gauge reference 01 733 7675 4754 is an interesting addition to aquatic timing. As divers, we all know frequent divers rely on dive computers to monitor their dives these days. For dive trips overseas, I always ensure I have two dive computers, I frequetly dive with both computers to ensure they are correctly loaded should I need to switch to a single dive computer. The issue with the Oris Depth Gauge is that it monitors current depth, it does not track maximum depth or perform decompression calculations.
Whilst dive forums are still filled with people telling us we need to back up our dives with tables, anyone who undertakes more than a simple, short and shallow square profile knows that this really doesn’t work for multilevel profile dives on walls, sloping reefs and deeper wrecks. However, with a depth gauge and dive timer should a dive computer fail, then you have the capability to ascend and make the necessary stops to safely complete the dive. That is assuming the dive profile has been properly planned to begin with.
It is generally not advisable to allow water to enter into a timepiece case, to alleviate this problem, the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge has an opening allowing water to enter the tube. Therefore, the watch case is still sealed, the circular tube shows the depth with the water entering through a inlet in the crystal. The water enters the tube and is forced around tube, the scale on the dial aligns to the scale. The bezel has a ceramic insert to add a scrarch proof surface, the Aquis Depth Gauge has a rubber band allowing the ease of wearing over a wetsuit or drysuit.
The case size is big, at 48.50 mm, this is not a small timepiece, for all but the largest wrists, this is not an everyday wear. As Oris only produces mechanical movement watches, the Calibre 733 is a Sellita SW200-1 that has 26 jewels, one more than the base ETA 2824 that the movement is designed from. The 38 hour power reserve is sufficient, I am not a fan of these longer power reserves that come from slowing down the oscilations. The [4 Hz] 28,800 vibrations per hour is a high frequency movement maintaining a high accuracy, the movement has a Oris rotor, the finish is ok, but not spectacular.
