The letter of the law
In 1965, a young lawyer working for Oris changed watchmaking forever. This is his story.
The Swiss Watch Statute
In the 1930s, Switzerland passed a law to protect the watch industry. But in time, it prevented healthy competition, limiting innovation. Like so many, Oris found itself on the wrong side of this law and prevented from developing new technologies.
Pulling levers
The law meant Oris could only use pin-lever escapements, which by the 1950s had been bettered by lever escapements. The young lawyer Dr Rolf Portmann was hired in 1956 to reverse the statute. It took him almost a decade, but in 1965, he won the case.
The star rises
Oris was now free to innovate with new technologies. In 1966, we developed our first lever escapement movement, a quantum leap forward. And now a new watch design was needed to house it. We called it the Oris Star.
A hero for all time
Dr Portmann’s decade-long effort changed Oris’s fortunes. But it also changed the whole industry. Brands were no longer suffocated by the old law. Dr Portmann would later acquire Oris and run the company. Today, he’s our Honorary Chairman. A hero.
A star is (re)born
On the 60th anniversary of the Oris Star, we’re delighted to introduce the Oris Star Edition.
