ORIS Greenwich Mean Time – The Man Who Missed His Train
130 years ago and apparently thanks to a timing mix up on his railway timetable which caused a man to miss his train, the world as we now know it would become a much more ordered place when that man, Sir Sandford Flemming, who happened to hold the position of Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, out of pure frustration conceived the notion of a refined system of 24 internationally recognised time zones, to put some order to the previously haphazard system which used a local mean solar time which could vary from county to county as one traveled across the country, making the task of creating reliable and accurate timetables nigh on impossible.
ORIS Greenwich Mean Time – Man On A Mission
Sir Sandford was a resourceful individual who definitely rolled his sleeves up and got stuck in – his influences included desiging Canada’s first postage stamp – and with this new bee in his bonnet, he put his mind to the creation of his proposal to the International Meridian Conference in 1884, which voted to partially adopt his Worldwide Time Zone system, based on a twenty-four hour clock using 24 meridians of longitude to partition one time zone from its neighbour, with a small observatory town, only a few miles from London as the location of the prime meridian, and so, over 200 years since it had first been devised by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was formally recognised as the reference for modern worldwide time zones.
ORIS Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition
In recognition of this world changing development, Swiss watch manufacturer Oris have tipped their collective hats to the great man and announced a special Oris Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition to celebrate the impact of Sir Sandford’s brilliant brainchild some 130 years on.
ORIS Greenwich Mean Time – Mission Accomplished
The Oris Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition is presented in a 42mm stainless steel case with domed sapphire crystal and a solid caseback which features an engraved portrait of Sir Sandford. The large crown is typical of Oris but there are also two somewhat unusual pushers as well whose purpose is to easily flit between time zones by advancing or regressing the hour hand on the GMT/second tome zone subdial to the correct hour.
ORIS Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition
The dial is silver in colour with applied hour markers and a waved guilloché finish. A slightly depressed ring with 13-24 allows for the watch to be a 24 hour reference without the need for an additional pointer, and the second time zone subdial itself at the 3 o’clock position has a nicely executed globe motif with surrounding numerals and a little day/night window just off centre. Small seconds and date aperture are at the 9 and 6 respectively, and the whole effect is completed with the long and shapely hands with vivid Super-LumiNova fill.
Within is the Oris Cal 690 automatic self winding movement, a modified interpretation of the base ETA 2836-2 with Oris second time zone module. The Oris Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition looks best on its brown calfskin leather strap with croco pattern and folding clasp although it is also available on a multi part steel bracelet. Swiss Retail Price CHF 3,300.00.
ORIS Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition – Box
