Oris calls the dial color ?gradient blue,? which feels about right.

I could pop out and screw in the satisfyingly chunky crown all day long, so smooth and pleasant is the threading.

The same can be said of the crown guards, which jut out from the case without a care in the world while not quite dominating the watch like, say, the Willard?s do. To me, a big part of that masculinity comes from the angularity of the case and lugs: they are sharp and purposeful and make no attempt to hide.

At 43.5mm, this is a well-proportioned yet masculine watch that wears smaller than it reads, which is more than welcome if, like me, you?re cursed with tiny wrists. In fact, outside of the descriptive lettering at the 6 o?clock boasting of its mighty 5-day (aka 120-hour) power reserve and, naturally, the (very pretty) movement as seen through the exhibition caseback, you?d have a hard time telling the two apart. The Aquis Date Calibre 400, which Oris loaned us a few days ago, very closely resembles the non-Calibre 400 Aquis Date. Going in-house rather than off-the-shelf necessarily adds expense, but there?s a certain cozy feeling you get knowing your entire watch, and not just its exterior design, comes from one and the same shop. This has been a rather strange year for any number of reasons, but Swiss watchmaker Oris intends to end it on a high note with the Aquis Date Calibre 400, a handsome blue diver that is the first watch to be powered by its new in-house Calibre 400 movement.

Oris calibre 400 41.5