The new member of the ultra-large Oris Regulateur family is not a child of the marketing department but is indeed a professional diver’s timepiece.
One can even consider the 2008 Regulateur Der Meistertaucher (ref. 01 649 7610 7164-Set)the professional diver’s timepiece if your idea of a tool watch doesn’t limit your search for perfection to boring three-handers that look nothing more than a simplified Submariner.
This particular specimen looks like a tool not only just because a single legally sane person will never wear such a huge watch going to office or school (although I must admit, the level of finish and attention to detail are impressive,) but simply because a timepiece this large, equipped with so huge a dial with gargantuan hour markers and prominent hands may be really good to read deep underwater when the lighting conditions are especially poor.
How big is it?
Well, in its press release, Oris proudly states that the Regulateur Der Meistertaucher features a massive titanium case of impressive 49mm in diameter and 15.25mm in height with a total water displacement of 565.2mm3. The black rubber strap with a titanium security folding clasp sports a handy extension that allows one to wear the timepiece above a wet-suit.
Since its rotating bezel with the usual diver’s scale on it seems to be relatively thin compared to the Der Meistertaucher’s size, the black, high-contrast dial also leaves an impression of a vast plane with lots of dark orange Superluminova inlays on indexes, hands, and even on the sub-dials.
Speaking of which, there is a 12-hour sub-dial at 4 o’clock and a subsidiary seconds indicator at 10 o’clock.
The design makes the large minute hand look very prominent and allows the diver to easily read the time of submersion without the distracting effect of an hour hand, which is reduced to a tiny pointer.
With all these features, the dial must be legible enough even in extremely dark environments.
The screwed crown and a screwed helium escape valve not only make this watch waterproof up to 100bar / 1000 meters, but also prevent the timekeeper’s crystal from popping out during fast decompression procedure.
So, you see, the watch is serious indeed. What’s even more impressive is, perhaps, the price. Available at MSRP of $3000 (it is slightly different in other parts of the world,) the Regulateur Der Meistertaucher is expensive although the unusual design and the exclusive Oris 649 (basically, a modified ETA 2836-2 automatic movement with an original add-on module) caliber significantly increase its “value for money” rating. For this brief review, I would rate it, perhaps, at 4.5 out of 5.
Photos: Oris
See also: Favre-Leuba Bathy V.2 mechanical depth meter diver
Oris Regulateur Der Meistertaucher (ref. 01 649 7610 7164-Set) specification
Movement: Automatic, Oris 649 (base caliber ETA 2836-2,) Swiss Made
Complications: date, tachometer
Power reserve: 38 hours
Case: Titanium
Diameter: 49.00 mm
Height: 15.25 mm
Dial: Black waves pattern design
Water resistance: 1000 meters
Strap: Black rubber
Crystal: Sapphire crystal
Back: Solid, screw-in
Yep, this is me. Just had my beard trimmed.
I am a founding father of this weblog since 2008.
Bought my first mechanical watch in 1986 and it took me ten more years to realize that I have a problem: at some point in time watches became my passion. Well, it could be worse.