Oris Aquis Date: the 41.5 mm and the 43.5 mm

The Aquis Date is Oris' volume dive watch and has been since 2011: a steel case with integrated-looking lugs, a unidirectional bezel with a ceramic insert, a screw-down crown between substantial guards, and a 30 bar rating. This page describes the generation introduced in 2024, which is a redrawn case rather than a new watch: thinner and more tapered lugs, slimmer crown guards, a reproportioned bezel, a color-matched date disc and a reshaped bracelet. The differences from the previous version are hard to see side by side and easy to feel on the wrist.

Oris sells the Aquis Date in 36.5 mm, 41.5 mm and 43.5 mm. This page is about the two full-size versions. Our Oris brand assessment covers the company's independence, its movement strategy and what its warranty is worth.

The specification

What 300 meters certifies, and what it does not

Thirty bar is a lot of pressure rating and it is tested under ISO 22810, the general standard for the words water resistant. It is not the same claim as ISO 6425, which governs the marking DIVER'S and demands a protected timing bezel, legibility at 25 cm in total darkness, a visible indication that the watch is running, salt-water resistance, and testing of every individual watch rather than a sample. Our guide to dive watches and ISO 6425 sets out the whole list.

The Aquis Date would clear most of those hurdles on its hardware. What matters here is what Oris says, and Oris does not say it: its product pages give the 30 bar figure and stop, and the dial carries no DIVER'S marking. So the accurate description is a 300 meter watch built like a diver, not a certified divers' watch. If that distinction is new to you, our water resistance guide and the water resistance checker explain what each rating actually permits.

How a 43.5 mm diver actually wears

Oris does not publish a lug-to-lug figure for the Aquis, which is unhelpful on exactly the watch where it matters most. Two things are worth knowing anyway. The Aquis is a bezel-dominated design, so the visible dial is much smaller than the diameter suggests and the watch reads a size down from its number. And the lugs curve down steeply, which is why the 2024 revision to lug shape changed the feel more than the half millimeter of thickness did.

Even so, 43.5 mm plus a broad bezel plus 13.1 mm of case is a large object. On a wrist under about 18 cm (7 inches) the lug tips reach the edge and the watch tips as you move. The 41.5 mm is the version most people should be looking at, and at 12.9 mm it slips under a cuff in a way the 43.5 mm does not quite manage. There is a real weight to both on the steel bracelet, which some people read as quality and others as a nuisance by the end of a day. Put your own measurements into the watch size calculator, and if you are unsure whether a diver is the right shape at all, dive versus field versus dress is the argument in full.

The bracelet and the sizing system

The 2024 bracelet is better than the one before it: broader central links, more taper from case to clasp, and a lighter feel on the wrist. Rubber straps are offered across the line in colors matched to the dials, and our straps and bracelets guide covers what each material does to how a heavy watch sits.

Without the quick-adjust clasp you are sizing the bracelet the old way, by removing links, and living with whatever half-link granularity you end up with. It is workable. It is also the feature most Aquis owners say they would have paid for.

The 733 against the Calibre 400

The Oris 733 is a Sellita SW200-1 with Oris finishing and an Oris rotor. That is not an insult. The SW200-1 is one of the most widely serviced automatics in the world, any competent watchmaker can work on it, parts are everywhere, and it will keep time to a standard most owners never think about. Our comparison of the NH35, Miyota 9015 and Sellita SW200 covers what that family actually delivers, and what an in-house movement means explains why the label matters less than people think.

Its weakness is the power reserve. Roughly 38 to 41 hours means a watch taken off on Friday evening is stopped on Sunday, and you reset it. The Calibre 400 answers that with 120 hours, and adds a silicon escape wheel and pallet anchor for magnetic resistance, a stated accuracy of minus 3 to plus 5 seconds a day, a ten-year warranty and a ten-year recommended service interval. That last pair is the real argument: it moves a service bill out of the first decade of ownership.

The catch is that in the current Aquis Date line the Calibre 400 comes only in the 43.5 mm case. If your wrist wants the 41.5 mm, the choice is made for you.

What it is good at, and what is not

Good at: hard use without ceremony. A ceramic bezel insert does not fade or scratch the way aluminum does, 30 bar removes any anxiety about water, the lume is strong, and the design has run largely unchanged since 2011, which means parts, straps and a predictable secondhand market. Oris is independent and its service network is real. For a first serious dive watch it is a sensible, unglamorous choice.

Not good at: being subtle. The Aquis has a specific, slightly technical look that people either like immediately or never warm to, and the case is wide for its diameter. The date at six o'clock is small. The 733 version's power reserve is behind rivals in 2026, several of which give 70 hours or more at the same money. And the feature split across the line, where the useful clasp goes to one size and one caliber, is a decision that annoys owners rather than a technical limit.

What it costs, new and used

Figures are indicative, quoted in US dollars before sales tax, and they move with market and discounting. At the 2024 launch Oris listed the 41.5 mm and 43.5 mm with the 733 at around $2,600 on the steel bracelet and $2,400 on rubber, with the 43.5 mm Calibre 400 at around $4,000 on bracelet. List prices have drifted upward since, so treat those as a floor rather than a quote, and note that authorized dealers do discount. Outside the US the local list carries its own tax and distribution, so compare against your own market's published figure.

Secondhand, a clean Aquis Date with box and papers typically trades at somewhere around half to two thirds of its list price, with the Calibre 400 versions holding a little better because the warranty transfers value with them. Oris is not a brand people buy for resale, and our guide to watch value and depreciation explains why the first-owner drop is structural. If you are shopping used, buying a pre-owned watch covers what to check on a diver specifically, starting with a pressure test.

Over ten years the 733 version should need one service, roughly $250 to $500 at a good independent, plus a pressure test whenever the case is opened. The Calibre 400 version, taken at Oris' own recommended interval, may need none in that time. Run both scenarios through the cost of ownership calculator, because that single difference is larger than the price gap between the two.

The alternatives, and when each is the better answer

If you want a certified divers' watch rather than a watch built like one, look at models that print DIVER'S on the dial and say ISO 6425 in their documentation. Several Seiko and Citizen professional divers do, at less money, with the trade-off being finishing and bracelet quality rather than capability.

If the 30 bar rating is decoration for you and you never swim in it, a Longines Spirit gives chronometer certification and a flatter case for less money, and will slide under a cuff that the Aquis fights.

If you want a five-day movement and a magnetic shield but a dressier watch, the IWC Pilot's Watch Mark XX is the comparison, at roughly a third more than the Calibre 400 Aquis and with a quarter of the water resistance. And if you are still deciding whether a diver is what you want at all, start with whether 100 m is enough, because for most people the honest answer is yes.