Oris rolled out three versions of the ProPilot X Calibre 400 in 2022, and this is one of those iterations. While in some ways, name included, a continuation of the ProPilot series, there are some serious deviations in this package that really question the categorization of it as a pilot’s watch.

Diameter: 39.3mm

Lug-to-lug: 47mm

Thickness: 12mm

Lug width is: 19.5mm

The watch has 100 meters of water resistance.

If one word were to be used to describe this watch I think it would be industrial. There are no polished surfaces, everything has a matte look. The bezel has angled cuts to it, mimicking a jet turbine, and giving the watch a far more aggressive look than a traditional coin-edged bezel. The case sides go straight down but the lug tips slope down. The tops of the lugs are flat. The watch case is made out of titanium, as is the bracelet. The bracelet features quite angular links which really allow it to play with the light albeit in a muted way given the brushed metal. Sadly, there is no microadjust, though the bracelet links aren’t particularly large so I did not struggle finding a good sizing. The clasp is surprisingly chunky compared to the rest of the bracelet, mimicking a seatbelt you’d find as a passenger on a commercial jet. The watch has a signed crown at the 3 o’clock position which is well grooved and easy to grip due to its large size, and is flanked by relatively small crown guards.

Moving to the dial, which is protected by a sapphire crystal with AR coating on the inside, we see something far more muted and sterile when compared to the aggressive design language of the case. The dial is a matte grey that matches well with the titanium case. The watch markings are in black, and at the 6 o’clock position is a black date wheel with white numerals. I don’t find this as good as a color-matched date window but the black does integrate well given it is the accent color used elsewhere on the dial. The 12 o’clock is noted with double stick markers, and single stick markers identify all the other hours (a truncated one at the 6 o’clock due to the date). Smaller markings closer to the edge identify each minute. Below the 12 o’clock markers is the word Oris, and above the 6 o’clock position is ProPilot X and 5 Days, the latter referring to the duration of the movement’s power reserve.

The watch hour/minute hands are in the pencil style and do feature lume. There is also lume on the minute markers that tie to each hour, but in all instances the lume is extremely poor. I assume this is due to the decision to color the lume black, which looks great with the watch in daylight but results in some pretty pitiful lume quality even freshly charged.

The crown offers four positions. In position zero the crown is screwed down and the watch has its 100m of water resistance. In position one the watch can be hand-wound. In position two you can turn the crown quick-set the date. In position three the watch hacks and the time can be set.

Flipping the watch over you can see another the watch has a display caseback showing off the Calibre 400 movement. This is an automatic, in-house movement by Oris that beats at 4 Hz, has 21 jewels, and offers approximately 120 hours of power reserve. The movement finishing is perhaps best described as industrial. It looks better than something undecorated but is nothing to write home about.

Putting this watch on my timegrapher I get an average across all six positions of +5.16 seconds per day. The range of readings was 0 seconds per day to +9 seconds per day. As such, rounding to the nearest second my watch does stay just within the advertised accuracy of -3 to +5 seconds per day. The movement also is expected to only need servicing every ten years, one of the longest durations in the industry.

My overall thoughts:

The positives:

• Good accuracy with an impressive power reserve

• Lightweight

• Suitable for a lot of different situations (a GADA watch)

• Limited servicing needs

The negatives:

• Terrible lume

• No micro adjust on the bracelet

• Dial isn’t really a pilot watch

While I understand some of the design elements continue on from Oris’s older ProPilot watches this really is not a pilot’s watch. The dial isn’t designed for ease of reading (for example, no Arabic numerals), it isn’t a flieger format, and it offers no functions for a pilot (even as simple as a GMT). The dial is really a GADA design, Go Anywhere Do Anything, and is subtle enough to dress up or down. The closest this gets to pilot aspects is some design elements outside of the dial relate to aircraft. That aside, it's got a lot of positive aspects for those looking for something different, lightweight, and care about power reserve.