Akin to both the most basic of objects and the most singular yet timeless of creations, a good watch deserves to be resketched and reimagined on a regular basis in order to make it safely jump into the next generation of enthusiasts. And to regain a secure footing in the world of car analogies, we could say that the iconic Ford Mustang was significantly redesigned every decade or so, changing its profile and dimensions, redesigning its front and rear ends, break lights and front lights, as well as the shape of the hood and window dash. But at its core, the Mustang remained a Mustang, with a roaring engine and peak performances, so that it could continue to be a staple of the American automotive industry since 1964. And so it is with timekeeping devices, but frankly, most brands get it wrong as with X iteration of the collection they eventually drop its soul onto the factory floor and poof, just like that, its essence is gone. With great history comes great responsibility and the challenging task of constantly upgrading an icon of horology. 

In my humble but growing experience of Oris, I feel confident telling you that the Swiss brand created a juicy recipe to bridge the gap between the then and now, managing to make the 1938 Big Crown Pointer Date live on through today whilst regularly adding new members to its professional line of pilot watches. Thus was born the ProPilot in 2014 and several of its siblings afterward, and today the newest addition to the fascinating family of high-grade aviation watches in a redesigned and re-energized ProPilot Date collection for 2025. Thus far then Oris has been successful in reshaping the ProPilot while preserving its core identity, indeed akin to Ford’s Mustang or even the most classical piece of garment or jewelry. It is an icon, it is a classic, and it comes in three dial variations and two fastening options. In an un-Mainspring-like fashion we won’t be looking at the black dial version today but instead at the moss one, the ref. 733 7805 4167-07 8 20 04LC. Understand this: this ProPilot is not a B Face but a new album. 

Specifications

In our first discovery of the Oris Big Crown ProPilot in May of this year, we played it safe: gray dial, polished hands, and white painted numerals. We basked into this model’s superb monochromatic soul because it represented the ideal character for a professional tool watch. Legible, to the point, and as robustly made as it is visually purpose driven. So when Oris said they have three versions of the new ProPilot Date to choose from for this review—black, moss, and chalk—, we had to spice things up a bit and opted for the second option. As moss (green) is a natural occuring color we mostly associate with (at least I do) field watches, picking this variant then felt like a bit of a welcome challenge. What was also challenging and beyond my area of expertise was to handle photographing the dial protected by a double-domed sapphire crystal which, under studio and natural light, reflects direct light akin to the highest grade of diamond despite its inner anti-reflective coating. But already we find Oris, as always, doing the opposite of cutting corners with the mechanics of the ProPilot Date. 

And as they did 80 years ago and as they still to today, pilot watches are more often than not accompanied with a 40+ mm diameter case so that the dial opening can be expansive enough to give each element inhabiting it ample space to exist and co-exist with one another in perfect horological harmony. Though Oris paired a therefore 41mm in diameter with a 49mm lug-to-lug (which is 1mm shy of the maximum L2L distance for my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist), a thickness of 11.70mm, and a lug width of 22mm. Even though the case is a tad large as defined by the Watch Wisdom of the past two years, the ProPilot Date wears like a comfortable piece of professional equipment thanks to a modest thickness. So it wears wide and flat and comes with a more than decent 100 meters of water resistance thanks to the iconic oversized pilot screw-down crown and case-back. The latter is equipped with a central piece of sapphire so that we can see the Oris Caliber 733 (4Hz/41 hours of power reserve) inside with its distinct red painted rotor. 

Moreover, and keeping in mind that this new Oris ProPilot Date is a professional-grade tool watch as its forebears were, it is endowed with generous applications of green-glowing SuperLuminova (I assume C1) on the tip of each hand and painted rectangular elements marking each hour, doubled and dyed orange at the twelve. (The color combinations on the black and chalk variants are slightly different but equally darn good looking and effective at creating contrast and therefore ensuring superlative legibility.) And lastly, the fastening mechanisms: either a color-matched suede strap equipped with Oris’ proprietary airplane seat-buckle-like “LIFT” clasp or a three-piece stainless steel bracelet equipped with the same bespoke clasp. All in all then, a very neat horological package which will set you back CHF 1’950/$2,340 USD  on the strap and CHF 2’150/$2,680 USD on the bracelet. 

Design

The new album aspect of this 2025 ProPilot Date however stems from its new face and not from its engine, however good the latter is. And already I will tell you that Oris must have locked up its designers in a retreat cabin for quite a long time to have been able to give the legendary ProPilot a tasteful facelift. At its core and looking first at its case we mostly see a similar watch as we find the same jet-turbine-like knurling on the bezel and brutalist angular case profile, with slanted lug ends and slab-sided flanks. But looking in more closely and looking at the watch for a longer period of time—as we would at the most beautiful painting at the Louvre—we notice a few discreet yet powerful differences: polished chamfers at the bottom of the mid-case pushing further in the jet-turbine design found on the case-back, thinner lugs which come with a more aggressive profile, more prominent undercuts below the bezel at the three and nine, and therefore an overall more sportive character. 

Then looking at the dial we are met with one of the best examples of thoughtful horological redesign as Oris managed to strike the perfect—yet ultra thin balance—of preserving the collection’s essence whilst giving it a new character. More specifically: we still find the same winning combo of large hands and large applied hour markers, but here the hands were reshaped—the hour and minute hands into aggressive darts with small dashes of lume at their ends (though which glow brightly when light has retired), and a thicker seconds hand which goes well with the professional theme of the dial. On this version the hands are painted black to pop from the matte and textured moss-green dial yet preserve their utilitarian soul for being so perfectly proportioned to the hour markers. The latter are still applied but now made of brushed metal so that they come with a matching utilitarian aspect complementing that of the whole hands and dial ensemble. Indeed it feels familiar yet different akin to the latest Mustang. 

However, we have yet to talk about the two most prominent changes in the 2025 ProPilot Date revisited design language: the chapter ring (and dial finish) and date aperture. Where on the version of the ProPilot we looked at earlier this year the dial was composed of a flat and matte gray finish, here the dial boasts a deeply textured finish inhabiting both the main dial surface and raised chapter ring, which endow the latest version of the ProPilot with a more distinct utilitarian aspect. Set against it, the applied and brushed numerals appear to be levitating above the melted-plastic like dial which makes for a superb visual effect. And so the minute track and lumed markers are located on the raised portion of the dial which is complemented by a cog-like pattern where little ridges overlook the main dial to put emphasis on the hour markers. Lastly, the date aperture was moved from the three to the six, beveled still but more deeply set, and made of black-printed numerals on a color-matched date disc. 

The Heart of the Matter

As I hope it is the case for you as it is for me, I find it evident that Oris put a tremendous amount of effort into breathing a new life into the ProPilot line with this new 2025 edition. In many aspects, it is the stereotypical Oris professional-grade pilot watch which boasts a banquet-like list of specifications and a bespoke design proper to the Swiss brand. The magic however is the brand’s aforementioned juicy recipe to revisit and recreate its own classics, adapting each new generation to the next decade’s aesthetic zeitgeist, and managing to preserve the core design elements which created the original version. Doing so and doing it well is indeed difficult and challenging, and only a brand like Oris could have pulled it off as one needs to be both aware of its own heritage and essence, and at the same time bold enough to make the necessary tweaks to provide us watch enthusiasts with an upgrade worthy of our over-stilumated attention. If I had the required amount of money laying around to move a ProPilot Date into my collection, I surely would do so. 

Conclusion

All three new versions of this iconic pilot watch are readily available on the brand’s website since yesterday, November 19, 2025, at the aforementioned prices of CHF 1’950/$2,340 USD  on the strap and CHF 2’150/$2,680 USD on the bracelet. Whichever colorway your horological heart might be swayed by, and whichever fastening option you would opt for, you would certainly be adding a singular piece of professional-grade Swiss utilitarian horology to your watch box with the ProPilot Date 2025. As I’ve said before, it is a privilege for me to be able to study several collections of a brand, and even more so when said collections grow and evolve over time with such intensity and audacity as Oris knows how to. In other words, this is a cool watch made by a cool brand and I hope to be able to tell you about upcoming models very soon.

Thanks for reading.