Oris Topper Diver 1965 ‘Maxi’ Limited Edition

September 8, 2021 By Thomas Calara

 

Backstory

For the past 74 years, Topper Jewelers has been a family owned business and an authorized dealer of premium Swiss, German and Japanese watches in Burlingame, California. In the more recent years, Topper Jewelers has also collaborated with different brands such as Seiko, Laco and Zodiac, to create highly-desired limited edition watches. Their latest comes in the form of the limited edition Oris x Topper Diver 65.
In 1965, there were plenty of dive watches being produced, coinciding with the increasing boom of SCUBA diving as a sport. The Oris Diver 65 managed to differentiate itself with Arabic numerals marking the cardinal hours in a tropical design, brass casing and a bi-directional external bezel. 50 years later, Oris would resurrect the Diver 65, maintaining it’s vintage charm while updating it with the modern technology of today. Only a couple of years later, Topper Jewelers would collaborate with Oris, to create a Diver 65 that would look like a watch you’d see in their glass case in the 1960’s.

Highlights

The Topper Jewelers x Oris limited edition Diver 65 gives off an unmistakable charm, similar to when you look at vintage photos of Jacques Cousteau, topside. The dial immediately pulls your gaze in with it’s stark white indices, hands and outlined arabic numerals. The date window now resides at 6 o’clock, as opposed to 3 o’clock on it’s 1965 predecessor, giving the dial a more cohesive and symmetrical look. The limited edition Diver 65 comes in a more modern and very wearable 42 mm. The double-domed sapphire crystal sitting above the highly legible dial, pulls in the surrounding light from all angles and adds a retro distortion around the edges. This Topper x Oris limited edition Diver 65 really pays attention to detail with the matching aged luminous paint on the bezel pip marker and seconds hand, as well as adding the Oris vintage signature “Anti-shock 17 (now 26) Jewels” displayed on the lower half of the dial. 
Although this limited edition Diver 65 has vintage appeal, it is ready for diving duty (or anything remotely close to getting near the water). The watch is rated to 100m of water resistance and is fitted with a uni-directional aluminum bezel. Limited to 165 pieces, the Topper Jewelers x Oris LE Diver 65 is just the right balance between vintage touch, detailed aesthetics and modern build.