# Who owns ORIS?



## ridgeline (Jul 8, 2014)

Greetings all, 

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster here on WUS, I really enjoy reading this forum. I'm interested in Oris watches and was curious if anyone here knew who owns Oris at a corporate level. From what I've read online, they look to still be a private company. Thanks in advance for your replies! 

Cheers.


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## Drop of a Hat (Dec 16, 2011)

VJ Geronimo has something to do with high level ownership. Great great guy. Met him on one or two occasions. 

"He's just a witness"


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## ridgeline (Jul 8, 2014)

Well, after some more digging (found on their own site no less) it would appear that Oris is still an independent brand.

5. Independent - Philosophy - Oris - Purely mechanical Swiss watches.


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## sticky (Apr 5, 2013)

Oris make quite a big deal about still being an independent company.


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## BrentYYC (Feb 2, 2012)

In the 1960's, Oris was one of the 10 largest watch companies in the world, producing high quality watches while being independently owned. In 1970 the private owners sold the company to Swiss holding company ASUAG, which later merged with another holding company SSIH to form the company we now know as Swatch Group. At that point, Swatch Group started to 'dumb down' the Oris brand, turning it into a manufacturer of quartz watches and positioning it lower that its previous brand status. In 1982, two company executives who didn't like the direction Swatch was taking with the company (Rolf Portmann and Ulrich Herzog), bought Oris from Swatch with the intention of returning it to being a manufacturer of mechanical watches, only, and re-establishing the brand image after being trashed by Swatch for over a decade. The company had once again become an 'independent', privately owned brand. By 1992 the company was again manufacturing only mechanical watches and since then has launched a broad line of innovative designs as well as a variety of limited editions. 

So there you have it, the ownership question answered, wrapped in a little history about the modern years of the company.


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## ridgeline (Jul 8, 2014)

BrentYYC said:


> So there you have it, the ownership question answered, wrapped in a little history about the modern years of the company.


Thank you very much for sharing that information, I really appreciate it!


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## 2.7Tallroader (Jun 28, 2014)

I purchased my first Oris in 1995. It was an Oris Complication. Although it was a small diameter (in my opinion) it was a well made watch with a lot of attention to detail. The only issue was the 18000 or so VPH. Although this wasn't such a big concern for me. The new movements are much better and more accurate.


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## watch_rookie (Nov 14, 2013)

Thanks for the info BrentYYC!

I too, after gettin the GP70 LE, fall in love with the brand and went on to get a worldtimer classic which is a great jump main hour movement for travelling across TZ and not having to spend $$$$ for Omega / Rolex GMT. (Not saying Omega/rolex aren't good watches).

A recent arrival, white dial complication moonphase turns out to be a beauty better than photos! I'm so tempted to go down the path of Oris collecting now.., especially as they represent excellent value for the money... But gotta hold my horses for a while before I go broke!


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