Celebrating the life and legacy of baseball icon Lou Gehrig

Oris celebrates the life and legacy baseball of icon Lou Gehrig with this special limited edition Big Crown Pointer Date clad in the imitable blue and grey of the New York Yankees. 

The watch is based on Oris’ signature design, the Big Crown Pointer Date, with a series of mid-century flourishes that point to Gehrig's storied career for the New York Yankees between 1923 and 1939. Among the watch’s special details is the number 4 on the date ring, singled out in blue to honor Gehrig’s number 4, formally retired by the New York Yankees in 1940, beginning a Major League Baseball tradition. The Yankees blue and white color palette runs through the watch, with a blue minute track and blue outlines around the hour markers creating a warm contrast with the white lumed details. The silver dial with its vertical brushed finish was chosen to evoke Gehrig’s famous nickname: The Iron Horse.

Beyond, the watch echoes the look of designs from the 1920s and 1930s when Gehrig was playing. Much of this was achieved by gently reworking the two-tone dial. Instead of the 12 numerals that appear on core models, this special edition has a mix of numerals and indices. The minute track is reminiscent of Oris designs from the time, too, as are the white-on-black date numerals. The brown leather strap is double-stitched like a baseball glove, while the NATO strap supplied with the watch is in Yankees colors, too. The story continues on the caseback, with engravings of Gehrig making his now legendary “Luckiest Man” farewell speech and the limited-edition number. The 2,130 pieces in this limited production represent the record-setting number of games Gehrig played consecutively for the Yankees. Through this commemorative edition, Oris will also contribute to the work of The Lou and Eleanor Gehrig Family Foundation, which supports high-impact, non-partisan causes that were of interest to the Gehrigs.

The Oris Big Crown Pointer Date is, without question, the most important watch in Oris' rich history. First introduced in 1938 as a pilot’s watch, it has been a collection mainstay ever since, becoming Oris’s signature design. Its oversized crown was originally intended for gloved airmen but now serves a more aesthetic purpose, while the iconic pointer date function is now internationally recognized as a symbol of Oris’s mechanical inventiveness. The watch has a 40mm stainless steel case and fluted bezel, and a domed sapphire crystal over a black dial decorated with large, lumed Arabic numerals and a railway-track minute scale. It’s powered by the Oris Calibre 754, which fuels the brand's enigmatic Pointer Date function, whereby a central hand points to a date scale running around the perimeter of the dial. 

Specifications

• Movement: Automatic Oris 754 (base SW 200-1)
• Functions: Centre hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date centre hand, instantaneous date, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second
• Power Reserve: 38 hrs
• Case: Stainless steel case
• Size: 40mm
• Dial: Painted with hands & markers coated with Superluminova C1/C3
• Crystal: Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
• Case Back: Stainless steel, with Lou Gehrig engraving and limited edition number
• Water Resistance: 5 bar (50 meters)
• Strap: Suede leather strap with tonal stitching and stainless steel buckle. Also supplied with alternative blue, grey and white NATO fabric strap with stainless steel buckle and strap change tool
• Packaging: Special commemorative box with Gehrig #4 and specially stamped baseball card
  
• Limited Edition: 2,330 pieces