Oris and jazz go back many years, and the company’s limited edition jazz inspired watches have become collector’s favorites. This year, Oris is delighted to announce a watch made to commemorate one of the 20th century’s greatest jazz musicians, Dexter Gordon.
Dexter Gordon was born in 1923 in Los Angeles, California. His father was one of the first African-American physicians, whose patients included legendary jazz musicians Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. After learning the clarinet, at 15 Dexter switched to the saxophone. At 17, he picked up the tenor saxophone, the instrument with which he would become synonymous.
Dexter is widely regarded as the first musician to translate the language of mid-20th century modern jazz – pioneered by the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and known as bebop – to the tenor saxophone. He recorded and performed extensively, both as the lead and as a sideman to fellow jazz greats, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Herbie Hancock. Later in life, he turned to acting and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1986 film Round Midnight. He died in 1990.
The Oris Dexter Gordon Limited Edition is the seventeenth jazz watch made by Oris. In keeping with the company’s previous jazz watches, it is a classic, deeply stylish piece. Its look is calm and harmonious, a reflection on Dexter’s famously warm, sociable personality.
Oris has included a number of subtle touches that reference the great man. The index at 12 o’clock is shaped like a saxophone reed, while DEXTER GORDON is spelt out around the dial, one letter per index. The central seconds hand is brass-colored like a saxophone and has an extended counterbalance, a reference to Dexter’s nickname Long Tall Dex, which is also engraved on the watch’s case back.
The Oris Dexter Gordon Limited Edition is limited to 1,000 pieces and will be available from January. “Jazz to me is a living music,” Dexter once said. “It’s a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, the hopes of the people.”
The watch features an automatic movement produced in-house by Oris with a date window at 6 o’clock. The watch is made of a multi-piece stainless steel case and crown with sapphire crystal domed on both sides and anti-reflective coating inside. Water resistant to 50 meters, the watch has a sunray-finished grey dial with polished indices and nickel hour and minute hands. Polished, gold-plated, extended second hand and features a dark brown leather strap with stainless steel folding clasp. Each limited edition timepiece comes in a luxurious wooden box with bronze medal engraved with Long Tall Dex, as per detailing on the watch’s case back.
