To Angel's Envy, on Wings of Hope: Bourbon Tasting with the Oris Big Crown ref 7781.4081

Me and Kentucky.

I finished growing up in western Kentucky, which used to be known for tobacco, bourbon whiskey, and unique barbecue. I returned to the Great Lakes after college and settled about 500 miles from the Ohio River Valley, but I like to get back once in a while to visit. These days you don’t see the tobacco fields like you used to, but barbecue and bourbon are booming. I had recently become curious about the Louisville Distilling Co.’s Angel’s Envy whiskeys, so when my new Oris Big Crown Wings of Hope LE arrived I decided that what was needed was a road trip. I recruited a bourbon-loving friend and we headed south after work on a Thursday.

The Oris Big Crown Wings of Hope LE.

I took another bourbon trip not too long ago, with another white-dialed watch on my wrist, the Omega Aqua Terra GoodPlanet. It’s worth a read if you want to know more about Kentucky bourbon culture than I’m including in this article.

Me and Oris.

I’ve been an Oris fan for a long time, although I haven’t owned one for quite a while. What I love about the brand is its quirky independence, interesting heritage, and affiliation with earth-friendly causes and corporate responsibility. Attracted to their pilot’s styles, I bought a BC3 way back when it first came out, but eventually fell out of love with its squared-off lug aperture. I then tried the BC3’s modern successor, the ProPilot; I loved that watch and only sold it out of boredom, something I tell myself I’m less prone to these days.

Oris pilots of the past. ProPilot (L) and BC3 (R).

And so I’ve found myself living an Oris-less life for the last half-dozen years or so. I was tempted by the Roberto Clemente Big Crown Pointer Date, but something about the Sellita movement failed to move me beyond fascination to purchase. That, and I’m just not a baseball fan. So when Oris announced the caliber 400 family of movements, I was initially very excited, but the why-Oris-why? wet blanket for me was learning that it was only available in jumbo watches. Like, really jumbo watches. My appreciation of quirky independence ends at about 40 mm, it turns out, so the watches Oris first featured this movement in held no appeal.

You can see why I’d go for this watch. The Oris Big Crown Roberto Clemente LE. Image compliments oris.ch.

The Oris Wings of Hope Ltd. Edition.

Such was the state of affairs between me and Oris until they started introducing other versions of the caliber 400 in smaller case sizes. Finally, in the fall of 2022, they released the Wings of Hope limited edition, and I was smitten. Named for Oris’s collaboration with the aviation charity of the same name, the watch aims to bring visibility to a non-governmental aid organization with an amazing and inspiring story to tell.

High noon at the barber shop.

The Wings of Hope LE offers reasonable 40 mm case size, vintage design cues, the caliber 401 movement, and a 10-year warranty. Yes, please, but having sworn a no-new-watches-for-a-year vow only 11 months prior, I was in a bit of a bind. So I did what every new-watch-rationalizing person would do and engineered a trade. Out with the former apple of my eye, now a slightly older, slightly duller thing, and in with my new Precious, a newer, shinier thing. Shame, thy name is Myron.

For people of certain sensibilities, this new Oris is a slam dunk. I’ve never been drawn to the coin-edged bezels or cathedral hands of their Big Crown line, even though I’ve always thought the pointer date complication was pretty nifty. The Wings of Hope does away with all three, distilling this member of the Big Crown line down to a clean statement of bare essentials. The simple arabic numerals are a cooler off-white on top of the warmer ivory-inflected dial. Their very subtle black outlines give them perfect contrast and legibility, and the whole dial is reminiscent of vintage sports car instruments. Employing simple pencil hands and no ugly date complication, the presentation is broken up only by a perfectly proportioned sub-seconds register at 6 o’clock. This little dial within a dial is set off in bright blue and utilizes a bright red hand, continuously sweeping the unnoticed seconds of your day away.

The bright blue and red details of the Wings of Hope LE.

At 40 mm exactly, the case is perfect, absolutely perfect, and in fact wears much tidier than you might expect given the white dial. I managed a few micro-scratches on the polished sides and bezel in the first couple of weeks, but they don’t bother me. The tops of the graceful lugs are finely brushed, and the effect is to make the dial appear to float when you look straight down at the watch. Before we leave dial and case, I will say the Wings of Hope has mediocre lume that fades fast but an adequate water resistance rating of 5 atmospheres, although neither of those features will be why you buy this watch.

Looks great when freshly charged, but fades fast.

Of course the eponymous, signature feature of all the Big Crown watches is the big crown itself. And at 7.5 mm it is big on a watch this size. If you have ever been frustrated by the tiny Thumbelina crown on your collector vintage watch or your expensive modern watch, you will welcome Oris’s attention to detail here. Big and grippable, it takes a full five turns to completely screw it down. I absolutely love it, and find in it another example of where Oris uses their simple design language to make the whole watch greater than the sum of its parts.

The big crown of the Big Crown, a delight to behold and to operate.

The caliber 401 in-house automatic movement in the Wings of Hope deserves special mention. From the watch nut’s perspective, its pros include antimagnetic properties, a 5-day power reserve achieved through twin barrels, and relative thinness. From the typical consumer’s perspective, the latter characteristic means that the complete package of cased-up watch is very wearable and totally avoids any hint of Big Watch Syndrome. Oris warranties the watch for 10 years, which is a nice vote of confidence from the manufacturer, and recommends a 10-year service frequency as well.

The Oris cal. 401. Turned another way, the movement suggests the Oris Teddy Bear.

I love the technical aspects of mechanical movements, and I’m glad I don’t have to worry about things like magnetic fields affecting my watch. Given that the Wings of Hope hails from Oris’s family of pilot’s watches, I asked a good friend who is also a fellow engineer, licensed pilot, and DC-3 enthusiast about the importance of a movement’s antimagnetic rating. Here’s what my buddy Matt told me.

“When you read watch reviews written by enthusiastic watch reviewers, you inevitably come across some statement about pilots needing special antimagnetic watches to withstand the punishing electromagnetic fields inherent to aviation. I’m here to tell you that in the modern era that’s complete bullshit - the biggest source of magnetism in any modern aircraft you’d fly is your iPhone. However for vintage aircraft like the DC-3 there is a grain of truth to this… we have high-current AC inverters running, and the engines will have magnetized parts all around them due to their nature, which would probably wreck your non-anti-magnetic watch if you got it too close.”

So there you have it. As for cons, if I’m being honest, I wish the movement were a little more accurate; mine gains about 7 sec/day, but better a gainer than a loser and I’ve never been an accuracy freak anyway. The movement in mine is rock-stable, I will say, as there is zero variation in its timekeeping when worn on my wrist 24/7. Not my most accurate watch, but a highly precise one.

Lunch or dinner, the Oris just blends in.

Personally, and even though I love it, I find the movement a bit homely, and Oris certainly hasn’t helped things here by leaving it very plainly finished and undecorated. Ironically perhaps, it’s cheaper looking than the red rotor “high mech” movements in their lesser lines. I’ve never been a movement snob, though, so I only mention this because the level of decoration seems out of step with the price of this watch. Honestly, I wish Oris had just given us a solid caseback here, eliminating the temptation to judge this book by its cover.

Oris must be gambling on their customers knowing that beauty is more than skin deep, and that any perceived deficits are made up for by the 10-year warranty, 5-day power reserve, and the overall charm of the watch on your wrist, which is substantial. But I wonder about the Wings of Hope’s price and place in the market. If you care about the technical panache of the movement, you might also care about it being kind of plain. If you don’t care about engineering details or attractive movement finishing, then its handsome wrist presence is definitely enough to win you over. But in either case, I think you might hesitate at the MSRP of $3700 USD. Having said that, I am definitely in the former camp, and I find the price fair.

40 mm case is just right on my 7.25” wrist.

Other reviewers of the Wings of Hope seem to home in on two things, the length of the hands, and the dial text. The hand length criticism I truly do not get. The hands are perfect, the hour hand coming within a hair’s breadth of the bottom of the numerals, and the minute hand’s point extending about 1/3rd of the way into the graduated minutes track. I don’t know how it could be better, and have to think that maybe these reviewers are forming this judgment from stock photos and haven’t actually beheld the watch themselves.

End-of-the-day pocket dump.

The dial text criticism is a matter of taste, but I might be able to offer some help if “BIG CROWN” is a stumbling block for you. This is, in fact, the name of the watch, like when Rolex puts “EXPLORER” or “SUBMARINER” right on the dial. It is not intended to state an obvious characteristic of the watch, although it does do this too. The unobservable characteristic that appears on the dial is “5 DAYS,” which refers to the caliber 401’s power reserve. This would be correctly compared to Rolex boasting “SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED.” When was the last time you heard a Rolex nut criticizing the Explorer or Submariner for all that unnecessary dial text? That’s what I thought.

Just one last thing to add about the Oris Big Crown Wings of Hope, which is that I bought mine from my good friends at Continental Diamond in St. Paul, Minnesota. If you fancy one of these amazing and beautiful watches for yourself, give them a call and let them help you out.

Me and Bourbon Whiskey.

Now, back to my road trip. I was raised by scotch drinkers from the north. Bourbon was uncouth, under-aged, and suitable only for sweet cocktails like the mint julep and old fashioned. It took middle age and nostalgia for an irrecoverable part of my youth to get me to try bourbon. But I’m glad I finally did, and I feel lucky to live an easy day’s drive from the heart of bourbon country.

The Oris Big Crown Wings of Hope LE with a well-deserved dram at the end of the traveling day.

We arrived in Louisville Thursday evening and made it an early night, being scheduled for a tour of Four Roses in nearby Lawrenceburg at 9 AM the next morning. One of the oldest bourbon distilleries in the country, and known for its unusual Spanish Colonial architecture, Four Roses offers a charm and cultural warmth unique to Kentucky bourbon culture. A visit is highly recommended, and you are well advised to schedule a few months in advance as even in late fall and winter the distillery stays booked.

Sipping at 10 after 10.

And so it was that I found myself sipping bourbon at around 10 AM, at the conclusion of our tour. A bit early for me normally, but hey, I like to go with the flow and 10-ish does make for good wrist shots. After some early Christmas shopping in Four Roses’ gift shop, we packed up and headed west to downtown Louisville.

Scenes from Four Roses tour.

Angel’s Envy is located in downtown Louisville in a repurposed building that originally housed a Craftsman tool factory. It’s a beautiful old space with a great soul. The Louisville Distilling Co. is a newer business, but what it lacks in history and heritage, it more than makes up for in quality and innovation. Uniquely, after their whiskeys have aged for six-ish years, they are finished in spent rum or port wine casks for an additional six months. This step imparts a unique character to their bourbons and ryes. This is not some fussy, low volume bourbon created explicitly for Bourbon Trail tourism. It is the real deal, produced in large quantities, but made with a love of the craft, not for the sake of the craft.

Angel’s Envy being drained from oak barrels after aging for at least six years.

Angel’s Envy is another distillery you should put on your Bourbon Trail list, and while you’re in downtown Louisville, stop in at Justin’s House of Bourbon for a handmade cocktail. Part bar, part bourbon museum, and part rare bourbon sales counter, it’s an experience not to be missed. It would take you more than a few weekend visits to complete the Bourbon Trail, but it’s highly recommendable for the bourbon fan.

Bring a sober driver.. Sampling Angel’s Envy by 2 pm, an Old Fashioned at Justin’s House of Bourbon by 3.

This concludes my article on the Oris Big Crown Wings of Hope. As usual, I welcome your comments and factual corrections, and would love to hear from both bourbon and Oris enthusiasts alike. Thanks for reading and cheers!