PROPILOT X GONZO EDITION

Welcome to the stage, the one and only The Great Gonzo, as Oris and Disney’s The Muppets collaborate on an audacious special edition of the daring ProPilot X Calibre 115

THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN

Friends, esteemed guests, would you please welcome to the stage, the one and only – The Great Gonzo!

This is it, folks. The suspense has been building, but now, finally, the one you’ve all been waiting for – it’s the Oris ProPilot X Gonzo Edition, a daring, high-wire mechanical act created in collaboration with Disney’s The Muppets Gonzo, aka The Great Gonzo.

Gonzo is a stage and screen star and a Hollywood legend. He performed his first act on The Muppet Show in 1976, announcing his unique brand of deathdefying showmanship by eating a rubber tyre to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee. He would become one of the show’s most-loved performers and go on to feature in a series of movies with his Muppets co-stars. 

He performs lunatic stunts to entertain his fans and fulfil improbable missions. Audiences will never forget the time he caught a cannonball, soared through the sky hanging perilously from a bunch of carnival balloons or proved his acting chops playing Charles Dickens. He did all his own stunts, once musing that “one of my arms is still longer than the other.” At every turn, The Great Gonzo is infectiously curious and enthusiastic, and totally comfortable with who he is – a beautiful weirdo.

We’re so thrilled to celebrate his life and career with the ProPilot X Gonzo Edition. It’s based on one of our boldest designs and most inventive mechanical movements, fitting for an independent character never afraid to defy convention and follow his own path.

It’s our third watch with Disney’s The Muppets following our collaborations with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. We caught up with Gonzo to see how he has been spending his time lately. “Time is a construct!” he said, as he loaded himself into a blue and yellow stunt canon. “That being said, I’ve been working my way through a water-skiing ballet of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Haven’t quite perfected the shark choreography in the Summer section yet…” And with that, he was off with a shot.

NOW YOU SEE HIM

The new Oris ProPilot X Gonzo Edition is based on one of our most complicated watches and tells the magical story of The Muppets’ much-loved stuntman

Watchmaking can be a very serious business. Fair enough. At Oris, we take watchmaking very seriously. But as an independent Swiss company following our own path with beautiful, memorable mechanical watches, what’s also in our genes is an in-built refusal to take ourselves too seriously. Before anything, we’re in the pursuit of joy, laughter and a life well lived.

That’s what drew us together with Disney’s The Muppets and what inspired special pieces with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Now, we’re buzzing with excitement to introduce our latest collaboration with the much-loved star of the small and silver screens, The Great Gonzo. His watch: the ProPilot X Gonzo Edition.

The watch is every bit as bold and daring as Gonzo himself. It’s based on the ProPilot X Calibre 115, a taut, highly technical piece in titanium powered by a skeletonised movement developed by our in-house engineers. Hand-wound, Calibre 115’s celebrated features are a colossal 10-day power reserve and a non-linear power reserve indicator that shows the time remaining until the watch needs winding with ever-greater accuracy.

From there, it’s all Gonzo. The gradient blue to red to yellow colourways are inspired by his fur and his natty style; the lasered dial ring magically changes colour depending on the light, like one of his mystifying stage acts; the power reserve hand is in the shape of a chilli, per one of his classic shirt designs; and the power reserve indicates 10 “GREAT” days, recalling Gonzo’s stage name.

But the big reveal is hidden in the mainspring, the 1.8-metre metal coil that stores the watch’s power, made visible by the skeletonisation of the barrel at 12 o’clock. As the watch is wound, tiny etchings lasered into the spring’s edge come together to form Gonzo’s smiling, enthusiastic face. It then disperses again as the power is expended and the chilli hand nears zero, like the tension that builds during the countdown to Gonzo’s cannonball stunt. It’s an audacious watchmaking first, which sounds very serious. But of course, that’s really not the point... 

IT’S A WATCHMAKING FIRST. SERIOUS. BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT

INTERVIEW: LUKAS BÜHLMANN

A KIND OF MAGIC

Oris’s Head of Design explains how the story of The Great Gonzo comes to life in a very special mechanical watch, appearing before your eyes...

Hi Lukas, good to talk to you again. Remind us, what’s your Oris story?

I’m originally an industrial designer and began my career at a design agency. I joined the Oris design department 11 years ago, and I’ve now been Head of Design here for four years. The challenge is eternally stimulating – to design serious watches that show we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

You worked on the previous Oris x Disney’s The Muppets watches for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. What was that experience like?

It’s a very special experience and an honour to work with such famous icons that are loved by millions all over the world. A lot of people come together for these projects, including the team from Disney, and together we enjoy a wonderful collaboration.

Watchmaking can feel quite serious: mechanics, precision, reliability. These qualities aren’t always “fun”. How do you marry the serious with the playful?

It’s funny you should say that, because our watchmakers see it very differently! These things are a real source of joy for them, and it becomes our job as product designers to bring that across in our watches, knowing our clients love mechanics, too. In projects like these, we’re always looking for a point of connection; ideally, we incorporate that sense of fun not just into the watch, but right into the movement itself – a template we set with our first Muppet watch with Kermit and then revisited with Miss Piggy and now The Great Gonzo. 

What background did you do before developing the watch?

We had some great days in the studio, watching The Muppet Show, and of course we were in contact with the team at Disney that represents Gonzo.

What did you learn about Gonzo?

Gonzo celebrates the courage it takes to be uniquely yourself. He’s a self-proclaimed performance artiste, daredevil and weirdo. He embraces individuality. Gonzo’s best known for his blue fur colour, but he’s also a style icon who loves mixing bold patterns like checked pants and a chilli-pepperprint shirt! With Gonzo, his curiosity, optimism and misfit energy aligns perfectly with Oris’s spirit and the boldness of the ProPilot X Calibre 115.

Why did you choose the ProPilot X Calibre 115 to tell his story?

The ProPilot X Calibre 115 has an unconventional, distinctive design with a number of daring features to discover. It has an open barrel, a 10-day power reserve and a nonlinear power reserve indicator. Immediately, you’re dealing with a really unusual watch. The base design is very monochromatic, too, which gave us a palette for bold colour experimentation. Gonzo is very outgoing when it comes to fashion, and a colour gradient that shifts from blue to red to yellow is so him. 

Gonzo’s head appears on the mainspring: how does this work and how did you create the effect?

It was precisely because this watch features an open barrel that we were able even to consider such an idea. When the mainspring is fully wound, Gonzo is laser-etched onto the individual coils of the balance spring. As soon as the mainspring unwinds, the image disperses into tiny individual parts. When you wind the power reserve back up, Gonzo reappears once you reach the 10-day mark. Technically, it’s unique and a first in Swiss watchmaking, but we also love the way it builds suspense, like a The Great Gonzo stunt. As you wind the crown, the mainspring tightens and gradually Gonzo appears. It’s a joyful touch we think fans of Oris and The Muppets will appreciate.

There are some other quirky details. Tell us about them... 

Yes, the power reserve hand is a chilli from one of Gonzo’s iconic shirts, and the countdown is measured in 10 “GREAT” days, picking up on his stage name, The Great Gonzo. And then we created a lasered dial ring that changes colour depending on the angle you view it from, meaning it can appear as polished steel, or any colour in the rainbow. It’s a little touch of magic we know Gonzo approves of.

This is the third Oris x The Muppets watch. What connects them?

All three are ProPilot X models, and in each, the characters only appear for a specific, limited period. Another special feature we’ve focused on is to link the characters to the movements.

And people will want to know – who’s next? We’ll have to wait until they appear... link the characters to the movements.

IT BUILDS SUSPENSE LIKE A THE GREAT GONZO STUNT, A TOUCH OF MAGIC HE APPROVES OF

PROPILOT X
GONZO EDITION

Our third watch with Disney’s The Muppets is inspired by The Great Gonzo and based on the ProPilot X Calibre 115

IN DETAIL

Case Multi-piece titanium case
Size 44.00 mm
Thickness 12.60 mm
Lug to lug 52.00 mm
Dial Skeletonised in gradient
blue, red and yellow; dial ring
with rainbow laser texturing
Luminous material Hands and
indices filled with Super-LumiNova®
Top glass Sapphire, domed on
sides, anti-reflective coating inside
Case back Titanium, screwed,
see-through sapphire glass
Operating devices Titanium
screw-in security crown
Bracelet Multi-piece titanium
bracelet with Oris-developed
folding clasp
Water resistance 10 bar (100 m)

MOVEMENT

Number Oris Calibre 115
Functions Centre hands for hours,
minutes, small seconds, non-linear
power reserve indication at 3
o’clock with chilli hand, fine
timing device and stop-second
Winding Hand-wound, Gonzo
engraving on mainspring
Power reserve 240 hours
Warranty Extended to five years
with MyOris sign-up. Applies to
watch and movement.
Presentation Delivered in a
special wooden box
Availability September