Andrew McUtchen
Watches are all about timing and so are watch launches. When Oris Australia announced that they would launch their new Great Barrier Reef II model on a boat actually floating above the Great Barrier Reef, the area was already in the news. A gaffe by a politician who downplayed the significance of the worst coral bleaching event the reef has undergone in the last 15 years – with 95 per cent of the northern section of the reef experiencing severe bleaching?– sent?mainstream media outlets into overdrive.?Ash (our intrepid cameraman for this mission) and I boarded a plane right at the peak of this news cycle. We were headed for Port Douglas, a tropical part of Australia that is popular with overseas tourists and sun starved southern Aussies for its warm climes, jewel green seas and for its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.When we arrived there we were given the chance to tell not just the story of this sparkling new Day-Date Diver' Limited Edition for Oris, the Great Barrier Reef II, but also to speak to the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) about the bleaching on camera. It was a sobering, uplifting, incredible couple of days. ?We were assisted in capturing it by Ross Isaacs of Ocean Planet Images. His skills and formidable underwater equipment were instrumental in showing the still vivid sections of the reef. When the first cuts of the footage he shot were shown at the dinner table the night after our day on the reef, sharp breaths were drawn at the scenes, bursting and flashing with the colour of all the marine life. Schools of fish exploding like glitter bombs, waving tendrils of soft coral, moray eels and even the dark shadows of distant sharks. The whole thing was an experience,” Ash said to me a week or so later when we reflected on it. “It wasn't just the diving, it was the journey and the wilderness. There was hardly anyone around, it was relatively untouched. When I went ten years earlier it was a touristy thing, seeing it again I took it in more. It was beautiful.”We were privileged to shoot a video that we hope you'll share with your friends and on your social networks. To remind them again of what we have here in Australia, and what we have to lose.Oris Great Barrier Reef II Australian pricingThe Great Barrier Reef II Limited Edition houses the?Sellita SW 220-1 based Oris Calibre 735 with 28,800VPH with 38-hour power reserve and retails for?$2,900 on a rubber strap and $3,000 on a metal bracelet with an adjustable clasp.
19.04.16