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Oris gives the Kelp Forest Aquis a dial with depth

The 1,000-piece 41.5 mm diver uses a three-dimensional green dial to put its marine subject on the watch itself, at A$4,300.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 22 October 2026

• The Oris Kelp Forest Limited Edition is a 1,000-piece Aquis Date with a dial inspired by underwater kelp.
• A three-dimensionally printed green dial sits within a 41.5 mm steel case, green ceramic minutes scale and 300-metre specification.
• Reference 01 733 7787 4187-Set is listed by Oris Australia at A$4,300 with an add-to-cart option.

A dive watch can talk about the ocean without asking its dial to do much more than turn blue. That is the easy route. Oris has chosen a harder one: a surface intended to resemble the movement and density of kelp, on a watch that still has to work as an Aquis. The result is the Oris Kelp Forest Limited Edition, whose press material carried an embargo until 20 October 2026 at 8 pm Central European Time. That date is the evidence for treating this as a current release, rather than relying on when a catalogue page happened to be updated.

The kelp is in the dial, not merely the story

The green dial is three-dimensionally printed. Oris says its relief is meant to mimic swaying kelp plants, and the official photographs do show an irregular surface instead of the flat coloured disc often offered as an environmental tie-in. The choice matters because it gives the subject a physical presence each time the wearer checks the hour. It does not, of course, restore a kelp forest by itself. Oris connects the watch to the observations of its ambassador, underwater photographer Francis Pérez, who has photographed the ocean for 30 years and witnessed kelp decline. That is the claim the brand makes; no conservation donation is specified on the product page.

There is a risk with a textured dial: it can make the information a dive watch is supposed to deliver harder to read. Here the hour markers are prominent, the hands stand clear of the mottled green background in Oris's photographs, and the date remains at six. The green ceramic minutes scale gives the dial a matching frame, while the steel bracelet prevents the entire watch from becoming one uninterrupted block of green. I would rather have the subject incorporated into the dial than printed as a tiny slogan on a caseback. The design has to earn its place at a glance.

A familiar Aquis underneath the unusual surface

Oris has based this edition on its 41.5 mm Aquis Date. The multi-piece stainless steel case carries a ceramic minutes-scale top ring, a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating inside and a screw-in steel back with sapphire glass and special markings. It is rated to 30 bar, or 300 metres, and has a 22 mm interhorn width. The depth rating makes the environmental theme feel less like a costume: this is still specified as a serious diver, even if most owners will meet kelp through the dial rather than underwater.

The automatic calibre 733-1 provides central hours, minutes and seconds, a date display, stop seconds and an instantaneous date with correction. Oris lists a 41-hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. That reserve is sufficient for an overnight rest, but it will not necessarily carry the watch through a whole weekend off the wrist. The movement is familiar territory for the Aquis; the dial is where this edition makes its argument. Readers chasing a long-reserve Oris calibre should understand the distinction before being drawn in by the special finish.

The official Australian page also places the Kelp Forest watch beside standard 41.5 mm Aquis Date variants. Several steel-bracelet examples there are A$3,900, while the limited edition is A$4,300. That A$400 difference is a useful way of looking at the proposition: a defined production run of 1,000, the printed dial, the specific story and the edition treatment carry the premium. Whether they are worth it is personal, but at least the comparison is with Oris's own current catalogue rather than a guessed rival.

The story should survive the first glance

I like the restraint in the case architecture. Oris has not made the watch larger or covered it in marine iconography to announce the collaboration. The photographs show a green dial with real variation under changing angles; the angled product image also makes the metallic case and bracelet look recognisably Aquis. One image of a textured surface cannot tell us how the watch behaves in low light or on a moving wrist, so this is an assessment of the published design, not a hands-on judgement.

There is another useful limit to the story. Oris describes kelp as important to the ocean and says large areas have disappeared, but the page is not a measured environmental impact report for this watch. It is honest to report the connection as an attempt to draw attention, without inventing a quantified outcome. That restraint makes the release more interesting to me. The watch carries a visible reminder of the subject, and then leaves its owner to decide whether to learn more.

Oris Kelp Forest Limited Edition pricing and availability

The Australian Oris store lists reference 01 733 7787 4187-Set for A$4,300, with an add-to-cart option. Oris says production is limited to 1,000 pieces. The product page specifies a steel bracelet, two years of warranty and an optional extension to three years through MyOris. The edition is offered as a complete watch rather than a promise of a future market release.

For somebody who wants the most movement for the money, the conventional Aquis Date remains the simpler buy. For somebody who has been waiting for an environmental edition whose central idea is actually present on the watch, this one makes a clearer case than a logo tucked out of sight. The dial, not the press story, will have to keep making that case years from now.