Introducing the Oris Big Crown X Cervo Volante

Press release

January 2022

The collaboration between Oris and sustainable deer leather manufacturer Cervo Volante is a beautiful expression of the Swiss watch company’s “Change for the Better” campaign.

Introducing the Oris Big Crown X Cervo Volante

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Press release

January 2022

Introducing the Oris Big Crown X Cervo Volante

The collaboration between Oris and sustainable deer leather manufacturer Cervo Volante is a beautiful expression of the Swiss watch company’s “Change for the Better” campaign.

s we move deeper into this decade, the world has become increasingly aware of our collective responsibilities towards our planet and our environment. We know the way we live and the decisions we make have a critical impact on our future.

Oris’s response began more than a decade ago when the Swiss company started partnering with pioneering organisations and brands that shared its passion for cleaning, restoring and protecting our world. Collaborations, whether with conservation agencies such as Coral Restoration Foundation and the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, or with global events such as World Clean-Up Day, have become a central pillar of the brand’s philosophy.

A few years ago, it brought these environmental and sustainable projects under one banner – “Change for the Better”.

Looking out is only half the story, though. “Change for the Better” begins at home, which for Oris is in Hölstein, a Swiss village in the beautiful Waldenburg Valley. Its founders picked this place very deliberately. Back in 1904, they established Oris on the same site the company still occupies today, recognising the value of nature to power their business and inspire everyone who worked for them. For more than a century, nature has played a pivotal role in Oris watchmaking.

The brand is working hard to produce watches more sustainably, improve the efficiency of its factory and its supply chain, and to reduce its emissions. Last year, it certified as a climate neutral company by Climate Partner. But this is just the beginning.

One area where Oris is working to do better is in its watch straps. The brand announces the next step in that process, a collaboration with the Swiss company Cervo Volante, which creates beautiful products using sustainable deer leather.

Every year, around 15,000 wild red deer are culled in Switzerland. The operation is entirely legal and necessary, highly regulated, and undertaken to manage deer populations and protect the Swiss countryside.

But for years, little was made of the natural by-products this process yielded. Four years ago, two entrepreneurs took it upon themselves to do something about this. In 2017, friends Kadri Vunder Fontana, a biotechnology engineer and experienced businesswoman, and Conny Thiel-Egenter, a biologist specialising in nature protection and wildlife and habitat management, founded Cervo Volante. Their vision was to take the waste, specifically deer skins, and transform them into beautiful, hard-wearing and ultimately sustainable footwear and accessories. Their business has grown quickly.

A year ago and on learning of Oris’s Change for the Better campaign, they approached the brand and asked if it would like to collaborate on a sustainable deer leather strap project. Oris jumped at the opportunity.

Not only are Cervo Volante’s leather shoes and accessories beautiful, they also tell stories in a way typical mass-produced equivalents never could. For example, they keep imperfections that occur during the life of a deer in their skins, where many companies would discard them.

The Oris x Cervo Volante collaboration begins with three Big Crown Pointer Date watches. Each has a gradient dial inspired by Alpine hues and a strap made of sustainable deer leather. They come with a pouch and a card holder made of the same material. But they’re not limited, and nor is this is a one-time deal. Oris will ll be working more with Cervo Volante, bringing “Change for the Better” together.