Oris Great Barrier Reef Overhaul

[RepGuy 108]

This is just an idea I have so far. I am waiting to hear back from Kat before moving forward with anything to see about pricing and feasibility.  Basically, I am hoping to completely overhaul the movement, and potentially bezel in an Oris Great Barrier Reef II replica. From my research, Oris seems to us a base Sellita 220-1 movement, and adds their signature red rotor to it. With the replica coming fitted with a standard A2836-2, I believe this should be a fairly straightforward swap.

With the movement able to be swapped, I wanted to fit a genuine Oris red rotor to it, which would effectively make the movement a pieced together exact copy of the genuine, with all functions identical. While this watch features a closed caseback, the rotor swap isn't really necessary, but for under $40 for a genuine rotor, why not? The only other modifications to the stock Sellita 220-1 movement would be the swapping of the standard day/date wheels to the yellow day/date wheels found on the replica movement. This is due to how the genuine model shows the date, with a yellow indicator (shown below), and yellow numbering for the date.

With all the above done, the last step would be to swap the bezel for either something similar, or a genuine one. Unfortunately, I cannot find a genuine bezel that would fit this, but I am open to suggestions, and will keep looking if the above is possible. The replica bezel is slightly misaligned, and replacing it with a better copy, or genuine bezel would correct this.

Finally, the watch will get pressure tested and have its water resistance increased to whatever it could. This would make a cheaper version of the genuine, with nearly identical specifications and function, provided labor isn't too expensive, but I will see about that when I get a reply. Do any of you see any glaring errors in this plan? I feel like I have researched what I can to make sure everything will fit together, but someone more experienced than me may be able to help.

[hanski 40]

Speaking to the movement swap only, since I don’t know anything about the bezel on this model: going from an A2836 to SW220 is an easy, 1:1 swap. It looks like the watch/dial is fairly regular without tall indexes, and as such the standard height pinions will likely work fine. I think the biggest decision to consider when making this swap is the grade Sellita you put in. You can order the baseline Sellita from Ofrei but you can also get a “sample” movement direct from Sellita (although they are on vacation from July 12-August 18ish). This is to say you could get Top Grade with rhodium and blue screws functioning nearly COSC from the factory. 

Anyways, this seems like a very easy and doable plan. Very cool! 

[RepGuy 108]

7 minutes ago, hanski said:

Speaking to the movement swap only, since I don’t know anything about the bezel on this model: going from an A2836 to SW220 is an easy, 1:1 swap. It looks like the watch/dial is fairly regular without tall indexes, and as such the standard height pinions will likely work fine. I think the biggest decision to consider when making this swap is the grade Sellita you put in. You can order the baseline Sellita from Ofrei but you can also get a “sample” movement direct from Sellita (although they are on vacation from July 12-August 18ish). This is to say you could get Top Grade with rhodium and blue screws functioning nearly COSC from the factory. 

Anyways, this seems like a very easy and doable plan. Very cool! 

You mean they will send out a sample movement and I can just purchase one? I may have to look into that, thanks!