Dear Purists,
I'm happy to share with you some information I've found on the Internet about the watch I've just ordered, a watch dedicated to Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy's first African American master diver.
First of all: who was Carl Brashear? Briefly quoting from Wikipedia:
Carl Maxie Brashear was born on January 19, 1931, in Tonieville, Kentucky.
Brashear enlisted in the U.S. Navy on February 25, 1948, shortly after the Navy had been desegregated by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. He graduated from the U.S. Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954, becoming the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School and the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver.
In January 1966, in an accident now known as the Palomares incident, a B28 nuclear bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain, after two United States Air Force aircraft of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), a B-52G Stratofortress bomber and a KC-135A Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft collided during aerial refueling. Brashear was serving aboard USS Hoist (ARS-40) when it was dispatched to find and recover the missing bomb for the Air Force. The warhead was found after two and a half months of searching.
During the bomb recovery operations on March 23, 1966, a line used for towing broke loose, causing a pipe to strike Brashear's left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off. Beset with persistent infection and necrosis, his lower left leg was eventually amputated.
In April 1968, after a long struggle, Brashear was the first amputee diver to be (re)certified as a U.S. Navy diver. In 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver, and served ten more years beyond that, achieving the rating of Master Chief Boatswain's Mate in 1971.
Brashear retired from the U.S. Navy on April 1, 1979, as a Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9) and Master Diver.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. played the role of Brashear in Men of Honor (2000), a movie inspired by the life of Carl Brashear.
Brashear died on July 25, 2006. After his death, his sons DaWayne and Phillip Brashear started the Carl Brashear Foundation in his honor.
The Oris Carl Brashear might be considered as an evolution of the much appreciated Oris Divers Sixty-Five, disclosed at Basel 2015: same case shape, crown and domed sapphire crystal. It's 2 mm larger and - above all - instead of a steel case with ceramic black bezel, now the case and the unidirectional bezel are made of bronze (for the very first time since the Oris establishment, in 1904) , while the caseback remains in steel. Here's some picture of the Oris Divers Sixty-Five.
What about bronze? Again, briefly quoting from Wikipedia:
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12% tin and often with the addition of other metals (such as aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc) and sometimes non-metals or metalloids such as arsenic, phosphorus or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility or machinability.
Typically bronze only oxidizes superficially; once a copper oxide (eventually becoming copper carbonate) layer is formed, the underlying metal is protected from further corrosion.
The connection between the use of bronze and Carl Brashear is due to the fact the diving helmets in the 1950’s were made of bronze. Bronze is initially bright and shiny and becomes darker as the copper component reacts with carbon dioxide and moisture. Over the course of time the bronze case and bezel will develop a unique greenish patina, and, when unpolished, their look will be unique. I was looking for a bronze case divers watch and this one for me is perfect.
The stainless steel case back shows a helmet and the Brashear's personal motto: “It’s not a sin to get knocked down, it’s a sin to stay down”. I've read that another of his famous motto was "I ain't going to let nobody steal my dream".
The watch will be delivered, starting from April, encased in a wooden box bearing the US Navy Master Diver badge on the inside of the cover.
Oris Carl Brashear Specifications
• Ref. No. 733 7720 3185 LS
• Limited to 2,000 pieces
• Diameter 42.00mm
• Automatic movement Oris Cal. 733, based on the Sellita SW200, with date at 6 o’clock, approx. 40 hours of power reserve
• Multi-piece bronze case and screw-in bronze crown
• Water resistant to 10 bar/100m
• Bubble-curved sapphire crystal domed on both sides and with anti-reflective coating inside
• Screwed stainless steel case back with special engraving and engraved limitation number
• Dark blue, curved dial with applied rose gold plated indices filled with Super-LumiNova®. Hour, minute and second hands rose gold plated and filled with Super-LumiNova®
• Dark brown leather strap with bronze pin buckle. The choice of leather has been explained this way by Oris: "Straps on boats and straps to fix the dive gear at the time were made of leather. We believe that this classic combination of materials evokes best the spirit of these times and of the great personality of Carl Brashear".
• Price tag of 2,600 CHF. Oris is donating a portion of the proceeds to the Carl Brashear foundation.
I'm looking forward to for my Oris! Thank you for reading, ciao,
Elio
This message has been edited by heartbreaker on 2016-01-19 16:05:27 This message has been edited by heartbreaker on 2016-01-19 16:06:11 
