Khimji’s Watches, the home of luxury in Oman, is now showcasing the Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition
– a timepiece honouring the extraordinary life of Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy’s first African American
The Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition is based on Oris’s hugely successful Divers Sixty-Five and
celebrates a man who conquered not only challenges of race, but also of disability.
Brashear joined the Navy in 1948 as a 17-year- old, and despite facing discrimination on account of his
race he graduated from the Navy’s diving programme in 1954. In 1966, he lost the lower part of his left
leg in an accident during a mission to salvage a hydrogen bomb. After an exhausting period of
rehabilitation, he became the U.S. Navy’s first amputee diver in 1968, and then qualified as a Master
Diver in 1970, the first African American to do so.
After a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy that lasted more than 30 years, Brashear retired in 1979.
The watch marking Brashear’s life and character is the first Oris watch to be made in bronze, a naturally
aging material used in deep-sea diving helmets of the 1950s. It takes its aesthetic from the Oris Divers
Sixty-Five, but at 42mm in diameter. Bronze is initially bright and shiny, and then darkens as its copper
content reacts with carbon dioxide and moisture. This means each of the limited run of 2,000 pieces will
develop a unique patina over time – and a unique relationship with their owner.
The unidirectional rotating bezel is also made of bronze, with a raised minute scale for tracking dive
times, a look that recalls a number of diver’s watches in the Oris archive. The stainless steel case back
shows Brashear’s helmet and his very personal claim — “It’s not a sin to get knocked down, it’s a sin to
stay down”. Under the watch’s dark blue dial is an automatic mechanical movement, and the watch is
water-resistant to 100 metres.
By showcasing this unique watch, Khimji’s Watches presents a great opportunity to own Oris’s first
bronze watch, and more importantly to pay tribute to a man whose convictions changed the course of
history. Set up in 1973, Khimji’s Watches is one of Muscat’s leading franchisees of luxury
watches, jewellery, accessories and writing instruments. It is a one-stop shop for world’s best
brands such as Rolex, Chopard, Cartier, Piaget, Mikimoto, Girard-Perregaux, Oris, Frederique
Constant, Tudor, Bell & Ross, Caran d’Ache and Kieninger. The Khimji’s Watches showroom is
located in the posh locality of Shatti Al Qurum in the capital city of Muscat.
