After the ultimate His & Hers pairing of the ProPilot X Kermit and ProPilot X Miss Piggy launched in 2023 and 2025 respectively, there are no signs of Oris’ collaboration with The Muppets coming to an end soon. The next Muppet to take centre stage is The Great Gonzo, the fan-favourite puppet stuntman (I was personally hoping for Fozzie Bear but maybe next year). Unlike the previous two Muppet watches, the Oris ProPilot X Gonzo is based on the skeletonised ProPilot X Calibre 115.
Getting right into the Muppet of it all, the ProPilot X Gonzo is not as blue as you might expect. Instead of a pure blue dial as you may have predicted after looking at the Kermit and Miss Piggy editions, the skeletonised architecture of the dial instead features a gradient shift from blue to yellow, passing through tones of purple and red. It’s inspired by one of Gonzo’s signature outfits, a bright yellow shirt emblazoned with a red chilli pepper pattern.
For the same reason, the 10-day, non-linear power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock has a chilli pepper shaped hand. That power reserve is the big trick of the calibre 115, offering 240-hours of continuous operation between windings. The non-linear nature of the indicator means that the first few days the hand barely moves before speeding up as the need to wind the watch becomes more urgent – like the tension building before one of Gonzo’s stunts.
The chilli indicator and “10 Great Days” inscription isn’t the only way that Oris have Muppet-ified the power reserve. The mainspring, visible through the skeletonised display between 11 and 12 o’clock houses a secret. The very edge of the spring has been delicately laser etched with exacting precision to create the image of Gonzo’s face when the spring is fully wound. Across the next 10 days the picture slowly dissipates before reforming in front of your eyes as you wind the watch. Interestingly, this is a benefit of the calibre 115 being manual winding as the magic wouldn’t be the same on an automatic where the spring is kept mostly wound.
Housing the calibre 115 is a 44mm diameter, multi-part titanium case with the ProPilot X’s typical industrial vibe. It has severe facets across its lugs and crown guards, all of which sit below the spiralling bezel that is designed to be a modern reinterpretation of the rope-style bezels seen on some retro pilot’s watches. At 44mm it is a very large watch but with a thickness of 12.6mm and lightweight titanium construction, it’s far from the most egregious case design out there.
The Oris ProPilot X Gonzo is priced at £7,900, making it the most expensive of the ProPilot X Calibre 115 models, which are £6,400 – £7,250. That extra cost makes sense given the additional features such as the chilli hand, gradient display and laser etched mainspring – the key features that make this watch the Gonzo edition. I will admit that I think the Gonzo is the least Muppet-y of the three special editions so far – where the other models scream of Kermit and Miss Piggy, this one requires a bit of investigation and deep-cut knowledge about Gonzo’s wardrobe before the Muppet connection hits. Also, it’s criminal that there isn’t even a nod to Camilla anywhere.
Price and Specs:
More details at Oris.
