Remember the compact American cars of the 80s? They were all the rage in a time of fuel shortages and price hikes, just after the Iran hostage crisis and the beginnings of the US industrial sector shutdown, where mines, steelworks, car plants and lots more heavy industry all got abandoned as cheaper imports flooded in.

To add insult to injury, after losing your manly Springsteenesque job you were obliged to buy a Plymouth Champ or a Chevrolet Chevette, to downsize on your gas budget. Nightmare. Oh well, at least Reagan saved Harley from oblivion…

But let’s get back to watches. The 38mm case size is all the rage right now and we are seeing more of these smaller watches from the big name Swiss manufacturers. Like this Oris x Cervo Volante, which kinda has a GM empire 1980s compact name when you juggle those words.

It’s a real retro affair, with that big crown and coin-grooved bezel giving it a half-crown feel. Yeah, half a crown, that’s on olde english coin of the realm n all that.

Here’s the word from Oris on this one, which retails at £1350.

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.

Cervo Volante

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 us and asked if we’d like to collaborate on a sustainable deer leather strap project. We jumped at the opportunity.

Cervo Volante’s hand-crafted products, low-impact methods and huge vision have brought us a great deal of joy. Not only are their leather shoes and accessories beautiful, they also tell stories in a way typical massproduced 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. Their skins are never the product of farming, and they never require chemicals or fertilizers. And if the skins weren’t used in this way, they’d simply be burned. Cervo Volante has also employed Switzerland’s last two remaining tanneries, both of which use 100 per cent vegetable tanning processes.

That fourth hand tracks the date by the way, in case you thought it was a GMT…as we did.

More here.