Carl Brashear joined the U.S. Navy in 1948 when he was 17 years old. During those times, African Americans were relegated to the kitchen, either to cook or to serve meals. But Brashear had a dream of his own: to be a deep sea diver. He requested to be transferred, but his Commanding Officer rejected his petition. But Brashear persevered, and through constant coaxing, his Commanding Officer finally agreed.

Carl was the recipient of constant verbal abuse, receiving racial slurs all the time.
But his dream was too important to him. The amount of discrimination he received was enough for any man in his situation to just quit. But his father’s words kept ringing in his ears: “You get back in there, Carl, and you fight! You do your best!” With those words of encouragement, Carl Brashear became a certified deep sea diver and achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer E7.

In 1965, there was an incident at sea when a huge swell hit the ship. A pipe broke loose while it was carrying something heavy. Brashear was able to get his crew mates out of the way, but failed to get himself out of harm’s way. His injuries were severe, his leg was amputated, and was fitted with a prosthetic leg. The Navy was processing his papers for Brashear to be discharged, but Carl wasn’t ready to go out yet. He still had one more dream: to be a Master Diver.

With his father’s wise words in his head, he snuck out of the hospital, managed to dive in a deep sea rig (with his prosthetic leg), and documented his dive with photographs. He presented the pictures to the Navy review board, and convinced his doctors that he could do it, that he could go through the training needed to be certified as a Master Diver. He was restored to full active duty and full diving status in 1968 and became the Navy’s first amputee diver. In 1970, Carl Brashear was named Master Diver, the first African American in Naval history to achieve such an honorable status.

To honor the man who never gave up, Oris created a special watch, the Oris Carl Brashear Chronograph Limited Edition. This special watch uses bronze for its case, bezel, crown, and pushers. It is a highly unusual material for watchmaking, but it pays tribute to Brashear as bronze was used in the deep sea diving suit that he used to wear while he was on active duty. The bronze pieces of the watch will, in time, produce a patina, a “discoloration” of the bronze material dependent on atmospheric moisture and the pH levels of the wearer’s perspiration. Eventually, each of the 2,000 limited edition pieces will look different from each other, giving the wearer a truly one-of-a-kind timepiece.

The vintage brown leather strap that comes with it goes perfectly well with the bronze case. Normally, blue and brown don’t mix very well, but the dark blue dial (in reference to the waters of the sea) imbues the right amount of elegance to the piece. The stainless steel case back features an embossed traditional diver’s helmet and Carl Brashear’s famous mantra: “It’s not a sin to get knocked down. It’s a sin to stay down.”