Tribute to Star Wars heroes

More than four decades after the first Star Wars film was released, the science fiction series still has fans wanting more.

Now, Swiss watch brand Oris has launched two limited edition watches using symbols from Star Wars to mark the opening of its flagship store on the Chinese online mall Jingdong.

David Weber, the director of the brand in the Greater China; Chen Wan, the manager of the watch business department of Jingdong Mall; and local actor Jing Chao attended the launch event in Beijing.

Jing says the film series was part of his childhood. He cherishes every moment of that memory, just like he appreciates the charm of the brand that emanates from the passage of time.

Oris, a 114-year-old Swiss watch brand, has been trying to infuse different cultural characteristics into its designs to create timepieces that are directed toward the needs and preferences of the younger generation.

One of watches is named after Darth Vader, a key character.

It is developed from the brand's professional dive watch, and features a series of safety locking bezels for diving to depths of 1,000 meters. The multi-piece titanium case is covered with a black diamond-like coating, and the overall black color with red accents echoes the dark side of the character.

The image of the warrior is inscribed on the back of the watch, surrounded by his famous line, "The force is strong with this one". There are only 250 pieces of this watch.

The other limited edition watch named Stormtrooper comes from the famous Aquis diving watch series from Oris.

It is made of stainless steel. And its white-and-black tone echoes with the color of the armor of "White Soldier" Imperial Stormtroopers in the film.

The back of the dial is marked with the helmet pattern of the Imperial Stormtroopers, and the words said by Obi-Wan, a character in the 1977 Star Wars film - "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise". There are just 1,300 pieces of this watch.

For both the watches, the pattern of the Twin Ion Engines (TIE) fighter is engraved on the zero hour mark.

Also, the classic element of the Star Wars series - the Death Star - is cleverly placed in the center of the dial, surrounded by the TIE fighters and the Rebel X-wing fighters chasing each other, depicting the classic air battles in the film.

Besides, there are the logos of "Star Wars" and "Lucas Film Ltd" - the studio that produced the film series - engraved on the back of the dial.

The links to Star Wars are almost everywhere, but actually they decorate the dial inconspicuously, more like puzzles hidden only for loyalty fans to discover.

Weber says that the low profile design aims to attract fans to purchase related products, and also regular consumers who are just into beautifully designed watches. The appearance of watch needs to fit both casual and serious social contexts. And he emphasizes that he doesn't want customers to buy a watch and put it in the safe, or take it out once a year for the wedding anniversary.

"Most of the Star Wars fans are between 30 and 50 years old, so they're not walking around with a Mickey Mouse T-shirt," he says.

Oris has been quite active in taking e-commerce initiatives in China. It opened a flagship store on Tmall, another Chinese online market, and Jingdong this year.