Thoughts on Orient watches

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DangerZone98

Joined
Dec 7, 2019
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Hey everyone. For folks who own or owned Orient watches, what are your thoughts on them? The Kanno looks tempting since 44 mm feels like a good size for dive watches, and the substantial crown is a nice plus. Did you find the small crown of the Mako/Ray/Kamasu difficult to operate? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
MolokaiRider said:
I have a couple. They are very nice entry level automatics, that feel like you are getting more watch than what you paid. The crown works fine, and the lume is quite good.

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Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience. Reports of the small crown on the Mako/Ray made me hesitant at first. Guess I’ll try them one day then. Can always return I suppose if it’s not for me, hehe.
 
I recently was looking for a black daily diver, and got myself a Ray Raven II.

Awesome watch, great legibility, good lume & very accurate with ~ +2s/d

The crown is a bit small and therefore sometimes a bit tricky to close after winding.
However, if you wear the watch for a couple of hours, winding is definitely not necessary.

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Right now it gets a ton of wrist time, as it is so good looking and comfortable.
 
DangerZone98 said:
Hey everyone. For folks who own or owned Orient watches, what are your thoughts on them? The Kanno looks tempting since 44 mm feels like a good size for dive watches, and the substantial crown is a nice plus. Did you find the small crown of the Mako/Ray/Kamasu difficult to operate? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
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I have an Orient watch with power reserve dial (tells how many hours left before you need to wind it). Perhaps you might be interested in such a feature. Mine also has day of the week which can be useful.
 
Wasty said:
I recently was looking for a black daily diver, and got myself a Ray Raven II.

Awesome watch, great legibility, good lume & very accurate with ~ +2s/d

The crown is a bit small and therefore sometimes a bit tricky to close after winding.
However, if you wear the watch for a couple of hours, winding is definitely not necessary.

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Right now it gets a ton of wrist time, as it is so good looking and comfortable.
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Handsome black watch there.
 
barleywino said:
I have an Orient watch with power reserve dial (tells how many hours left before you need to wind it). Perhaps you might be interested in such a feature. Mine also has day of the week which can be useful.
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Sounds interesting, never had a watch with a power reserve indicator before.
 
I have an Orient Ray 2 that I purchased a couple months ago. Not wearing it today so no pic. I like it a lot but I do find the crown irritating. It works but it's hard to get a grip on. I have to use my t-shirt or a rag to get a good "bite" on it.

I would still recommend the Ray 2 to anyone. Great watch. The reasonabl;e price is just the icing on the cake.
 
I have a handful plus of orients and orient stars. great watches for the money. nothing to not like. in house movements, decent qc, better than seiko lately. all I own keep decent time.

I haven't owned one I didn't think was a good value yet.
 
DangerZone98 said:
Hey everyone. For folks who own or owned Orient watches, what are your thoughts on them? The Kanno looks tempting since 44 mm feels like a good size for dive watches, and the substantial crown is a nice plus. Did you find the small crown of the Mako/Ray/Kamasu difficult to operate? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
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I think Orient is a quality brand for the money. My understanding is that Orient is owned by Seiko. I have a Kano and I really like it.
 
bdmicarta said:
I think Orient is a quality brand for the money. My understanding is that Orient is owned by Seiko. I have a Kano and I really like it.
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Thanks for sharing. Of all their divers, I’m kinda leaning towards the Kano the most. The dial is rather handsome.
 
wore a kamasu today.......

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if shopped just under 200..sapphire and all the other stuff yad want in a diver lookin auto watch.

to note.... these and other lower dollar orient diver lookin watches aren't iso6425 tested. ones that are.....are labeled divers on the dial and cost more. this one is still 200m wr. so fine for shallow open water diving and swimming etc. good watch for the money.
 
Once upon a time, the big three Japanese watchmakers were Seiko, Citizen and Orient. The invention of quartz watch movements led to legal wars between Swiss and Japanese watchmakers, and Orient was the big loser: banned from making quartz movements and from building watches with quartz movements. Now the big three Japanese watchmakers are Seiko, Citizen and Casio, and after running on Seiko's life support for many years, in 2009 Orient became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seiko's Epson subdivision. Orient still designs mechanical watch movements and manufactures them in Japan. They are excellent movements, and people who like mechanical watches still collect and use Orient watches.

Orient's Submariner homage, called the Snorkeler. With this sole exception, Orient didn't copy competitors' designs, and the Snorkeler wasn't in production long. It is collectible to people who collect cheap watches. Mine is a rare Sapphire Snorkeler with a sapphire crystal.

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On its original crappy bracelet which didn't last long. Typical for a sub-$100 mechanical watch.

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Strong lume was never an Orient strong point.

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I have a couple of Orients, a Mako II USA and a neat little pocket watch. The Mako sees more use than the pocket watch (pocket watch stays at my desk and I'll occasionally wind it up), but I do enjoy them both. Solid in house movements that keep decent time. Will echo others that Orient is a good value, and they have a style for just about anyone.

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Crazy Canuck said:
I have a couple of Orients, a Mako II USA and a neat little pocket watch. The Mako sees more use than the pocket watch (pocket watch stays at my desk and I'll occasionally wind it up), but I do enjoy them both. Solid in house movements that keep decent time. Will echo others that Orient is a good value, and they have a style for just about anyone.

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I especially like that pocket watch. Looks very Peaky Blinders-y, hehe.

How do you find the crown on the Mako, if I may ask? Is it easy to screw out and screw back in after time setting? Thanks!
 
DangerZone98 said:
I especially like that pocket watch. Looks very Peaky Blinders-y, hehe.

How do you find the crown on the Mako, if I may ask? Is it easy to screw out and screw back in after time setting? Thanks!
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The crown's alright, not great. The threads feel a little gritty, but it operates fine. Haven't really had an issue with it.
 
Original Mako

Mako_1.jpeg

This was Orient's entry level dive watch 13 years ago. I don't remember the list price, but if you shopped around it cost $98 with the bracelet or $93 with a silicon strap no one liked. It had a pusher at 2 o'clock you can barely see in my photo, which changed the day in the day/date window. The pusher and the crown both screwed down: they were water-tight and they worked fine. The movement didn't hack or hand-wind, but it was more accurate than Seiko's entry level 7S26 mechanical movement. The bracelet's end links were folded but the rest were solid and the clasp was well made. You could wear it and it wouldn't fall apart, unlike the Snorkler's bracelet. The crystal was mineral glass and it scratched pretty easily, but not any worse than Citizen's mineral glass. Seiko's hardlex crystals are better but not as good as sapphire. The bezels were REALLY HARD TO TURN because Orient didn't lubricate them and I don't know why but it was notorious. Most watch forums have instructions on removing these old Orient bezels, and you need a microscopic amount of silicon grease, not the plumber's supply crap but Trident which you can buy at any dive shop or on Amazon. The lume on the hands was good for about an hour, not ideal but all you really need for open water diving to 10 feet.

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When Seiko took over Orient in 2009, they raised all of Orient's list prices 15% and gave the Mako a sapphire crystal. They blew the old Makos out the door on clearance and that's when I bought mine.
 
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