This is my second purchase from Serious Watches, and once again, they came through flawlessly. The watch was carefully wrapped, packaged and shipped quickly, arriving in just two days. These guys really are Serious about Watches.
Now, for the watch. Photos cannot do this piece justice. Many of the subtle details just don't translate to 2 dimensions. The fit and finish is excellent, as I've come to expect from Orient. The hand set is unique and beautiful. The folded hour and minute hands are mirror polished on one side of the crease, and beautifully brushed on the other, something I've never seen before, but a detail that offers an increased sense of dimension as the light plays off them. The deep red, almost burgundy dial has highly polished applied indices, and is finished with a slightly sandy texture that is again subtle but beautiful, while the bezel is smoother, and double-beveled; the wider outer section displaying the usual timing marks, the narrow inner bevel serving as a nicely done chapter ring with tick marks at every minute. The date window is surrounded by a mirror polished frame. The crystal is slightly domed on top, flat on the underside, providing fascinating dual reflections in the light. It does not appear to have any sort of AR coating, so in some lighting conditions reflections can make the dial a bit hard to read, but this is more than made up for, by the sense of depth it provides. The crowns are well sized and function smoothly and precisely, the upper one bidirectionally operating the bezel, the lower one used for winding and time/date setting.
The polished outer bezel and case sides are beautifully finished, with fine brushing on the case top and lugs providing excellent contrast, while also minimizing those unwanted smudges that drive me crazy with a fully polished case.
The bracelet is arguably the weak link, so to speak. While nicely designed, tapering from 20mm at the lugs to just under 18mm at the clasp, It's fitted with a simple pressed button-deployant clasp. There are no micro-adjustments, nor are there are half-links provided, so some might have difficulty achieving a perfect fit. I lucked out; removing three links was just right for my average sized wrist.
Though a fairly large watch at 43.8mm, it's certainly no salad plate. Though I normally wear 40-42mm watches, this one actually wears very comfortably, and offers a strong wrist-presence without being overbearing or ostentatious.
Overall, it's a beautiful timepiece, definitely on the sporty side, but less casual than a typical external bezel diver. With the fine leather strap would dress it up nicely.
Another excellent offering from Orient. If you like the look and can pull of a nearly 44mm case size, you can't go wrong with this one.
