Orient Watches will be celebrating their 60th year on July 13th 2010. A company having those years of experience in watchmaking is quite unknown to the normal watch user, except if you are talking to WIS like me. But I'm not gonna talk about the 60th anniversary edition watch, we are here look at new diver model OEM7500 or otherwise named as Mako XL, Big Mako, New Mako or hogrider.
This model was released about early half of 2009 or that was the time I first saw it in watch forums. This belongs to Orient's diving sports category alongside the mako and the ISO rated 300M diver. So here's my take.
The case of the watch is a combination of polished and brushed finish stainless steel. It's 44.5mm wide which is bigger that its older brother mako to which I can say was one of the reasons I got this one. That size and finish really held on to me and just stuck on my wrist from the moment that sales lady made me try for size. It's big, but it doesn't shout loud. It's not a thick watch to with respect to the ratio of how big the case is, that is why it just sits firmly to your wrist, like a baby firmly sleeping in Dad's arms. The bezel is likewise well done. That improved big numbers on the insert and the grip for 60 click diver feel. Bad though is it has no lume pip on the 60. Well this is not an ISO rated diver though, I myself am also not a diver by any certification available, so I guess it did not bother me. The 200m WR i guess won't be really for open diving or saturated diving, just for casual swimming by the pool or beach. As they said, this is a cocktail or desk diver.
Movement is from the highly dependable and efficient 46943. I believe came from the 7000 series movement from Seiko way back in 60s, its the "if it ain't broken, why fixed it" movement. And I like it that way, its like having an old dependable VW beetle in your driveway but its just been built off the shop floor. A touch of heritage and history but still new for you to make your own. Absolutley digg it. The movement is the basic automatic winding system with no handwinding or hacking. It has the easy quick-day function through the push of the tiny button on the 2 o'clock marker.
Casebacks. I personally love casebacks. When eyeing or trying out a watch, the caseback is the next thing I'd look at after studying the dial, the hands, bezel and everything in front. I don't know why but something in the caseback makes me feel like looking on the engine of the car, especially for clear casebacks. So for this watch, it has that nice and elegent Orient Automatic Emblem that is just perfect for the brand. It shows also the model number and case numbers but unfortunately, it doesn't have serial numbers like Seiko where you can refer when the watch was produced. Its also a screw down caseback as customary for diver style watches.
The dial on this model is black, though it comes with the bright blue and orange but those colors on watches aren't just for me. Its just either black, white or grey/silver. Well the dial is quite decent and formal, it has big hour markers with that nice Orient Emblem and that 'Automatic' and 'Water Resist' font just makes it somewhat grand. The lume though is the weakest thing on this watch. I mean, my 14 year old Seiko shines brighter than this one.
The hands are quite unique. I haven't seen this kind of arrow shaped hands in any Orient watches and in any other diver watch brands for that matter. It's definitely Orients own arrow head. The second hand has that classic look with the lume pip on the near end. But yes again, lume really sucks, so if it really bothers you, have them relumed.
The bracelet if the watch is one of its high points. It's like buffed biceps to complement and buffed chest with six pack. Its 22mm all throughout. A double push button lock clasp with that nice Orient emblem. Gotta love that emblem.
Overall, its definitley a dress/cocktail/desk diver considering the lack of true ISO diver's rating. But aside from that, its a definite beauty with superb quality craftmanship and design that is uniquely Orient that you can't deny any wrist time for years and years to come.
