Orient Flight ref no. ER2A003B Review

Shots of thoughts was the first to bring to you the latest offering from Orient Watch co. that pays homage to the B-uhr watches of the past.  And now as a follow-up, it is only fitting that we give you an in depth review of the Orient Flight ref no. ER2A003B.





Case
The case measures 42mm wide, 48mm long and around 11mm thick.  In today's generation of watches, this is just about what many say the "Perfect Size".  Minimum nowadays is 40mm, anything lower than that is somewhat unacceptable anymore unless its an oyster case labelled with a coronet, and 44mm is the maximum, and anything above that is only understandable if its a PAM or a professional dive watch.



The Orient Pilot neatly slides into your cuffs without any hesitation, and the probabiltiy of dinging the watch is almost nil in moving on with regular watch life.  The case is also water resistant to a 100M as it features a screw down crown, a definite plus for an everyday pilot watch.



The finish of the case is mostly brushed on the sides and lugs.  And the screwback case back is minimal in writing without any logos watsoever.

The case is fitted with a mineral crystal that doesn't have any AR, thus lighting reflections from the sun or indoor bulbs disturbs the visibility of the watch easily.

Dial
Well, the dial is the real star of this watch.  It's practically the first thing that we made us notice this watch.  The classic B-uhr type B dial is such a dashboard tool design but with Orient's execution, it made it more of a casual and balanced look.  Why?  The minute and hour markers aren't that far.  The dial has a sunray finish around the area of hour markers and matte finish on the minutes.  The hour and minutes hands are all white that matches the white lume then hase the black color through the center.  The second hand is painted all white without any lume, and ticks around the dial cleanly.  The minute and hour markers are all white, leaving only the red "O" on the orient logo.  It also has an italic Automatic and Water resist logo up front.  Though some have views that a steril dial would be nicer, but that wouldn't bean Orient if it is.  At first, the logos and writing seem cluttered and busy, but actually grows on you and you find it appropriate to have them, considering the character that is consisten in almost all Orient watches is still augmented on this one.  The lume is okay.  Well I can't say superb nor bad, but just right.





Crown
The screw down crown is pretty short but wide.  Even wider then the Mako XL which creates an easier grip for time and quick date setting and the flawless screw down operation.  Would have been better if the crown was signed similar to the Bambino but since this is more a utilitarian tool, hence probably the sterile design.

Strap
The lugs on the case has a width of 22mm, pretty standard for men'z watch straps nowadays and definitely a big plus for interchangeability to leather or nylon straps.  I don't think this will good with rubber.  Below are a few examples with different straps. But the OEM leather strap is good enough for the job.  5mm thick, genuine black leather, signed buckle.  A complete design even if it means strapping it over a pilot's overall/jacket.



Movement
Orient's own in-house 48743 calibre powers the Flight.  its a 21 jewel, 40 hour power reserve automatic movement that doesn't have hacking and handwinding capabilities.  The handwinding is kinda of a novelty with automatic watches and who necessarily uses them if you have a screw down crown?  With a month of wearing, i can cross my heart swear that it's still accurate to within a minute still.  It's about +4 sec I rest it in the drawer face up, and -4 sec/day when worn or lying crown up in the drawer.  So I guess that positioning of how you rest it breaks the variance in accuracy in comparison to your quartz watches.  For the price, i'm highly delighted with its performance.  Other drawback is the rotor is loud and noisy, I can even hear it rolling around while wearing it, but the good sid is that the excapement is loud too.  If I just rest my head with my hands, standing on my elbow, during boring meetings, I can hear the movement ticking away.  Neat!

And what is a review without loads of live pics?

on black nato...

On military brown zulu





On croc patterned leather






and on two rivet pilot strap...

Pilot B-uhr watches in general have stood the test of time with its utilitarian and classic design, ever inspiring big and small watch brands to make their own versions and continually get a huge following along side divers watches.  And now that Orient has finally entered into this  Swiss/German populated foray of B-uhr watches, the quality and exceptional bang for buck value that only the horologists from Japan can offer has finally checked-in with the Orient Flight.

Recommended Watch: Prometheus Sailfish

What I love about some independent watch companies is that they operate in a niche market and try to target a few and focus on making their customers happy and even devoted.  Well that may seem a quote from a marketing book but its very true for these small watch brands who don't belong to big Watch Company conglomerates and I even have a perfect normal example for such.

Prometheus is a watch company that just started in 2008 and sells quite good line of watches mostly divers, pilots and dress watches to which for me is a normal complete everyday style watches. And just a couple of weeks ago, they have started pre-orders of a new watch on their collection.  What's so neat about this watch?

The Prometheus Sailfish, the upcoming diver model from the brand and pays tribute to a very interesting and powerful sea creature, the Sailfish.  And the design of the Sailfish is a combination of two historical watches from the past, mainly the Blancpain 50 Fathoms for the bezel, while dial and hands design from the Longines HS watch during the second world war.  And for us, it is one simple and unique combination of design that we can't wait to see in the metal.

Underneath the hood of the Sailfish is Seiko's latest automatic movement NH36 to which for Seikoholics out there, the upgraded version of the 7sxx movements, the 4R36.  Which of course, has already the hacking and handwinding functions that were absent of its predecessor.  This is also the same movement that powers the new Seiko Monsters and baby Tunas.

Below are the complete technical details for the watch.
316L Stainless Steel Case with Brushed finish
Matte Dial
Seiko/Time Module NH36/4R36 Automatic Movement
Domed Sapphire Bezel with 60 clicks and applied luminous C3 Superluminova in numbers and markers
316L stainless steel bracelet with 22mm width including high quality ratcheting buckle suitable for precise and easy adjustments
case diameter: 42.00 mm without bezel, 43mm with bezel
lug width: 22 mm
signed screw down crown with Prometheus logo
water resistance: 300 meters or 30 ATM
sapphire glass with anti-reflective coating inside

watch hands with C3 Superluminova application (hours, minutes, seconds)

And another point I'd truly want to raise out is that they have other color combinations of the watch aside from the usual black face.  Two combinations of which were contributions of their fans from their Facebook page.  Talk about listening to the customer.  I've never seen that in any watch brand before.

Here are the computer generated pics of what the Prometheus Sailfish will look like when it swims out this August.

Blue Model

The the fan suggested models through facebook page.

Here is where customers can pre-order the Sailfish.  They are accepting 300 orders in total for whatever model the customer wishes.

Here are some updated 3D renders.

The case back

And some technical details on the dimensions of the Sailfish's watchhead.

                                 

The Promethus sailfish pre-order price
410 EUR for Residents in European Union including delivery via Fedex and VAT Tax
339 EUR for Residents in Rest of World including delivery via Fedex

If you are looking for a classic looking diver that isn't as common as big watch brands but offers the same quality and satisfaction of wearing a real divers watch, the pre-order link has still numerous slots for you to choose from.  And though many may say that what we see are just 2d and 3d renders of the Sailfish, what I count on is the ability of Prometheus to deliver, to which I have seen been successfully executed in their previous offerings.

Recommended Watch #38: Crepas Cayman 3000 with Jacob Straps

When we speak about leather straps, we always associate it with dress watches, pilot watches or the ever popular PAMs.  And in that note, we don't always associate the classy and delicate strap for dive watches and the salty water where it resides.  But yet we see leather straps of any kind strapped on to dive watches, adding class and elegance to the timepiece that in turn merits it to be invited to an offshore formal event.  And though this seems to be inappropriate in terms of function, but definitely matches like a dress watch considering a diving watch that can actually impress.

Of course, the almighty king of watches, the Submariner would fit this story as historically demonstrated on screen by the world's favorite secret agent way back in the 60s.   

But my 38th recommended watch for this week is from an independent watch brand that is practically unknown to everyone and offers limited edition watches only.  And just like the Sub, it damn looks good with leather.

Below is the Crepas Cayman 3000 with a black leather strap from Jacop Straps specifically made for this watch.  Note Crepas brand on the back if the buckle.

One of the things that captured me with this independed beautiful diver is its classic vintage inspired design.  The sexy thin case and lugs, the crown at 3 o'clock w/out any crown guards, the coin ridged bezel grips and the simple bezel insert with the 15 minute markers only and 5 min indices.  The case is 43mm while the bezel outgrows it measuring at 44.5mm and supports the straps with 22mm space between lugs.


And what completes it the most is that even though the case is vintage in design reminiscent combination of the original Submariners and Seiko 62MAs, the dial is independently minimalist modern black dial that the hands are simply sporty yet elegant.  For dive watches, 4 liners on white font is the max in achieving a classic and timeless look. And aside from this modern look, the technology and capability is definitely in this generation.


The '3000' number for the reference of this Crepas isn't just a fancy number but is a true representation of how deep it can go by meters.  Yes, WR to 300atm or 3000 meters.   It is also antimagnetic to 70A/m.  Movement is ETA 2824. A helium escape valve at 9 o'clock.



Here's a breakdown form saphire to caseback.

Here are more pics plus its original stainless steel bracelet.

Notice the lume on the dial, bezel, and caseback.  Impressive.

WWR #29: Longines Legend Diver with Date

Not many people know this but Longines is brand with a rich history dating back to the 19th century up to the current era.  And one of their famous stories is their pioneering pilot watch that emerged from the 1930s under the first man to fly over the atlantic ocean, Charles Lindbergh.  Then fast forward to the next few decades, embracing the quartz revolution. Well we know that story.  And up to what we see now, Longines is a brand donned by power tennis legends and an Indian Beauty.

But during the 1960s,  Longines was part of the Diving watch frenzy.  And like JLC, Hamilton, IWC, UG and Vulcain,  the brand developed a Super Compressor Dive watch.  It was called the Longines Legend diver as seen on the picture below.

Stunning watch isn't it?  Well since the past few years has been the time where we've seem numerous remakes and tributes is just about anything that happened about half a century ago, Longines, re-released the new version of this legendary diver.  Now what struck me with this watch is that compared to other tributes from the 60s, this model resembles so much from the original one that if you'd see a mint condtion 60s Legend Diver.

The new one is upgraded with a Sapphire Crystal with AR coating, screw in crowns, new movement with 28,800 bph.  Now this tribute watch has two versions, with and without date.  The one I am recommending is the with date.  Though the ultimate remake would be the no date but I just can't live without a date complication.  And it's the best distinguishing mark compared to the old one.

Here is the new legend diver after 50 years.

the no date

                                



the with date

So why this Longines compared from other super compressor dive watches around? The price is just below $2,000 USD, great tribute watch, from a trusted brand, and most of all, if the Omega that I featured last week could be a contender for the one watch to fit all, then this would be one of it's greatest challenger.  The Longines would look great under a dress or wet suit.  Young or old. Contemporary or an artist. 

Well the design might not be blendable to everyone's taste but I'm sure those with good ones will consider it.  My initial reaction to the legend diver was that of the hour hand.  I first thought it was too short, but then again, weren't hour hounds supposed to be, to be recognizable and big compare to the minute hand.  And if you were the 50s designer of the original one, there was no other way, and the design they ended up is perfect to which I would conclude.  Some designs need to grow on us.  We are not all masters of our taste.  That's what for me a good design is.  A design that not just acts as a pusher but actually teaches us and makes our way to the roots of our tastes and molds and corrects it.  And the simple dial, and inner rotating bezel, crown design, and the most common looking case, sets this to be an immortal classic, that is not that popular to the point of being unique. 

Longines usually has no defined image to their watches except for the Lindbergh hour watch which is a totally different interesting story in itself, and so with this Legend diver, I hope they carry on to this type of image with their sport/dive watch categories and forget the urge to follow the trend but rather be the trail blazer.   

WWR #27: Ball Trainmaster One Hundred Twenty

When I was at my local tailor shop the other day to have my suit done, I was flipping the pages of this fashion magazine and admiring the sweet models and nice suits in its prints.  While quickly turning the pages for boring features, an small glimpse of something familiar caught my eye at the least focus area of my natural lenses.  It was a watch.  Gold case, brown leather strap, grayish dial, well don't see that quite often I said.

I thought it was from the usual big Swiss brands that offer fine haute horlogerie and nothing less.  But I was surprised that it was from the hardcore (well that's my personal perception of the brand) Ball as the matter of fact. Those tough anti magnetic water resistant gas power lighted watches has come up with an elegant dress watch to celebrate 120 years of the brand.  And, hence its name the Ball Trainmaster One Hundred Twenty.  I love the name.  Simple and meaningful.

Here is the gorgeous watch.

 The case is rose gold at a perfect dress size of 39.5mm. An anti-reflective sapphire crystal protects the grey sunburst dial that is nicely complemented with gold markers that have gas powered lights that will illuminate and eliminate all non luminous dress watches.  Its powered by an ETA 2892 movement that gives you the standard automatic movement with date function and over course hacking and handwinding capabilities.

With the gas lights on...

Well I really can't say anything about this watch but pure absolute drooling praise.  I mean the reason dress watches aren't so popular as dive watches or chronographs, is for the fact that they are so refined looking and doesn't offer anything more but elegance and formality.  While for this, at $6000, you can still get that elegant classy look plus a 120 year heritage of a tough watch brand that simply gives you legibility at night when most evening affairs are done.  And its not from the usual suspects.  Its not mainstream.  For me its one of the most underrated brands that exist today.  And this watch is their cream of the crop.  Get this while you still can.

Get a Ball for your next ball.