Orient Place

Orient Place

Sunday 23 January 2022

The Orient Jupiter

Some names that pop up repeatedly throughout Orient's history bear much weight, like King Diver, M-Force and Royal Orient. Others seem to just float about, light and foamy, without drawing too much attention. Such is the name Jupiter.


Because it is such an unassuming side note in Orient's chronicles, not much has been written about it. But still, there were enough nice Jupiters produced over the years, it's worth mentioning a few of them.

We'll start off, rather surprisingly, with the most recent of them. The relatively-modern Orient Jupiter was a rather faithful rendition of one of the 1950's model – in fact it was so faithful, Orient even modified one of its then-current automatic, time-and-date movements, removed the date wheel and rotor, and squeezed it into the authentically small 34mm case of the reissue.


Honestly, other than its minute dimensions, this is a lovely watch. Now in hand-winding guise, a "19 jewel" text decorates the dial instead of the usual "automatic", and the crown's "ghost-position" in-between winding and setting the time reveals its movement's origin.

Orient produced two versions of this Jupiter: the gold-plated reference Tn33502G, and stainless steel Tn33503S.


The original Jupiter of the mid 1950s was not much different, if we can imagine it being clean and shiny (not many photos now exist of shiny 1950s Jupiters…)

Also measuring 34mm across, with a simple yet elegant dial, this was positioned below the Orient Star models of that era. And speaking of Stars and Jupiters, Orient must have been looking to the sky for names then, as that was also when an even more obscure model by the name Mars Orient was produced.

The original Jupiter with its T-type movement was replaced in the early 1960s by a new "showerproof" model, containing the newer N-type caliber, still with no date function.


Between the 1950s and 1990s, the Jupiter name was occasionally attached to different models, both automatic and quartz. Among those were a diver, some dressy models, and even a couple of curious looking moon-phase models having a fairly un-orient-like design – which might have been the reason for branding them "Jupiter" (with no mention of Orient on the dial).


So this was a brief review of a name of no particular importance in the history of Orient… but still, one that might yet be of interest for a collector of inconspicuous old watches.

 

Pictures of the various watches that appear on this post were taken from various old sale ads.

16 comments:

  1. Hi. Anyone know where to get a replacement crystal for a Orient Bambino Version 4. I dropped my watch last night in the bathroom and it smashed.
    I have read a post on here from 2020 but the poster was unable to get one. It would be a shame to have to bin the watch.
    Orient Bambino Version 4 Classic Automatic FAC08004D0 AC08004D

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    1. That's not such an old model... have you tried your local Orient AD or any decent watchmaker and they couldn't source a crystal for you? That's a shame really. Indeed Version 4 is the problematic one... If you can't get any, I would try contacting Orient Japan.

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  2. Hello Mr Orient,

    I have just read the post about the Orient Jupiters. It is really useful. I would like to ask for some opinion of yours. I came across a watch which looking for me had a Jupiter movement but the face said Royal Orient. I have uploaded two pictures about it here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-5PKvba7-XBePJ7BuwQvoDqvKz5S9dOD. What do you think about it?

    Kind regards,

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    1. Hi! It's an N-type movement - it was used by both Royal Orients and Jupiters between 1958-1961.

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    2. Hello! Thank you for your answer. What is strange for me: there is just a single Orient text on the movement. I have just seen this in pictures about Jupiter watches, but all of the Royal Orient that I have seen had some jewellery information on the bridge. Was there any difference between the movements in the two series?

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    3. There were different versions of the movement, and I have definitely seen various writings on the bridge - some with just the brand, some with jewel count, and the more high end also with "5 adjusted".

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  3. Hello Mr orient! I believe I have an 17 jewel orient t movement which needs a new canon pinion. Because it is loose . Will an orient dynamic or orient Jupiter be a good substitute for it ?

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    1. I have included a link for my watch for your assistance. Would you be able to tell me the model and year of make for this particular watch sir ?
      https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WtjmSxLg1saxR7iL6hWsZ9uDldaQX-d1

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    2. I have also heard that a 17 jewel seiko marvel might have the same movement inside . Is that true ?

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    3. Can an orient mars substitute it as well ?

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    4. Hi. If you are looking at a first gen Jupiter with a T type movement then it should provide a replacement. Hard to tell about similar Seiko movements because Orient often made changes to the movements they borrowed.

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    5. I’m looking to combine the mars dial and its 19 jewel movement into a Jupiter case . Do you think it’s possible sir ? It’s because the jupiter movement is too damaged to be saved

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    6. The movement should fit, not sure about the dial. It is similar size, but I can't tell how much work would be needed to actually fit it; I think it will be easier to just swap the movement without replacing the dial. And it would retain its authenticity.

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    7. Mr orient a very late follow up but do you happen to know what movement is the one in the picture I uploaded thru the Google drive ? Would like to know more about the provenance of my watch

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    8. Hi, that is a T type movement.

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    9. Thank you very much sir!

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