Orient Hi-Ace and Bronco

As mentioned briefly in last month's story about caliber 46, Orient's first model that put this venerable movement to use was the Hi-Ace (aka Hiace, or simply HA). So let's talk a little about this watch and its non-identical twin, Bronco.

As always with vintage Orients, naming is a mystery. Why would the brand name its watches after a pair of cars? Both the Hiace and the Bronco were car models manufactured by Toyota and Ford, respectively, first introduced around 1966/7, about five years prior to the commercial launch of cal. 46.

"Hi Ace" may be somehow understandable, as it sounded a bit like a successor, or even an upgrade, to the Chrono Ace. But why Bronco? Obviously, it was related to the car, as there was no other use for this term in English at the time, and Orient did not use Spanish words for its model names. A mystery indeed…

Whatever the reason, the Hiace was an important part of Orient's product range between 1973-75. The brand released many versions of the watch, boasting different case shapes and dial styles.

Not all Hiaces were mechanically identical. First of all, there are those equipped with cal. 46, and those that utilize the very similar cal. 48. The latter variant had mostly used the same components and architecture as the 46, but eliminated the click-button at 2, allowing instead the date to be set from the crown.

The elimination of the button, and the addition of a screw-down crown, enabled Orient to introduce the Hiace King Diver, which was resistant to 100m. A number of versions of this model were presented, including this beast from 1975.

The Bronco was another version of the Hiace, despite not having HA printed on its dial. For this version, Orient removed the rotor from the movement and presented it as a hand-winding line of watches – presumably at a lower cost.

Broncos, too, had included some watches featuring the click button, having movements denoted as 46620, and others without the button, having movements listed as 46320.

Button or no button, all automatic Hiace movements had 21 jewels, and all Broncos had 17 jewels. All Hiace models – Broncos included – featured the date and weekday.

In terms of pricing, it seems that the Hiace marked an increased price-point compared to the Chronoace, at least when looking at the mainstream models. A price range of 11,500 – 17,000 JPY for most versions was roughly 20% higher than Chronoaces, which was more than twice the inflation rate at the time.

The HA King Diver, however, was actually slightly less expensive than the top-of-the-line CA King Diver at 19,000 JPY – which, when comparing the two watches, actually makes sense. Also priced at around 19,000 JPY were special dial versions of the Hiace, such as the Jaguar Focus.

  

Pictures that appear in this post were taken from various sale ads and the 1999 Orient Watch Catalog book.