Orient's Modern Skeleton

This year, Orient marked the 10^th anniversary of the "Modern Skeleton" design, which was first introduced in 2014. A good excuse, then, for a brief overview of this quintessential Orient model.

We've discussed Orient's Skeleton watches before. For the last 30 years or so, the brand – always on the lookout for standout features that would differentiate it from its step-sister brand Seiko – adopted the concept of exposing the movement on the dial side. While Seiko rarely shows more than a little round "open heart" aperture, Orient have released models spanning the entire spectrum between semi- to full skeleton.

Over time, Orient established a fairly consistent ratio of exposure to the dollar, meaning: full skeletons will appear at the very high end of the Orient Star price range, while "regular" Orients might at best get the open heart. In-between the two ends, are Orient Star models with varying degrees of open dials.

The Orient Star Modern Skeleton was introduced in 2014, a sort of successor to the Retro-Future Bicycle model – an older model that used the same caliber 40S and boasted a similar level of exposure of its internal mechanism.

The first batch of Modern Skeletons included five references: WZ0181DK (black dial), WZ0191DK (blue dial), WZ0201DK (brown dial), WZ0211DK (white dial), and a limited "Prestige Shop" model – WZ0221DK (blue dial with gold hands and markers).

The dimensions of the watch were classic, sporty, not too big and not too small: the case was 41mm wide (without the crown), 49mm lug to lug, and 12.4mm thick. Lug width was 21mm, same as many Orient models.

In the following years, more variations of the Modern Skeleton were released. First up was the 2015 "Orient's 65^th anniversary" piece, ref. WZ0261DK; and later, the "Modern" became a standard celebratory model for the brand, i.e. a base design that would often receive special editions when Orient wishes to mark any particular event. Naturally, in 2016, "Orient Star's 65^th anniversary" versions followed: WZ0331DK and WZ0341DK, featuring beautiful, deep color dials in blue and reddish-brown, respectively.

More models released in 2016 included references WZ0271DK (black dial), WZ0281DK (ivory dial), and WZ0291DK (also ivory dial, but with a leather band). In 2017, for some reason, Orient released limited editions of the watch inspired by British colors, blue and green: references RK-DK0001L and RK-DK0002L. It wasn't blue from the flag or the famous racing green: nope, Orient mentioned the inspiration as a blue-and-green Scottish tartan (I'm not making this up).

In 2018, Orient introduced the F6 caliber into the series, and a fresh batch of watches was presented featuring the new movement: RK-AV0004L (blue dial), RK-AV0005N (grey), RK-AV0006L (blue, with leather strap), RK-AV0007S (ivory dial), RK-AV0008Y (grey-green), RK-AV0009L (prestige shop blue model), and RK-AV0010E (limited edition of black IP case and green dial).

What's interesting is that the Modern Skeleton is one of very few Orient models that went through a movement update, while keeping its design almost 100% unchanged. In fact, the only differences between the F6 and older models were the upgraded power reserve scales (now reaching 50 hours, instead of 40), subtle changes in the movement itself, visible through the dial openings, and a slight reduction in thickness to 12.0mm.

Like the old model, the new F6 Modern Skeleton continued to receive new versions. These include the 2019 RK-AV0111L (released under the "Moving Blue" campaign), the 2020 RK-AV0116L/0117L (also under "Moving Blue") and RK-AV0113S (white), RK-AV0114E (teal) and RK-AV0115B (black and gold); and the 2021 RK-AV0118L/0119L (with sparkling blue dials).

The flow of "moving blue" references continued in 2022 with the RK-AV0120L/0121L (this time with a golden bezel) and in 2023 with RK-0122L (slightly different shades of blue).

The final batch, for now, of Modern Skeletons arrived in 2024, celebrating as mentioned the tenth anniversary of this model. This includes RK-AV0124G (champagne dial and yellow-gold elements), RK-AV0125S (silver dial) and the all black RK-AV0126B. Outside Japan, RE-AV0123G (with rose gold elements) was also released.

At the moment, there is no sign that the end of the Modern Skeleton is near. Apparently, the model continues to be popular. What makes this so successful, and is this watch as good in reality as it is in pictures – that remains to be seen, and seen it will be! A review of one of the latest iterations of the Modern Skeleton is coming up soon, here on Orient Place blog.