Happy New Year – 2025!

2024 is almost over, and as always, it's time for the blog's year wrap-up.

Looking back at the year in watches in general, and for Orient in particular, one must admit that in much the same fashion as 2023, 2024 was far from exciting. Is it because of smartwatches, or the economy, or something else? I'm not sure, but the entire industry (with the exception of certain micro-brands) seems to take steps as prudent and conservative as a Netflix board meeting deciding on the next season.

Nevertheless, let's look at what Orient did this year, and see who goes on the podium of my (completely subjective) vote for best releases of 2024.

In third place, it's the Bambino 38 on a bracelet. Yes, hardly a revolution, not even a new model per se, but the combination of the smaller version of this classic dress watch with a steel bracelet made it more sporty and practical, almost toolish. Just another small step for this long-going line of models, then, but a good one.

In the second place, I put another new variant of the Bambino, again in the new and improved 38mm size – this time, the small-seconds model. The new design is more compact, offering a dial that's both functional and interesting – especially that lovely "tuxedo" version. Again, nothing breathtaking or that we have not seen before; but a decent evolution that seems to be in line with consumers' expectations.

Top place on the podium belongs to the only release of 2024 that stood out from the crop, attempting to offer something new – and perhaps, for the first time since the demise of the Royal Orient brand, daring to look Grand Seiko in the eye.

With the M34 F8, Date Orient took its top, most modern caliber family – the F8 – added a date disk and a trendy textured dial, packaged them in a sharply polished case, and presented a very attractive watch. Had it been Swiss, we would have said it's properly priced as an entry-level luxury watch; being an Orient, it still needs to prove its value to potential buyers. But objectively speaking, there's no doubt this is one very captivating Orient Star.

Anyway, when new releases are either too expensive or too mundane, one can always turn to the good old stuff, and that's what I did. I added only three Orients to my collection this year, but each is quite unique!

There was that sporty 2007 Orient Star, which I fondly referred to as the Orient "Alpinist". I liked its peculiar features from day one, and I have to say that after almost a year of ownership, it proves to be a very wearable, go-to watch when looking for something sporty but on leather rather than steel or rubber.

The 1963 Olympia Calendar with its unique manta-ray case and "mystery" dial is a real standout acquisition. The shape, the quality, the rarity – it's a beautiful piece and I would love to see Orient do something similar today! And why not? After all, Zodiac are proudly selling their Olympos re-issue…

The latest purchase is the 1998 EX0D M-Force. This one is remarkable even among fellow M-Forces, a generally non-conformist lineage of watches. I'll be posting the full review of this piece in January – a worthy start to the new year.

Now, we're looking forward to 2025. Hopefully, a more peaceful year for everyone, everywhere, and one where more of us can spend more time with the unimportant things in life, such as watches – and maybe thus get our favorite watchmakers to return to innovation, not only at the high end of the catalog but also in the attainable models.

This year, I'm not going to repeat my wish for a new Orient GMT and 300m divers – maybe by some feat of reverse psychology, they'll do it when we stop asking… but I'll keep an open call for the brand to surprise us with something new, fun and cool.

Happy New Year to all blog readers and followers, and a happy holiday season to you, your families, and your friends. See you in 2025!

Orient's "ModeID" Watches

Once in a while, I like to dive into some of Orient's quirkier attempts at model naming – whether unexplained ones, like "Bronco," or models that actually did get an explanation, only a strange one – such as the "M collection" in which watch names go after entries in the Messier Catalog of celestial bodies. Well, they don't come much stranger than "ModeID"...

Introduced in 2008, Orient's explanation to the name was that "ModeID" is a coined word that combines "Mode" (meaning fashion) and "ID" (identity), and means the fusion of "fashion" and "being yourself." Yep, that sure clears things up!

The ModeID line itself (MD for short) was actually rather interesting. It included two versions – a square case and a round case, each featuring numerous references. They provided almost every conceivable combination of case color, strap, and dial color – mostly black or white (but also a few blue, red and brown).

Below are all eighteen watches included in this first iteration of ModeID. Note how references start with WD (like WD0011DB, WD0021DB…), unlike most Orients that would start with WV (like the MD contemporaries WV0011DB, WV0021DB, and so on, which were completely different designs).

The round case was around 39mm in diameter without the crown, 45mm lug to lug with a 20mm lug width, and 11.9mm thick. The square version was around 35mm wide and 46mm lug to lug, and a little bit thicker at 12.4mm.

Both types of MD watches used caliber 46A40, a very simple variant of the 46 family of movements. It was a time-only automatic movement, with no hacking or hand winding. Caliber 46A was mainly used for semi-skeleton watches, where the lack of day or date disks prevented the view of the internal moving parts from being obstructed.

The second wave of ModeID came in 2009, and this time, the watches had a very different styling. Orient referred to the new release as "Orient ModeID Dark Romantic," claiming its design conveyed "the duality of glamour and mystery" and "the establishment of a world view that can be described as dark romantic." Orient continued to describe how "the lustrously curved dial features deep colors reminiscent of the colors of Victorian furniture, creating a dark romantic atmosphere. Furthermore, the frame surrounding the date and day of the week further enhances the glamorous and mysterious image."

Well, that might sound like a lot of fluff, but the new range of MD watches was actually quite nice. The collection was much more focused, with just four references.

The new model made use of a different movement – caliber 46B46. Caliber 46B provided the date, day and a 24 hour sub-dial, allowing for a much more interesting – and less minimalistic – design. The new elaborate dial was, in my opinion, more true to Orient DNA, despite ditching the open heart window.

The case was 40.5mm wide, and 13mm thick – considerably larger than the 2008 release. And while the 2008 MD models were sold as Unisex watches, the new version was decidedly presented as a men's watch.

This, then, is the story of Orient's ModeID. A short-lived name and a bunch of colorful watches, some of which were actually pretty nice (which ones are those, I guess, is just a matter of personal taste!)

All photos in this story were taken from Orient catalogs.