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!