Orient Watch Photo Contest Reminder

I hope everybody is enjoying their holiday ... and while you're at it, don't forget our Orient Watch Photo Contest is still open!

We already got a few great photos posted, so you're welcome to go on our Facebook contest thread and Like your favorite photos. But most importantly - post your own photos to join the contest!

Here again are the rules:

1.     Visit the contest post on our Facebook page, here

2.     To participate in the contest – post your best photo of an Orient watch as a comment on that Facebook post. One photo per participant, please, so choose your candidate photograph wisely!

Note - It doesn't necessarily have to be your own watch (and we wouldn't be able to tell if it is, anyway) but it has to be a watch that you personally photographed.

3.     Get as many Likes as you can; and don't just wait for Likes to happen… invite your friends – especially if they appreciate watches – to visit our page and Like your photo – and any other photo they think is good. Visitors are not restricted to liking just one photo.

4.     The contest will run on our Facebook page until January 1st, 2019, noon CET. Until then you can post photos and get Likes – but of course, the sooner you post your photo, the more time you'll have to get Likes.

5.     The blog also gets one vote for the photo we like the best.

6.     After voting concludes, there will be a final head-to-head contest between the two photos that got the most Likes.

Now – to make things interesting, we also have a humble reward for the winner, which Orient watch fans should appreciate: two authentic and very detailed Japan Orient Store brochures!

Okay, six days to go - that is plenty of time to get that perfect Orient shot... good luck!

The Orient Place Holidays Photo Contest

It seems everyone's running a photo-shoot contest nowadays – so why not have a contest of our own? After all, Orient watches are so photogenic!

So – today we're announcing the Orient Place Holiday Season Photo Contest. And here's how it is going to be:

1.       On the Orient Place Facebook page, there is a new post with a link to the contest announcement (i.e. the blog post you're reading right now)

You can visit the Facebook post directly, here

2.       To participate in the contest – post your best photo of an Orient watch as a comment on that Facebook post. One photo per participant, please, so choose your candidate photograph wisely!

Note - It doesn't necessarily have to be your own watch (and we wouldn't be able to tell if it is, anyway) but it has to be a watch that you personally photographed.

3.       Get as many Likes as you can; and don't just wait for Likes to happen… invite your friends – especially if they appreciate watches – to visit our page and Like your photo – and any other photo they think is good. Visitors are not restricted to liking just one photo.

4.       The contest will run on our Facebook page until January 1st, 2019, noon CET. Until then you can post photos and get Likes – but of course, the sooner you post your photo, the more time you'll have to get Likes.

5.       The blog also gets one vote J for the photo we like the best.

6.       After voting concludes, there will be a final head-to-head contest between the two photos that got the most Likes.

Now – to make things interesting, we also have a humble reward for the winner, which Orient watch fans should appreciate: these two authentic and very detailed Japan Orient Store brochures!

Alright then, what are you waiting for? Go post those photos!

Orient and the Art of War

Like many other watchmakers, Orient occasionally releases co-branded models, produced in honor of, or in cooperation with, other non-watch brands. From time to time I would take the opportunity to look at some of these special editions, which could be of interest to both collectors of Orient watches as well as fans of the other brand.

Today I am looking at one such cooperation: the Orient "Art of War" edition, produced in 2005.

I'm not the biggest expert on action figures in general, or Art of War in specific. But according to the brand website, " Berserk: Art of War is a series of character statues and figurines released by Art of War". Apparently, there are many collectors and fans of Art of War merchandise, which probably inspired the cooperation with Orient.

For the purpose of this endeavor, Orient provided two special models, each limited to 200 pieces, only differentiated in the color of the dial – one white, the other black. Interestingly, both do not feature any Orient branding – the dial, crown, bracelet, and even the movement rotor, are marked with the Art of War logo, and the case side is marked "Berserk". That might indicate that at the time, this was a much more prominent and familiar brand than Orient.

This piece was based on the 2004 "FA" line of watches, featuring a time display, power reserve at 12, month sub-dial at 6, and a "world time" bezel. The Art of War models particularly resemble the WZ0101FA (white dial version), and the WZ0081FA (black dial).

The Art of War pieces were each priced at 65,000 Yen at the time. Surprisingly, this was below the list price for the regular FA models (73,500), although in fairness, keep in mind the standard watches were often discounted by retailers whereas this was only obtainable through the official merchant at ticket price.

While very rarely seen "in the wild", one such Art of War item is being offered on eBay at the time of writing this article:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/200-Body-limited-Berserk-Art-of-war-Wrist-watch-Orient/123511494021?hash=item1cc1dbd585:g:UzsAAOSwCk9bWJ6X:rk:2:pf:0

Please note I have no affiliation with the seller, and do not vouch for authenticity or quality, so buyer's caution is advised! Also note, the photos of the Art of War watches above are taken from the official Art of War website.

Even More Colors

You should know by now – I love colors. I already wrote about Orient's use of color before, but I keep getting back to this topic every time I come across more wonderfully colored pieces from this brand.

One of the most extravagantly vibrant collections in Orient's history was the Sea King, "SK" for short. Some of these SK's boasted dials so flamboyant, I've seen online comments doubting their authenticity, suggesting they have been repainted or something. Well, they're not (at least, they needn't be)… these are the true original designs.

I'm not 100% sure how unique to Orient were the colorful bezels used in this collection, vs. other vintage divers, but I definitely do not see other brands' watches go on auctions featuring so many hues and shades.

The SK models in the above picture (all from the web… my own personal SK is actually black as night J) are only a small selection, from the wide range of shapes and color combinations available in this line. They are really cool and every Orient collector definitely needs to have at least one SK in his watch-box!

Another line of Orients that produced many vivid items was the M-Force. I should definitely write a review of the old M-Force… one of my favorite watches, no doubt. Until I do, feast your eyes on some of the brighter M-Force models, again picture taken from the web:

This brings me back to another favorite of mine, the good old multi-year calendar ref. WV0131EU. Well, that one actually looks quite tame compared to this red-hot variant:

Amazing, isn't it… even for me this is almost too much J …but just almost.

The brand's current line-up might seem restrained, compared to some of these older models, but there are still some very lively pieces on it. Here are just a bunch of them:

Have you got, or seen, a uniquely colored Orient? Share a photo! you can post links to an album in comments to this story, or share actual phots on our facebook page.