The "Planet Orient"

Planet Orient was the nickname for a series of sporty watches released by Orient in the late 2000s, sold around 2008-2012. These became quite popular, having something of a cult following to this day. A good reason to borrow my friend B. B.'s Planet Orient for a few days, and check out what made this watch so special.

But first, as usual, a bit of history. Where does this model get its planetary name? It certainly does not feature any map or earth-like elements. The reason lies elsewhere…

In 2005, Omega launched a new line of watches, the Seamaster Planet Ocean. The first Planet Oceans had a black or orange bezel, but it was the orange version that caught most of the attention. Orange became known as the Planet Ocean color, despite being nearly invisible on some of the models.

So, when a few years later Orient released its own line of watches having orange elements (some more, some less), it was naturally given the unofficial name, "Planet Orient". And just like its Omega spiritual father, it did not really matter that most versions had very little orange in them.

Orient introduced six variants of the model (note that as always with Orient, models starting with FM can be found as FFM or CFM, too).

·         Reference FM00001B with a black bezel insert, black dial, and steel bracelet.

·         Ref. FM00002B with an orange bezel insert, black dial, and steel bracelet.

·         Ref. FM00001S with a black bezel insert, "tuxedo dial" (black and white), and steel bracelet.

·         Ref. FM00003B with an orange bezel insert, black dial, and black leather strap.

·         Ref. FM00004W with a silver bezel insert, white dial, and brown leather strap.

·         Ref. FM00005D with a dark blue insert, dark blue dial, and brown leather strap.

The model I got my hands on for this review is the most orange of the lot, and therefore also the most sought-after: the orange bezel FM00002B. While over a decade old, its owner did not actually wear it much, and the watch is really in very fine condition, so I could review it as if it were new.

The watch stands out immediately with its rugged appearance. The visual impact is made by both the chunky case, and the massive-looking five-link steel bracelet. The playfulness of the orange bezel does not detract from this impression – it just makes it sportier.

The actual dimensions of the watch are not as intimidating as its initial appearance may imply, or as the advertised 44.5mm width may suggest. That is actually the dimension including the crown guard. Without the guard, the case (and bezel) width is 43.2mm, which is still not small but also not unusually large. 

Lug-to-lug, the Planet Orient is a reasonably 49mm long. Lug width is 24mm, but the integrated bracelet then tapers to a comfortable 20mm. The whole thing weighs about 180g.

While not a small watch by any means, it is perfectly comfortable to wear. The bracelet works well here, both visually and practically. It flows nicely from the drilled lugs, hugs the wrist well, and from a design perspective matches the angles of the case and grooves of the bezel.

The bracelet is very good quality, and provides a good counterweight to the case itself. With no hair pulling, an elaborate finishing, and solid end-links, it is a step above standard Mako bracelets – and indeed, when released, the Planet Orient was positioned – and priced – above the basic divers, closer to the M-Force. The clasp however, is more standard, similar to the Mako bracelet.

The case itself is well made and shaped less conventionally than, say, the aforementioned Mako. There's use of polished and subtly brushed surfaces, as in the bracelet, and the angular design makes it more interesting.

The bezel does rotate, however it is not as grippy as on typical dive watches – and indeed it is not a diver bezel. It feels quite tough and reassuring though as it moves through its 60 clicks.

Looking more closely at the dial, one can appreciate again how this watch is above the brand's entry level. The markers are big and very three-dimensional. The various sections and sub-dials are clearly separated and somehow – in what is an Orient expertise in my opinion – create a pleasingly balanced and uncluttered layout.

All these components work together to produce a very legible watch face. I must admit I usually prefer a date window to a pointer, but the date sub-dial here is large compared to some other Orient models, so reading it is relatively easy.

Lume is pretty good too – it's not particularly long-lasting, but the sheer amount of it makes night-time legibility more than decent. There's even a little bit of lume on the power-reserve needle.

You might wonder then why, with the bezel, lume, and even a screw-down crown, this watch was not designated as a dive watch, and was only rated to 100m. This is probably more due to product management considerations by the brand than any technical limitation.

The caseback provides a glimpse of the movement, Orient's automatic caliber 46U40. This one does not feature hacking or hand-winding, but like all Caliber 46 variants it is a very reliable and resilient movement. It's even nicely decorated.

All in all, it's easy to see why people liked this watch. It has a very distinctive look and just the right amount of Orient quirkiness, but not too much; it's built like a tank; and it was very reasonably priced – still is, if you can find one, a fairly doable task.

Indeed the chunky design is not for everyone, nor is the size, and it is still not as robust as an M-Force, contemporary models of which featured sapphire crystal, better shock resistance, and true dive-watch specifications. However, for those who like the style of the Planet Orient, that is indeed a very lovely piece to own.

 

Orients With Yellow Dials

A watch with a yellow dial. How does that make you feel? Clearly, not a color for every occasion – and not one for every watch. Which is why yellow is far from being the most popular or trendy shade of dials. But, put it on a sports watch and suddenly it fits.

Yellow is bright. It has to be; there is no dark yellow, really. Yellow conveys a sense of energy, zest, and liveliness. It reminds us of the warmth of the Sun. It makes us think of bananas, that provide us vitamins and minerals.

Orient was never shy of dishing out yellow versions of its watches, particularly divers – but not just. Today, however, you can browse the brand's entire range of models currently in production, and you won't find a single yellow piece.

I'm not talking about muted yellow dials that are really crème or beige. Yes, you have some watches with a little splash of yellow here and there, but I'm not talking about any of those either. I'm talking about a properly bright, unashamedly yellow dial.

Let's take a look at some past yellow models from the brand.

Perhaps the most celebrated yellow watch from Orient was the 300m Saturation Diver, shown here in Orient Star guise alongside its little brother, the 200m Air Diver, aka "Revolver".

Orient released the yellow Orient Star Saturation Diver in both the 1st and 2nd generation of the watch, as references WZ0271FD and WZ0191EL. It also released the yellow Revolver with both a steel bracelet and a rubber band, as references WZ0391FD and WZ0371FD, respectively.

Another famed lineage of sports watches from Orient was (and still is) the M-Force. Many past generations bearing this name had proper yellow dial versions. Such as the EX04 shown above – or the two versions seen below, belonging to the EX07 family (on the left) and the EL family (on the right, very similar to the Revolver).

Yellow also popped up on various other product lines from time to time. Below you can see some random examples of that: a yellow semi-skeleton model; a Racer; and one of the early divers preceding the Mako.

By the way, you might be wondering why that Racer looks so similar to the EX01 M-Force, and you would be absolutely right – it is in fact a re-branded M-Force! Why and how this happened is the topic for another story…

Orient also applied yellow to its uniquely sporty yet elegant Somes series, in the form of reference WZ0051FR, seen above. You can check out my old review of the black-dial variant of this watch to see what a huge difference this color makes.

Last but not least is the yellow Mako below. Orient released this baby in 2014, to mark the 10^th anniversary of the popular diver.

This makes one think… 2024 is coming up and it will soon be the Mako's 20^th anniversary. I wonder if we are going to see a new yellow Mako next year, either the 42mm or the newer 40mm version…?

What other current production model would you like to see Orient fire up with yellow? 

Pictures that appear in this post were taken from old Orient catalogs and sale ads. Pictures of the 10th anniversary Mako are from Monochrome Watches. The Yellow Mako 40 is, of course, a mock-up prepared by the blog.

The Weekly Auto Orient AAA

This will not be the first "AAA" covered on the blog. I've already posted a story about the Orient AAA Deluxe a while back. This time though, I felt like going for something more classic-looking, and whereas that DXO was quite distinctively Japanese, the model I'm looking at now is clearly influenced by Swiss designs.

More specifically – the influence of the Rolex Day-Date. That iconic watch – the first to display the full day of the week along with the date – was introduced in 1956, and by the mid-1960s when this AAA was produced, its design had already become an object of admiration and source of inspiration for watch designers worldwide.

This AAA, while clearly not a "replica" and having a fairly distinct and more simple-looking dial, displays such clear day-date elements, like the fluted bezel, cyclops, and of course – the combined day and date display.

At the time Orient released numerous versions of the Weekly Auto, differing in jewel count (generally ranging between 19-25, with some rare models going as high as 30) and in their dial layout – with a few featuring the arched day window (like the Rolex) while others having a rectangular window.

This particular piece I'm holding is the 21 jewel, rectangular day type. I do like that it's quite different from my other Weekly Auto (which is the King Diver with the arched window) and as mentioned, also different from my other AAA.

The hands on this watch seem a bit short, as both minute and second hands do not reach the hours markers. I was wondering if the hands were possibly replaced at some point; however, I did see numerous photos of weekly auto's with a similar set of hands (as well as variants with longer hands). So possibly this is original. 

Also, while lumed hands often got replaced when the paint degraded, these watches generally had simple metal hands with no paint, so hands rarely needed a change. And this watch is generally in excellent condition – the case is nicely kept, the dial is clean and the crystal and cyclops without any visible scratches – so the hands should not have been damaged.

Indeed upon close inspection one can appreciate the nicely brushed dial, well-polished markers and aperture frames. While lacking the more intricate design elements of the Deluxe (like more elaborate marker design and matching hands), it's still a handsome watch.

The fluted bezel was first used by Rolex on their cushion-case Oyster in 1926, but it received its familiar iconic shape when it got attached to the round case of the Datejust in 1945. It adds sparkle and elegance to the watch, even if it is not made of gold…  

The cyclops too was a Rolex novelty, just another one of their numerous inventions in the prolific 1950s. What is it about this little extra piece of crystal that goes so well with fluted bezels, I don't know. Perhaps we just got used to this combination so much. Anyway it's a nice addition. It's hard to estimate its magnification here, but it helps to read the date. As for the weekday, you'll have to wear your glasses.

Then there's the beads of rice bracelet, another key component of this model's style, though not actually a day-date thing; while Rolex did use some BoR bracelets in the 1940s, it later adopted its self-designed Jubilee bracelet instead. BoR did remain a favorite of other top-tier brands looking for an elegant alternative to Milanese bracelets.

The BoR bracelet here (Orient's original) is of the quite common 7-link type, with the broad outer links. It is a very comfortable bracelet, and visually makes a perfect match for the bezel. Quality is more than adequate and it does not pull any hair.

Let's look at dimensions. The case width is 38mm without the crown, and lug to lug it is 45mm. That's a perfect size of a dress watch even by today's standards. It's also larger than older Weekly Auto AAAs that had a 37mm wide, 43mm long case. And maybe that even holds an explanation to the short hands.

All in all, a very nice watch. In typical Orient manner (and indeed like other Japanese brands), the brand paid homage to a design that became popular in Europe a few years earlier, but while doing so it added some of its own distinctive styling. Despite all Rolex elements, the dial is still very "Orient" with the logo, AAA and tristar symbol, and of course – the push-button for changing the date.

Prices for Weekly Auto AAAs today generally go between 200 to 400 USD, depending on condition. A watch in good condition, with clean dial, original crystal with cyclops, and original bracelet, would probably go for closer to the upper end of the range.

 

Orient Mexican

In 1970 Orient presented the Jaguar Focus dial, its own contribution to the growing global trend of colorful watches. A couple of years had passed and someone over at Orient's design department obviously figured that simple gradient painting was not enough, and came up with the Mexican Focus dial, or simply – "Mexican".

Why was it called Mexican? I've seen a few theories. The most probable one is that Orient used colorful Mother-of-Pearl that was made to resemble Mexican Opal, a shiny and vibrant gemstone that can in its top form be very expensive (way more than MoP). Another theory, is that was simply made from Mexican MoP, which can be produced from the Pinctada Mazatlanica oyster.

I actually found references to both theories in descriptions of Orient Mexican models… Anyway, here is the first Orient Chronoace Mexican model from 1972, along with some Mexican MoP and some Mexican Opals. You can make up your own mind on this question. Maybe it's just Mopal…

Whether the intention was to resemble opal or simply to boast the natural beauty of mother-of-pearl itself, the material used was certainly MoP.

A few words on this substance perhaps… Mother-of-Pearl is the iridescent lining of the inner shell of some mollusks. When a foreign substance, such as a grain of sand, gets inside the mollusk's shell, it can be an irritant. To protect itself, the mollusk secretes a smooth, crystalline substance called nacre around the irritant. Over time, as layers of nacre are added, a pearl can form. The inner shell, which is lined with this same nacre, acts as a kind of "mother" to the pearl. Thus, the name "Mother-of-Pearl" suggests that this material is the source or "mother" from which pearls are born.

Most Mexican models were Chronoace, that is – day-date models equipped with variants of Orient's caliber 42. The most popular dial colors were green and blue; some models also featured silvery dials, and a few dials showed a bit of purple and violet.

In addition to the Chronoace, which was generally a men's watch, Orient produced ladies' Mexican models as well. Such were the Mexican Minimatic, Chamade and Selene.

Watches boasting the "Mexican" dial were priced considerably higher than their standard counterparts. For instance – A Chronoace costing around 17,000 JPY at the time, would have been closer to 22,000 JPY with a Mexican dial.

The same was true for the ladies' watches. A Mexican Minimatic would have cost 15,000 JPY compared to a similar regular Minimatic costing 12,000 JPY. A similar 3,000 JPY premium would have been charged for Mexican versions of the Chamade and Selene models.

There was even a top-of-the-line Chronoace that combined a non-scratch case and MoP dial (you can see its picture in the related article). I'm not sure what price tag was attached to this baby, but it must have been quite high!

I have also seen other watches being referred to as "Mexican" in sale ads and posts.  For instance, I saw "Orient Crystal Mexican" and "AAA Mexican". However, I did not see any official catalogs that used that verbiage, which leads me to think that possibly, some sellers have adopted the term "Mexican" to any vintage Orient with a MoP dial.

Indeed MoP remains a popular material for Orient in adorning some of its high-end models, like some recent Orient Star releases. Needless to say, not all that glitters is Mexican!