Orient Watches

Orient is that one brand that always aimed its attention on manufacturing the mechanical watches. From the beginning, it has built its own in-house automatic movements and has also been a part of three big watch companies including Citizen and Seiko. Since its foundation that has been over 100 years, it has always stayed true to its primitive set up that was established with an aim of constructing high-quality mechanical watches that are affordable watches as well.

Armed with a unique and rich heritage, the Orient started its journey in the year 1901. Shogoro Yoshida, the founder of Orient watches, established his watch shop in Ueno, Tokyo, Japan. He opened a wholesale shop that was named as "Yoshida Watch Shop” which focused on selling imported pocketwatches. By the year 1912, Yoshida’s aim grew bigger, hence he then expanded the business of his small watch shop and started producing cases that were made of gold for wristwatches.

In 1920, Shogoro Yoshida established another manufacturing branch called Toyo Tokei that basically involved in the production of table clocks as well as gauges. Although it was in 1934 when Yoshida finally started his business of building wristwatches and this was held in the same manufacturing. In 1936, another factory was build in Hino, Tokyo, Japan and this was named as the Hino Factory. For many years, the Toyo Tokei Manufacturing branch flourished and developed at the Hino Factory, but in spite of this growth, it was severely affected by the poor Japanese economy which was the outcome of World War II. The result of this depletion in the economy leads to termination of the company in 1949.

But the Japanese watch brand was not to give up that easily. Thus the company was resurrected in the year 1950 and was established again under the name Tama Keiki Company. This Tama Keiki Co. Ltd. took further the business of producing watches at the Hino Factory. Within a gap of one year, the name of this company was changed from Tama Keiki Co. Ltd to Orient Watch Co. Ltd. and in the same year, its first Orient Star watch model was put on sale. Hence, it was regarded as one of the fast-growing Japanese watch companies that successfully grabbed everyone's attention.

In 1995, Orient was seen extending its visibility across seas after a trade agreement that was made with China. It further introduced a lot of notable watch models which included the Royal Orient in 1960, Dynamic in 1956, Grand Prix 100 in 1964, Fineness (this watch was regarded as the world's thinnest watch that not only was automatic but also equipped with features such as day and date, and calendar) in 1967 and many other.

The Orient Star watch line is considered to be one of the notable watches in the history of Orient watches. These are well-known watches whose marketing and availability is limited to certain areas including Japan and selected Asian countries. Introduced in the year 1951, it is one of the Orient automatic watches that has proved to be the most elegant yet simple and is furnished with an exceptional quality of craftsmanship. It is one of the most distinguished models of Orient watches that stands as a motif of the company's lush full historical tradition of watchmaking. They are not only embodied with quality but they also assure reliability and comes in tremendous value.

The Orient Star has many members in its family line that includes the Orient Star Classic, Orient Star GMT, Orient Star Skeleton and various other models. These models regardless of their low prices are well built with attractive qualities.

One of the renowned family members of this Orient Star is its Orient Star Classic. These are not only manufactured with quality automatic movements but they are equipped with an in-house Japanese made automatic that comes with a power reserve feature and many more. The case of this Orient watch has a dimension of 38.5 x 44.5 x 13.4mm (including its crystal) which is considered as a moderately sized dial in today's standard, hence it can be worn as a dress watch that symbolizes it as a vintage-inspired watch. The design of the case is very simple and has a standard shape with comparatively short and slim lugs. All sides of the case's surfaces are well polishes excluding the top of the lugs that have light brushing. The crown of the Orient Classic watch is fairly flat and wide which is a somewhat atypical shape.

The most dominant feature about the Orient Classic is its crystal that is eye catchy as well as is made to imitate the domed acrylic crystals that were present in the watches manufactured in the mid-20th century. The dial of the Orient Classic watch is well shaped and executed and it is equipped with the Orient 40N52 movement.

As the name says ‘Star’, the Orient watch is a star-piece that looks really great on the wrist and gives out a classic yet elegant look.