Orient SK Diver Retro Review - How Not To Do A Reissue Watch
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So, over the last couple of years, we’ve seen some pretty popular retro reissue watches. A few that come to mind are the Q Timex range, the Bulova Devil Diver and a couple of different offerings from Seiko and Hamilton.
Japanese brand Orient have decided to get in on the action too, with a watch that they have listed on their site as the ‘Mechanical Revival Watch’.
Not only is the name disjointed, but from my time with it over the last few weeks, I think the rest of the watch is too. As a whole, it’s a very underwhelming attempt from a brand that I have a soft spot for.
Let’s talk about why that’s the case and how they could have done a better job.
If you disagree with my thoughts and want to grab this, I’ll link it throughout this article. Thanks to Amazon for covering the cost of this for the review.
Packaging and Branding
The watch arrived in the typical Orient packaging, which you can see here. Nothing special, but serviceable for sure.
So, let’s begin with the name. Yeah, with a generic designation like ‘Mechanical Revival Watch’ followed by a huge code (RA-AA0B02R), however good the watch is, it’s always going to struggle. From the looks of the broken text description, this is based on a 1970s model called the SK (or Super King) Diver, which looks virtually identical.
Independent dealers have done their best to make the connection to that original watch, by calling it the SK Revival, Orient Diver Retro or SK Diver Reissue; however, this inconsistency is always going to be present when the brand has been lazy with its designations. Orient should have just presented this to consumers as the ‘SK Diver Reissue’ and been done with it. Unfortunately, along with their ancient website, this shoddy naming scheme is one of the areas that traditional brands like Orient are lagging behind the competition.
I’d be interested to know why they decided to bring back this model, because to me it’s a bit of an ugly one.
Watch Dial
The overall design language here is very loud. The dial features a magenta central stripe, which then fades to black on each side. This is accompanied by an array of gold accents, including the applied indices and logo, alongside the equally blingy baton handset.
Unusually, those hour markers are presented within two curved block sections that intrude into the magenta section. Why these are here, I do not know. Other odd choices are evident too. In addition to the gold indices, you also have a set of adjacent lume pips that run the circumference of the dial and then two inked markers at each hour on the internal bezel; totalling a remarkable 4 indicators at each hour when the bezel is aligned. If you’re partially sighted, perhaps this could be useful; otherwise, it just seems like overkill. There are also some orange numbers at each quarter of an hour on the bezel; which could come in handy, however, the colour simply doesn’t fit the theme.
Dare I say it, visually, the design reminds me of some sort of Indian franken-watch that you might find on eBay. My opinions aside though, if you do like the look of the original watch, this appears to be a near-identical clone of the original. It certainly looks like some sort of retro watch and the inner rotating bezel is particularly cool, even though you’ll probably never use it, for reasons I’ll talk about in a moment.
Watch Case & Dimensions
|
Specifications |
Orient SK Diver |
|
Lug to Lug |
46 mm |
|
Case Diameter |
41.9 mm |
|
Case Thickness |
12.6mm |
|
Lug Width |
18mm |
|
Water Resistance |
50 metres |
|
Movement |
22-jewel calibre Orient F6922 |
As is always the case with Orient, the main bulk of the watch feels substantial and sturdy for the £200 retail price. It’s constructed of the industry-standard 316L steel and comes in at a rather large 41.9mm wide, 12.6mm thick and 46mm lug tip to lug tip. When on-wrist, the best way to describe this watch is thick. It certainly looks and feels beefy, with an asymmetrical case shape that is squared off towards the crown, yet curved on the opposite.
The lower portion tapers off rather sharply, whilst the brushed bezel atop remains flat to provide that retro blocky aesthetic. I’m a big fan of symmetry with my watches, so I would like to have seen the ‘boxiness’ extends to both flanks.
Bracelet
It’s definitely a watch for larger wrists, as it’s pretty heavy too. Or at least the case is. Unfortunately, the bracelet is light and flimsy, which throws off the weight balance and means the SK really moves around on-wrist. It has a lug width of 18mm, contains folded links and has the same feel as that on the much cheaper Tristar watch I reviewed earlier this year. The push clasp is OK, but overall, the bracelet doesn’t integrate very well with the polished case and is rather disappointing for a £200 watch.
Watch Glass
It features a hardened mineral crystal over the dial; which is ok, though I would like to have seen sapphire ideally, given the increased price over other Orient models. Especially given the fact it has the word ‘crystal’ printed on the dial. Perhaps that refers to all of the gold bits instead?
Water Resistance
While this is a little frustrating, my main gripe with this watch is the water resistance. This is supposed to be a reissue of the SK ‘Diver’, yet the watch has a mere 5bar water resistance. By Orient’s admission in the product manual, this isn’t even suitable for diving! To me, it seems bizarre to revive a dive-style watch that can’t even perform the function it is intended for. Sure, back in the day, maybe the aquatic performance wasn’t very reliable; however, with modern construction, I don’t see how this can’t have at least 10bar. For instance, the similarly priced Orient ‘King Diver’ has 20bar, which is far better. Is this to save costs, who knows?
Movement
Powering the watch is thankfully an automatic movement, which you’d expect to see at this price point. According to the case rear, this is the 22-jewel calibre Orient F6922, which hand-winds and hacks - should you need those additional functionalities. Upon first impressions, this watch seems to be far quieter than those in the back of both the Tristar and Bambino models, which both feature a loud rotor. Unfortunately, the date window this movement provides is once again white, which contrasts a little too starkly with the dark colours present on the dial.
Final Thoughts
Still, you can’t ask for a great deal more than this for the price. The beat rate is 6 per second and the power reserve is a fairly standard 40 hours. You’ll find this packed into other popular models such as the Ray ii and Mako ii.
Overall, despite the interesting movement, the shortcomings just don’t justify the £200+ price in my opinion. If you could grab one of these for say £80 on sale, it could make for a fun retro watch to add to your collection. Though the clunky design, the lack of water resistance and the awful bracelet just leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Sure, the likes of the Q-Timex watches have similarly low specifications. However, they generally look pretty good. Whereas this one…yeah, I can’t say that!
