Orient

Brand history

Orient Watch was founded in 1950 in Hachioji (Tokyo), one of the few Japanese watch brands to develop and manufacture its own movement in-house. Now a Seiko Epson subsidiary, the Hachioji factory still produces in-house calibers (including the F6922 used in the Ray diver and F6B22 in the Sun & Moon) that compete against Swiss ETA at a fraction of the cost.

Founded 1950 in Hachioji, Tokyo metropolitan area, by the Yoshida Watch Research Institute, initially producing movements for other brands. The first Orient-branded watches appeared in 1951. Orient is notable as a true manufacture: the F6922 in-house automatic caliber powering the Mako, Ray, and Star lines is entirely designed and produced within Orient's Hachioji factory, making Orient one of the very few brands producing a genuine in-house movement at enthusiast-tier prices. Seiko Epson acquired Orient in 2009 but it has operated as an independent brand with its own R&D. The Ray II and Mako II are the most-cited affordable Japanese-manufacture dive watches; the Bambino (dress) and Kamasu (sport) are the contemporary catalog additions. The buyer's honest note: Orient offers verifiably in-house manufacture at prices below HMT and Seiko 5, and the movement quality substantially exceeds what the price suggests.