OrientOrient Men's 'Monarch' Mechanical Hand Wind Stainless Steel and Leather Dress Watch

MSRP: $335.00Price Paid: $200Purchase Date;June 2016Amazon Vendor: AmazonMovement: Orient Caliber 48C40 Manual Wind (hand winding)Case: Stainless steel, 40mm x 13mm thick18mm lugWR: 50 metersThis model is a clever conversion of an Orient pocket watch.model. The movement it uses, (48C40), as well as the font and hand set, come straight from the pocket watch version. The clever thing is that the watch case simulates the shape of the pocket watch, having a circular indent which would allow it to fit into the 'lid' (that does not exist for the wrist watch version). This type of stylization, where a watch incorporates a reference to it's own past lineage, is the kind of thing you not normally expect with such an inexpensive watch.This may be the only affordable Orient with a power reserve that also supports manual winding and hacking. As a matter of fact, It only supports manual winding -- there's no rotor.This has an exhibition style case back, which includes a nice pattern engraved around the case-back crystal.The movement is actually decorated by having nicely done perlage on all the plates.The attention to detail of the case back may be an attempt to compensate for what might be considered a 'frankenwatch' construction. The movement is, I think, not explicitly designed as a mechanical wind only type, but adapted from an automatic model. that has been stripped of it's rotor. But that doesn't bother me.The watch exhibits subtle attention to detail in many other respects also.* The circular pattern around the dial, for minute and second hand marks, has meticulously articulated printing.* The crown, though not signed, has a lovely pair of concentric circles engraved on the top.* The numerals on the dial are raised, and have a beautiful, glistening finish. The art deco font adds additional interest.* The Breguet style handset is superb in craftsmanship, with minute and second hands extended fully to the edge of the dial. (this looks great, and helps make the watch easy to set accurately). The hands have the same 'wet' looking finish as the numerals. The color contrast of their jet black coloration against the white background make this, by far, the most legible watch in my collection.I can't figure out what the watch crystal is made of. Some original advertising from Orient claim it is sapphire, as do descriptions of the watch at some on-line retail sites. Later materials from Orient say it is a mineral crystal. Tests that I use to tell mineral crystal from Sapphire actually come out in favor of the conclusion that the one I received has a Sapphire crystal: It's impossible to be sure... It might use Seiko's Hardlex, which has molecular density similar to sapphire. Whatever it's made of, The crystal is slightly domed at the edges, but with significantly less arch than the 'Bambino' series.On the whole this watch has characteristics that are somewhat reminiscent of old school Swiss watchmaking.. It's a watch that isn't really seeking attention, but if attention is paid, an astonishing amount of detail is evident. It's a very affordable watch, but ironically, there's an 'old money' look and feel to it. It also exhibits mastery of watch making. Whoever designs watches for orient has a subtle sense of the art.

This is the perfection of the horological world. This is the greatest watch on earth, the Orient Monarch mechanical (hand-wind only, hacking) black dial model watch. In my strong opinion, this is the PERFECT watch. I would not rather have any watch in the world besides the Orient Monarch black dial. If I could choose any watch in the world at no cost, I would choose the Orient Monarch black dial. It is truly horological perfection!The design is perfectly executed. The 40 hour power reserve is perfectly located on the dial, legible, and absolutely necessary to know when the watch is fully wound when you wind it each day or if you leave it go without winding, how much power is left until it stops completely. The hour, minute, and seconds hands are perfectly designed. The seconds hand reaches out beyond the seconds indices so you can read exact time and calibrate running time each day (I hate short seconds hands with a passion, total fail for any watch design with seconds hands that don't reach the seconds indices!). The dial design is exactly right. The seconds ring is perfectly legible and all markings are perfectly placed and necessary. The minute hand also stretches out to each minute indice to read the exact minute all day (also important to have the minute hand reach out to the minute indices). The movement through the exhibition case back reveals the relevant parts to the function of the movement. The finishing of the watch front, back, and sides are impeccable. There are zero complaints! I literally can't find a single miniscule thing wrong with the function, design, proportions, and finishing of this watch. And I'm even running consistently an unbelievable +5 seconds/day accuracy! Truly unreal!Minor suggestions for improvement, mainly aesthetic: The only suggestion is a larger more bulbous crown like the Longines Heritage 24hrs for function of hand winding more easily and aesthetics showing clearly that this watch is hand-wind only. Other than the crown size and design, the watch is true horological perfection!!! Orient literally did everything right! This watch could go for $3k+ price tag if it was priced that way, but would certainly require more finishing and embellishment to the exposed movement to justify that price tag. Orient could make a fortune on this watch without a doubt. It could decimate all Swiss and Japanese manufacturer competition if they simply change the crown design and finish the movement with blue set screws, Orient logo stamped on the movement, and more exposed parts of the movement. Very simply, Orient could make this watch an absolute monopoly in the horological world with no competition! Buy now, you will thank me for the rest of your life!