OrientMen's Japanese Automatic / Hand-Winding Stainless Steel 200 Meter Diving Watch

I'll get this out of the way first: The Orient Ray (Black) is my daily-wear watch, and I love it. I say it's in the Non-Pro category only because, for a number of reasons, including water resistance rating of 20ATM (200 Meters) it is not suitable for deep diving. Now, let me tell you why I love it, giving you the high points and low points.***Important: My evaluation is based on my personal preferences in watch styling and mechanics. The only hard & fast rule in watch preferences is that there ARE NO hard & fast rules in watch preferences, so take my points in that context. If you see watches in the same way I do, you may find them helpful.1. Dive Styling: 41.5" case size turns out to be my sweet spot, and the black bezel with larger marked 10 second increments is clear, easy to read. The face is black, and it's a DEEP DARK BLACK, as is the bezel, contrasting well with the hour markings. The hour & minute hands are modified "sword styling", the second hand a long, slim pointer tipped with a bright red spear. It's a little thing, but the detail finish on all three hands is the quality of a much more expensive timepiece. All three are lumed, and it's a bright, long lasting lume - I can easily read mine in the dark after eight hours of sleep. Ditto on the hour markers and bezel pip. Which brings me to a personal preference - the Ray's hour markers are either round or rectangular, with a slightly larger wedge shape at "12" position - no "numbers". I believe this gives a dive watch a much cleaner look, but some folks like to see some numbers - if you do, consider the Orient Mako, with numerals at 6,9 & 12. Personal preference.2. Case: Orient makes a heavy-feeling SS case w/screw-down back. It feels solid, and supports the 200M depth rating, and I'm guessing might actually rate considerably higher. Top surfaces are finely brushed, with side surfaces polished, for a subtly expensive look. Crown is screw-down, as a dive watch should be, with grip a little on the hard to grasp side, but still acceptable. Crown is polished, with the Orient logo embossed on the end, a classy touch. Action is firm when adjusting hands & day/date. Threads engage firmly, with an appropriately sized thread tube that does not "wobble" when the crown is grasped. The Ray has built-in crown guards formed as part of the case - I find this one it's most attractive cosmetic features, and of course it makes perfect sense to protect the crown. Crystal is "mineral"...I would have paid more to get the same watch with a Sapphire crystal, but understand the cost/benefit calculation. Having said that, I've been wearing Orients with mineral crystals for about five years now, with no scratches, and I'm a clumsy oaf with my watches, so it must be a pretty hard surface.3. Bezel: As mentioned, bezel on this model is a deep, inky black, with minute numerals crisply rendered in a SS tone. The Ray's bezel is a 120 click version. Here is one if my two criticisms - the action on this bezel, like the older model Ray & Mako's I've owned, is really too tight for diving use - there is no possible way it could be turned under water with or without gloves, because the "teeth" around the circumference are too small & smooth considering the tight action. This actually works well if worn as I do, in a "desk diving" mode, where bumps do not dislodge it, but not underwater, if that is a consideration.4. Movement: The new Ray features a hacking house-built Orient beating automatic heart, #F6922. My previous Orients used the older, Non-Hacking movement, which is one of the key reasons I fell in love with Orient Automatics. The older movement ran just a bit slow for me, but more importantly was ALWAYS very CONSISTENT, with a very quiet winding pendulum. The new movement seems already to be just as high quality - and my particular F6922 is running consistently about 10-12 seconds fast per day, which I consider perfect for an automatic. No guarantee yours will do the same, but believe me, this movement is the equal of far more expensive engines. The Day/Date function is crisp & seats perfectly in the viewing windows. Thank GOD Orient has ditched the "Day" Pusher located at 2 o'Clock on the old Ray case, with the arrival of the new movement. It was ugly, cheap looking, and another way for the watch to leak (I put up with it because I loved the rest of the watch so much). Another small Orient detail - the silver Day/Date window "frame" is beautifully finished & perfectly seated. The second hand sweep is not as buttery smooth as a 28K or Hi-Beat movement would be, but perfectly acceptable, and the red tip gives that little extra "instrument panel" look to the overall analog face. While we're talking movements, personal preference #2 - Automatic movements are my requirement vs Quartz...I've owned lots of both, don't own any Quartz's now. There are great Quartz divers out there - the Seiko Tuna monoblock titanium Quartz was one of my first "crushes", but I'm strictly an Auto guy now.5. Bracelet/Band: I removed the bracelet as soon as I unboxed the watch, and placed the watch on a black 22mm ballistic nylon 2-Pc. Strap. This is one of those personal preference deals - I like a light wearing watch/strap combo - and you may prefer a bracelet, no problem. It's an OK bracelet, medium weight class for a SS bracelet, although a ratcheting dive clasp replacing the deployant clasp would be cool. My least favorite features are the non-solid end link covers - they are the usual flimsy covers, and in my opinion have no place on a timepiece purporting to aspire to the name "Dive Watch". I left the plastic & paper wraps on mine, and will be selling it. If I ever want a bracelet for this watch, I'll go aftermarket, possibly the solid end-link model w/ ratcheting dive extension used on Orient's own Saturation Diver, which also has a 22mm Lug width.6. Overall, I'm in love. My watch collection is down to two - this and a Deep Blue Pro-Aqua Auto, for those days I feel like wearing a brick on my wrist. If one dive watch is all you want to worry about, and you don't dive for a living, some color version of the Orient Ray will make you a very happy Desk Diver.

It was even better than I could have imagined. I must have got lucky, or Orient must have updated things because I have zero issues turning the bezel, it is smooth and works great, everyone who reviews this talks about a stiff and impossible to turn bezel, but mine works somehow with minimal effort. The screw-down crown also is quite easy to use, another thing people had mentioned was impossible to use. If anyone is hesitant about the difficulty of these features, definitely don't be. This thing has been working like a dream and I'm very satisfied. Another thing people say they dislike about it is the bracelet, but I actually loved that too, it is amazing in my opinion. Who can forget all the hate about the hollow endlinks, well, I don't mind those either, in fact, hollow ones are not that horrible, watch enthusiasts say they give a vintage feel and I can't argue with that. Don't get me started on the lume, it is absolutely amazing; when charged sufficiently it gives off almost as much glow as a low powered flashlight! I mostly got this to be able to see the time in the dark and to keep track of time in the shower. I just charge the lume a bit before I go to sleep and it does the trick, no need to turn on my phone to check the time or squint at the alarm clock across the room. Is this as accurate as a quartz watch? Definitely not, but it's still really good. After a day it only gains about less than 5 seconds, which is fine by me. It's interesting though, because time by its very nature is a mysterious and sometimes fickle thing, I have a blast setting the time say about 30 seconds behind and watch (pun intended) as it becomes ever more accurate as the time goes by. These watch enthusiasts swear that a watch that goes fast is a good thing, and is better than it being slow, can't argue with that either. The dial is a wonderful, vibrant blue, seemingly as deep as the ocean, it is a real joy to admire it in different levels of light. The crystal is just fine, some people might moan that it's not sapphire, but who cares, actually watch experts say a mineral crystal, although being less scratch resistant, is supposedly more impact resistant, definitely can't argue with that either. But if you take care of it, there's really no need to worry about scratches. Winding is smooth, and gives a satisfying sound that doesn't sound gritty to me at all, but actually makes me feel like there really are gears turning inside, which is awesome. Unscrewing the crown isn't that hard on my fingers, there seems to be a knack to getting it screwed back down but it's by no means impossible, just have to give it a bit of a push while you're turning it, not really that hard. I was really worried at first before I purchased this because I thought I was going to have a terrible time with the crown and the bezel, but I was totally overthinking it because it wasn't half as difficult as I had imagined. If it's any consolation, at least you won't have to be unscrewing the crown every day, you basically just set it and forget it. And I seem to be screwing it down just fine because it still works in the shower. So everything seems to be working great. Overall, I'm unbelievably satisfied, why pay any more for a watch that isn't half as good as this one. Also, it was easy to size the bracelet. I actually didn't have any tools for the job, so I used a toothpick to push the pins out and that was it, it was that easy. Orient knows what they're doing.