For my first Orient watch review, I will talk about the Orient Tristar CEM5J005B!
ORIENT HISTORY
The Orient Watch Company, Limited (Orient Tokei Kabushikigaisha) is Japan’s largest producer of mechanical watches and is owned by Seiko Epson. Although the company producers both quartz and mechanical watches, Orient is best known for its mechanical watches internationally.
The company was founded back in July 1950 but its roots began back in 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a wholesale watch shop in Ueno. The company is known for the development of power-reserve indicators and the use of in-house movement production of watches in the hundred-dollar price ranged.
Although the company is owned by Seiko Epson, they operate as an individual entity.
Watch Information
The Orient Men’s Automatic Day and Date Black Stainless Steel Watch showcases a unique dial featuring an easy-to-read day subdial surrounded by bold silver-bar hour markers. This handsome everyday timepiece is constructed with a stainless steel case, a stationary stainless steel bezel, and a stainless steel link bracelet secured with a fold-over clasp. A durable mineral window shields the black dial, which features luminous silver-bar hour markers, slim minute markers, and discrete white Arabic numerals at five-minute intervals. The dial also includes an inner subdial that tracks the days as they pass, and a date calendar at the six o’clock position. Featuring Japanese-automatic movement, the watch is water resistant to 165 feet (50 M).
JUDGMENT CALL:
The reason why I enjoy Orient watches are a) Brand Name and their long standing tradition in Japan b) their dedication to quality in producing mechanical watches c) Price.
Orient wristwatches are built for quality and dependability for a great affordable price and the CEM5J005 series wristwatches typically are sold on Amazon for under $60 (list price is $135) which is fantastic! With many Seiko’s, you do see the movement in the caseback but with the CEM5J00B, it’s stainless steel which is part of the reason why this watch is under $60.
Upon receiving the watch, the first thing I noticed is how cool the Orient case was with stainless steel box with the Orient logo and it came with a warranty booklet but also a pretty thick mechanical watch instruction booklet.
Upon taking out of the watch, the watch fit on my wrist perfectly. So, I was happy I didn’t have to remove a link. The bracelet is not super shiny and is brushed metal, while parts of the link are shiny.
Setting up the watch was easy. As the watch is an automatic mechanical watch, the watch starts up upon movement and works around arm/wrist movement. The crown when pulled out sets the clock arms when pulled out all the way, half way you set the date on the 6:00 position. There is no hacking (second arm) with this watch for those who are into precision timing. Above the crown around the 2:00 position is a button to do the days. One click for red (am) and one click for blue (pm) and it’s very easy to set the correct color for the corresponding day.
Although I do prefer watches with a case diameter of over 42″, the CEM5J005B works great using the standard 38″.
But the display is what I love about this watch. I wanted a watch that showcased the Orient logo and this silver and red logo on the black dial worked perfectly. Also, I wanted the Orient three stars right above the 6:00 position, so it was great that this watch had that. Also, enjoyed the matching silver logo, silver stars and the silver 5-minute increments around the watch. Also, another importance were the little words going around the watch. It was important for me to have the “Automatic” and “21 Jewels” on the dial. The dial also has Crystal and Water Resistant 50M.
I like the long hands on the CEM5J005, I’m not really into smaller hand wristwatches, so that was another plus for me. As for the lume, the lume is probably the weakest part of the watch. Although the hands are long, they don’t have enough space for the lume and so if your eyesight is bad, you may not see the time well during complete darkness.
I was able to tell the time fine but looking at the watch, there seems to be lume around the 5-minute increment marks but the lume for those didn’t show up. But other than that, it’s a pretty awesome watch.
There are some key points that people should know about this watch:
- The Caliber is EM-469. So, for every 8 hours of use, you should get 40 hours of movement before you stop using it and it the movement stops (and of course, once you wear it again after not using it, you will have to set the date and time up and it will work upon arm/wrist movement like most automatics).
- The manual does point out that you can expect +25 to -15 seconds of time loss of gain per day. I’ve tested this for several weeks and I have not seen that dramatic loss at all. It has been pretty solid with may be a second or two but that’s it.
- Because this watch is water resistant for 50M, it’s good for swimming, car washes, even showering (although I always recommend not showering with a watch) but it is not suitable for diving or underwater activity.
With that being said, the Orient CEM5J005 series is pretty awesome. There is a black dial, blue and a white dial available on Amazon. The reason why I like the black is because the logo and words stand out and so does the blue dial (note: the blue dial is sold on Amazon for $101 instead of under $60 for some reason), while the white dial, I felt the silver logo and the three stars and increment markings didn’t stand out so much.
Sure, you don’t get to see the movement on the back of the case but for its price, its stylish look and the dependability of the Orient name, I definitely recommend the CEM5J005B!
