Daily Refreshing: Re-ORIENTate Your Choice of a Timepiece

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Re-ORIENTate Your Choice of a Timepiece

For those unacquainted with East Asia or Asia for that matter, you would probably never heard of Orient Watch Company.

Orient Classic Automatic DH00001B

Who is Orient Watch Co.?

This is must-read blurb by Self-Defence Armory at http://www.selfdefensearmory.com/orientwatchco.html for your reading pleasure with the following highlights:-

Orient Classic Automatic ET0P003W

"GI's, Marines, Sailors and Airmen brought home a couple of very important items in the late 1960s when returning from a tour of duty in the Far East. First was a stereo, with the obligatory reel-to-reel tape deck. For those too young to know, reel-to-reel was before 8-track tapes, which was before cassettes, which was before CDs, which was before MP3. The second item they brought home was a watch. More often than not, the watch was either an Orient or Seiko watch. Good deals were to be had with the American dollar from the Far East.

Orient Sporty Automatic FM00005D

"While Seiko embraced quartz technology a few years later and become a household name worldwide, Orient Watch Company went about their business of refining mechanical and automatic self-winding watches. They manufacture a few quartz watch movements, but the heart and soul of the Orient Watch Co's management team in Japan was in perfecting mechanical wind up watches, followed by automatic self-winding watches in the early seventies."

Orient Diving Sports Automatic

"Orient Watch Co. today is recognized as one of the best mechanical watchmakers in the world. They play second fiddle to no one when it comes to quality mechanical movements. They are perfectly poised to again win the hearts of American watch lovers with their extraordinary line of self-winding automatic watches."

"Orient's self-winding mechanical watches represent fine craftsmanship that somehow has gotten lost in recent years to electronics manufacturers trying to stuff everything from a computer to a cell phone on our wrists. But we think Americans are ready for a change to the concept of a watch telling us the time and doing nothing more than that, but doing it far more eloquently than a quartz watch. There is something magical about a second hand sweeping around the dial instead of quartz watch ticking once every second. That sweep of the second hand is what quality watch making is all about. When someone else notices the sweep of the second hand, more often than not, they'll ask about your watch. A mechanical vs. quartz watch is like the difference in sound between a V-8 and a four cylinder. It's like the difference between the sound a single action revolver makes while being cocked vs. a slide being pulled back on a semi-auto pistol. Both types are like fine music to the ears of an aficionado. Some marvel at the electronics stuffed into a wristwatch, while others marvel at the mechanical genius of a self-winding automatic."

A Bit of History on Orient Watch (Source: Wikipedia)

"The origin of Orient Watch Company dates back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a wholesale shop called "Yoshida Watch Shop" in Ueno, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. Yoshida Watch Shop was successful, selling imported pocketwatches. In 1912, Yoshida expand his business and began producing of wristwatch cases (gold cases). In 1920, the Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was established, originally producing table clocks and gauges. It was not until 1934 that Toyo Tokei Manufacturing started the production of wristwatches. in 1936, the Hino Factory was built in Hino, Tokyo, Japan. For several years, Toyo Tokei Manufacturing boomed at the Hino Factory. However, affected by the poor Japanese economy after World War II, the company shut down in 1949.

After the Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was shut down, Yoshida’s wristwatch manufacturing company was reborn in 1950, founded under the name Tama Keiki Company. Tama Keiki Co., Ltd. continued manufacturing watches at the Hino Factory. Just one year later, in 1951, Tama Keiki Co., Ltd. changed its name to Orient Watch Co., Ltd., and in the same year the first Orient Star went on sale. Orient Watch was able to expand their visibility overseas after a memorandum trade agreement with China in 1955. The Royal Orient subsequently went on sale in 1960. Other important watches in the company's history include the "Dynamic" in 1956, "Grand Prix 100" in 1964, "Fineness" (the world's thinnest automatic wristwatch with day and date calendar function for its time) in 1967, and the "Tenbeat" in 1970.

In 2003, the Orient Technical Center (OTC) was established and the assembly of luxury watches began in Ugo, Ogachi, Akita, Japan. In 2004, the high-precision Caliber 88700 movement went on sale via the Royal Orient watch line. In 2005, Orient Star Retro-Future collection was launched. In 2010, Orient Watch Co., Ltd. celebrated its 60th anniversary with a limited edition model."