The Ultimate Affordable Dress Watch Fixes My One Gripe
So fresh and so clean.
Orient Watch
Published February 18, 2026
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While the luxury watch market pushes the boundaries of horology at increasingly unattainable prices, and the indie market battles for attention with innovative designs, Orient owns the niche of affordable mechanical dress watches with timeless designs. Thanks to Seiko Epson Corporation's infrastructure, Orient sells automatic watches with respectable specs at prices that would bankrupt most brands in a single fiscal quarter.
Orient offers divers, chronographs, and moonphase complications. However, the Bambino collection earned respect in the American watch community. Consisting of seven versions with distinct dials, the Bambino collection caters to various tastes, but the author has a minor gripe: a date window.
Every Bambino version, except the open-heart reference, features a date window, which the author finds unnecessary. The more complicated versions 8 and 9 have calendars, so the gripe doesn't apply. The author suggests that the entire collection would look more refined without date windows.
Orient addressed this with the first standard time-only Bambino, based on Version 2. This version lacks a date window, completing the dial's pattern. The appearance remains unchanged, and it's available in cream, white, green, brown, and gray.
The time-only Bambino uses the in-house Caliber F6524 movement, ensuring no phantom date position on the crown. It has a stated accuracy of -15/+25 seconds per day and a power reserve of over 40 hours. The engraved rotor is visible through a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback, and the watch has 30m of water resistance.
Orient makes the Bambino collection and its movements in Thailand, despite being a Japanese company. The time-only Bambino is available in Europe for €340, which converts to $401, and the author hopes more Bambino references receive the no-date treatment.
Orient Bambino Version 2 No-Date
Specs:
- Case Size: 38mm
- Movement: Orient Caliber F6524 automatic
- Water Resistance: 30m
About the Author: Brad Lanphear, an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covers watches and style. He previously wrote for Heddels and Men's Health and is on a quest for the perfect pair of Japanese denim.
