Is the Orient Bambino the best dress watch under £300?
Orient Bambino - Credit Guest Author
If you’ve been dabbling in watches for some time, specifically with a soft spot for affordable dress watches, then it’s likely you’re already familiar with the Orient Bambino watch. This modest Japanese-made dress watch is often mentioned when anyone discusses the topic of accessibility in the watch world. It’s just £288, and arrives with a simple yet sophisticated aesthetic, an automatic movement and a dressy 38mm case.
With a price tag that impressive and a list of specs that arguably demand a price much higher, the Orient Bambino has set the standard when it comes to comparing the value of other similarly spec’ed watches. For me, although I had read and watched plenty of reviews of the Bambino online, I was yet to test drive it for myself and judge for myself whether or not this watch lives up to its famed value proposition.
Orient Bambino - Credit Guest Author
Finally, this week I was lucky enough to get hands-on with one of the newer Orient Bambino 38mm models, in particular reference RA-AC0M05G. This model has a lovely cream dial and nubuck suede leather strap. This reference is also a limited edition according to Orient, but as far as I can see, there are no details as to how many pieces are in this exact run. The only mention of its limited edition status is found on the case back and on Orient’s website.
That said, let’s take a closer look at the Orient Bambino 38mm…
The Case
My first impressions of the Orient Bambino 38mm, when I slid it out of its rather nice velvet-lined box, was that this is one of those watches that feels way more expensive than its £288 price tag. It is a combination of design traits that gives the watch this luxury feel, one being the simple yet overtly elegant stainless steel case.
Orient Bambino - Credit Guest Author
At 38.4mm wide, 12.5mm tall and with a lug-to-lug width of 40mm, the Orient Bambino sits amazingly on my five-and-a-half inch wrist. I actually think it wears smaller than its dimensions suggest, keeping low and close to the skin thanks to the tear-drop shaped lugs. The domed mineral crystal does add to its height, but it still wears like a very compact, well-sized dress watch.
As mentioned, the glass is mineral crystal so it’s not going to be the most scratch resistant glass in the world, but for a watch of this price, it’s what you expect. It sits beside a slim, unadorned bezel that gives a nice wide opening to the dial below. The case also has a flat, knurled crown at 3 o’clock and is entirely polished on top to contrast to the brushed finishing on the case sides.
Orient Bambino - Credit Guest Author
The dial does mention the watch is water resistant, noted in Italic font at 6 o’clock. It’s a strange choice to add this to the dial, because this is a dress watch after all, and typically no one really buys a dress watch to wear around water. Its water resistant rating isn’t anything to write home about either, rated to just 30 metres – as you’d expect from a watch of this genre. It’s not a watch to take into the shower or swimming but some exposure to light rain or a splash from the tap should be fine.
The Dial
The dial of this Orient Bambino 38mm watch is also beautifully done and according to Orient, the colourway is only found on this limited edition model. It’s executed in a stunning cream, almost gold finish and set with brightly polished sword-shaped hands and applied markers. It’s a timeless, easily adaptable dial colour that will happily pair with most outfits. The dial also has the Orient logo at 12 o’clock, also silvered for a subtle bit of shine, and a date window at 3 o’clock.
Orient Bambino - Credit Guest Author
As I quickly found out after wearing the watch for several days, the dial seems to change colour depending on your surroundings and the lighting. I think it’s the domed mineral glass that assists with this as it almost gives the dial a concave-like look. Hopefully some of the mediocre images I took during my time with it helps to demonstrate some of the light pink to deep champagne colours I spotted.
The Movement
Powering the Orient Bambino 38mm watch is the Japanese watchmaker’s in-house F672 automatic winding movement. Unlike some of the previous 40mm wide Bambino generations I have seen, this limited edition arrives with an exhibition case back so you can admire the movement when its off your wrist. The finishing is fairly straight forward but the rotor is nicely embossed with the Orient logo and a cool leaf-like pattern. The movement has 22 jewels, hacking seconds and a 40-hour power reserve.
Orient Bambino - Credit WatchGecko
The Strap
Completing the Orient Bambino 38mm is a nice nubuck leather strap. The material is dyed in a soft tan brown which compliments the warmth of the gold dial perfectly. The strap secures to the wrist by a polished stainless steel pin buckle.
Price & Availability
As I mentioned, the exact limited edition status of the Orient Bambino 38mm is not mentioned anywhere on the watch. The case back is simply engraved with the words “LIMITED EDITION” and even Orient’s own website doesn’t suggest an exact number of pieces available in the run. That said, with how affordable this watch is, at just £288, I don’t expect it to be around long.
I truly believe this is one of the best entry-level mechanical dress watches on the market and I highly recommend it to anyone in the market for such.
Technical Specifications:
- Brand: Orient
- Model: Bambino 38mm
- Price: £287.99
- Material: Stainless steel
- Movement: Calibre F672 automatic winding, in-house
- Dial: Cream with silvered hands and markers
- Size: 38mm wide, 12.5mm tall
- When the reviewer would personally wear it: I’d not only wear this as intended, as a formal dress watch, but I think this timepiece would make a fantastic daily beater if you’re like me and you enjoy classy, timeless watch design.
- A friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone new to watches looking for an entry-level mechanical dress watch.
- Best characteristics of the watch: Everything. The execution of the case and dial is spot on, and this particular cream-coloured dial is lovely.
- The worst characteristics of the watch: I don’t really have anything bad to say. Although I feel like the water resistant printing on the dial is a little unnecessary, it doesn’t take away from the design at all.
