Orient 3-Star Mechanical FAB0000DW9 Mens Wristwatch

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When on the wrist, the Orient 3 Star bracelet pulls my hair like crazy. It was so bad for me; I actually had to take the watch off throughout the day to have a break from the discomfort. It also rattles like a handful of coins every time you move your wrist which is annoying the wearer and anyone nearby. In general, all the designs offer good contrast, although some dials are easier to read than others depending on the color combination. Measuring a comfortable 37mm in diameter, the Orient 3 Star FAB00009N sits nicely on the wrist of both men and women. Its short lug to lug length of 43mm means it wears relatively small and the vast majority of people won’t have to worry about it overhanging their wrist. Its overall size is inoffensive and not too flashy, which makes it a great everyday watch for those who’d rather fly under the radar. To me, the case dimensions are spot on for a basic everyday watch. It’s nice to see Orient ignored the trend to “upgrade” the 3 Star by enlarging its case size like so many other watch brands. Automatic watches can be a bit annoying if you switch them frecuently, if you wear the watch a lot it is not much an incovenience. Unless you're very sedentary, is unlikely that the watch would stop over nightime if you wear it at least 7-8 hours during the day. Accuracy of automatics is far worse than with a normal quality quartz, but just readjusting time each 1-2 weeks is ok.

It doesn’t take much force to open it which can be annoying and hazardous to the watch if it unexpectedly opens. The outer surface has a brushed finish that runs the length of the clasp along with the lion logo and “ORIENT” stamped on it. The fold-over arms are lightly polished. Here, the price of these watches is noticeable, but fortunately, this is a component that can be easily replaced, for example, with a more comfortable and affordable NATO fabric strap. ➤ The Movement Orient was not alone in wanting to maintain its watchmaking heritage. Many of the Swiss luxury brands were able to weather the quartz storm, although some were eventually sold to Swatch, one of the big beneficiaries of the quartz revolution. Unless what's stated on the dial is blatantly lying to me (which I doubt,) I do believe the automatic movement is truly Japanese. I don't know if this means the movement was made in Japan or designed in Japan and constructed elsewhere like Thailand or Indonesia. Not a clue. All I know is that the dial states it's a Japan movement. The hour hand reaches the lume pip and the minute hand reaches the middle of the gold square at each hour location. Watches with hands that are too short drive me nuts but I think Orient sized these ones perfectly. They even filled both the hour and minute hands with a thin strip of lume, it’s not much but it’s a welcome bonus if you will be wearing it in low light.

Below the lion logo is “ORIENT” and below the center of the dial is the 3 star logo, all of which are applied and not simply printed. These applied logos were an unexpected surprise when I first looked at the watch in person.

The color gradient looks even better in person than it does online, and the applied indices and brand logo give the dial a nice texture that’s excellent for the price. The Strap Basically, this is the spirit of the Orient 3 Star collection, simple yet well-designed watches that can fulfill their function for a long time without the need for maintenance. ✚ Design and features However, Orient, which already manufactured its own movements at that time, pursued a different strategy to face the crisis and chose to produce more affordable mechanical watches.Without a doubt, the green dial of the 3 Star FAB00009N is its most impressive attribute. Depending on the lighting conditions, the dial transitions from being a beautiful teal to being an equally beautiful light teal pastel. The dial appears to be made from a metallic material that has a slightly reflective finish that allows it to change shades of green in different light. except the 3 position, because that's where the date window is. When either hand is over that, it gets a bit washed out. Not really a big deal, I suppose. I wish Orient would take the time to put a dark date wheel here, unfortunately, we are left with a white one, but at least the surround is gold, which does match the indices. You’ll notice the second hand beating along rapidly, as we are even getting a mechanical movement in this budget watch. Terrible. That’s honestly the best way I can describe the bracelet on the Orient 3 Star. I knew when I bought this piece the bracelet was nothing to write home about, but it’s even worse than I expected. The folded five link bracelet is made from stainless steel and has a stamped fold-over clasp. Here’s where the Orient 3 Star gets into “love it or hate it” territory. There’s only really one subdued option for the color of the face and dial: The blue dial on stainless steel version.

The Three Star is a great introduction to a self-winding automatic. It's a simple watch that's easy to figure out. Definitely the easiest day-date analog I've ever used. For the price, you really can't do any better. For many years now, the highly popular Orient ‘Bambino’ has been arguably the go-to entry-level automatic watch. They could have chosen to make it entirely polished or entirely brushed to save time and money, but they opted to add some design elements, which is appreciated. The 2-second test, as I first mentioned here, means a watch dial design that passes that test is good if you can glance and read the time from it in less than 2 seconds. This is my second Orient automatic. I have an Orient diver's model, and I wanted to get something smaller and lighter for everyday use. I really wanted an Orient, as the two other well-known brands of automatics that I have tried have been unsatisfactory in terms of accuracy and/or durability. My Orient divers watch, on the other hand, has proven to be very accurate, and still looks and feels great after years of daily use.After wearing the Orient 3 Star watch for about a week straight, it was averaging about +13 seconds a day which I feel is reasonable for a budget automatic watch. It is certainly not within Swiss COSC standards, but when compared to other automatic watches in the same price range, it’s what you’d expect. I would be curious to see if a watchmaker could regulate this movement to get better results, but that would likely cost almost as much as the watch itself. Even as the most economical option from Orient, the steel is adorned with a pleasant combination of polished and brushed surfaces, giving the watch a certain personality. Ordinarily, I do not like a watch dial that is nothing but symbols, but the way the Three Star is designed works well.

The brand’s approach was that there was still a significant demand for mechanical watches in less developed countries, where it was more difficult and costly to obtain replacement batteries.Their new watches would be as affordable as the new quartz watches that were conquering the market and would not have the additional cost of having to change the battery periodically. I was however a bit annoyed at first with the low 30 meters WR resistance of the 3 star. I am used to wear WR100 meters rated Casios, Vostoks Amphibia (200 meters WR) and other high WR rated watches that I can leave on the wirst at shower and at the swimming pool. That is not the case, you have to remove the watch before to take a shower or to swim.