Orient Wingman ER2D001B on a new Dark Burgundy(?) Leather Strap

Continuing with my extremely poor potato phone cam photos. Yeah, I should go back to macro photography.. but the laziness!

  My Orient Wingman ER2D001B on a new leather strap - very dark, almost deep dark burgundy even. It's almost as if it's returned to its original style, with the leather strap and white stitching, but instead of black leather. I'm just experimenting with straps at this point, but ultimately I think this should go with a leather Nato / Zulu style strap due to its military looks instead. It would also be much easier to swap out.

  Before anyone points out that I got the strap the 'wrong way around', yes that is intentional. Because why not. I just want to change things up a bit, and it's not like anyone else is ever gonna notice it when it's on my wrist. :)

  The this PVD Wingman is one of my favorites - there is so much great about it. It's large, making it very 'aviator'ish looking, it also has this miltary look about it. Even though the lume isn't the best, it's still extremely legible in the dark due to the size of the arabic markers on its black dial. In fact, legibility is its strength - you can tell the time on this watch from space! (Well OK, a good 20-25 feet away - if you have good eyesight in good conditions). At least, no other watch in my collection is this legible. You simply cannot do this with any other watch that isn't made to this style, even considering its below average lume for low light - imagine if they put good lume on it like on the Flight. See my review comparing it to the Flight and Ray Raven.

  The watch is also very affordable, it's great for the person who is looking at his first military/aviator big dial automatic that isn't going to break the bank. It would be awesome if it has hand-winding, but I am nitpicking at this point. I hope Orient updates it to the handwinding movements just like they did with the Ray, Bambinos, and the rest of the lineup. This watch tends to get sidelined in favor of Orient's other models like the Bambino or Ray or Flight, but I think this is one of the best deals from Orient if you are into military/aviator styled watches and don't worry about a 50m water rating or below lume (which is offset by how large the numerals are on the dial in the dark anyway).

If you can find it that is, I think they have discontinued this model (I'm not sure - don't quote me on that!)

  You can buy your own similar leather strap here. Or here. Or here.

Banggood Special: Hyper-Affordable Beauty! Hannah Martin 2011 Chronograph Military-Style Men Wristwatch

Hannah Martin 2011 Chronograph Military Style Men Wrist 

This is a such an affordable beauty. This can be gotten off of Banggood for only RM53. For those who are on a really tight budget, this chronograph with a Japanese movement, leather strap, 'vintage' aviation looks offers quite a lot of bang for the buck.

Specification
Brand	HANNAH MARTIN
Model	2011
Style	Fashion,Casual,Outdoor
Gender	Male
Movement	Quartz
Water Resistance	Basic Water resistance (Sweat, raindrops)
Special Features
Functions	Time Display
Appearance & Details
Dial Display	Analog
Dial Window Material	Glass
Band Material	Leather
Clasp Type	Needle Buckle
Dimensions	Dial Diameter: about 45mm  Band Width: about 22mm  Case Thickness: about 12mm  Band Length: about 250mm

Brown sunburst dial version

Blue sunburst dial version

Black dial version

Click images above to buy your own hyper-affordable beauty

Leather Zulu on Black & Gold Casio G-Shock GA-300

Looks rugged, doesn't it? A friend's leather Zulu on a Black & Gold G-Shock GA-300 with a 24mm strap converter.

This leather Zulu strap makes the G-shock GA-300 look so much more rugged and outdoor-sy. According to him it also makes the watch so much more comfortable.

This makes a nice upgrade for anyone thinking about changing the strap on their G-Shock, but bear in mind that there needs to be a strap converter that connects the watch case itself to the strap.

You can check out the G-Shock GA-300 here.

You can get the Zulu Strap here.

The strap adapters for the G-Shock can be gotten here.

An Elegant Smart Band for Ladies

The Mrs. bought this for her friend's birthday:

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It's actually not a bad 'fitness smart band' wrist watch, plus it actually looks elegant for women.  I didn't try all the functions and all, but there seems to be a "Cycling Mode", "Table Tennis Mode" and a "Badminton Mode" in addition to the usual heart rate monitors. Even has a weather forecast thing. Not sure how that works.

Get yours here

or

Oh, my. Orient AP0003S 'Bambino Small Seconds'

Pictures say a thousand words. *Drool*

The Orient 'Bambino Small Seconds. With the new Orient Cal. F6222. features hacking and handwinding. As its name implies, it has a small seconds hand on the dial at 6 o'clock. This is also the first watch where it doesn't say "Water Resist" on the dial. Good call!

Get your Bambino Small Seconds here (Black dial) | Silver Dial | Rose Gold | Cream dial

Wearing the Flight today

Wearing the Flight today. I put it on a tan leather strap.

This is my favorite watch so far this few months..

The Wingman with the tan leather strap is my favorite watch these months so far. I'm not kidding - the dial is easy to read from 5 miles away, the military-style PVD looks business, and it works. It's not the most expensive watch of the bunch, but it just works. Even with the poor lume, in low light conditions it was still easy to tell time from the big, contrast numbers. imagine this watch if Orient had actually put some decent lume in it! The leather strap is tan on the outside, but dark brown, almost black on the inside - which compliments the watch itself really well. This saw the most wrist time among the rest.

Orient Flight ER2A001B0 PVD Review

So, I went ahead and bought it. Orients were going for crazy discounts. I just went ahead and bought the Orient Flight PVD. This makes my third PVD Orient, this one is by accident, mainly because it was the only stock available left. Or.. maybe it was my subconsciousness urging me all along *twilight zone music* and I have a real thing for PVD black watches.
Either way, I now have THREE black cased, black dialed pilot watches from Orient.

My Initial Impressions
On to my thoughts - firstly when holding up the watch in my hands, it had the quality feel to it, compared to the Orient Wingman, it feels much better built somehow.

Dial
So the dial - I can see why some people are nitpicking about the dial. While the dial follows the traditional pilot's watch format - large minute marking on the outside and small hour marking on the inside ring, this is one Orient that I feel could be better without that logo. I like the logo, but I don't think it fits here. Similarly the italics "Automatic" and "Water Resist" don't need to be on the dial. I feel that if they had the word Orient and just 100m on the dial, but the logo on the crown would've made for a much more visually uncluttered look. I don't mind the date window though.

The dial takes some getting used to: perhaps it is as designed, I am able to read down to the exact minutes (e.g. 48minutes and half), but am unable to get the hour at a glance and have to stare at it longer. Usually on a 'normal' watch, I usually read like "3:45ish" when the minute sits between 45 and 50. In the case where this is totally intended, this works VERY WELL.

Hands
The hands are white and reach the arabic markers exactly, like a pilot's watch should. (The Wingman fell short in this area). The lume isn't as bright as on the Ray Raven's, but it works well enough given that its white lume instead of the green stuff. (The Wingman also fell short in this area, in fact lume was extremely poor.)


Case
The case is PVD coated, and it seems the PVD coating is nicely applied here. Surprisingly it wears quite a bit smaller than the Wingman. The Wingman had a more traditional case style, with crown guard, so that could give it the illusion of it being larger, but the Flight actually wears very, very well on my 6.5inch wrist - much better than the Wingman did. The caseback is solid compared to the Wingman's and therefore gives it the better-quality impression, which it is. Water resistance is up to 100M.

The crown isn't signed. As I've mentioned above, I felt that the logo could be better used on the crown and left off the dial for less dial clutter.

Leather Strap
 The leather strap on the other hand.... while less squeaky than the Wingman's - for whatever reason it feels and bends (and squeaks) like compressed foam... I actually preferred the squeaky Wingman's leather strap to this one. It's a very odd texture to it. But maybe it's just me. Anyway, not a big deal, fixable with a new strap. The buckle is signed, and also brushed PVD black.


Summary
This is a nice watch. And quite I'm happy with it. Obviously I have a few things I want to nitpick about it, but for this price? No contest. And with the discount I get for it at sale price? No brainer. Orient continues to make very nice watches with their own in-house movements for such incredible prices.

I am toying with the idea to swap the Wingman's dial onto this case and make use of these hands, as I quite prefer the Wingman-style dial, but it's just an idea. I am not going to take these watches apart unless I come across parts somehow so it's just a dream for now.

(I also posted this review on WatchUSeek.com)

Seiko 5 SNK793K1 - on crocodile strap with deployant buckle

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

Seiko 5 SNK793K1 - on crocodile strap with deployant buckle.

  Yup, I went out and bought another Seiko 5. The SNK793K1 Blue Dial. I also got a deployant buckle for it, because why not. Well it turns out how wrong I was.

  I've discovered that a deployant buckle for a strap isn't exactly advantageous in any way AT ALL. Firstly, there's the cost of getting the thing in the first place. Then, the darn thing, when folded up, takes up at least 4-5 milimeters inside of your wrist, so an OK fitting strap becomes terribly tight fitting, or, if you use a looser slot, it ended up still too loose. Lastly, you'd still have to slot the end of the strap to the loop in the end. So you've just saved ZERO steps, while adding another (when clipping them together, gotta do one side before the other) so therefore in my honest opinon - deployant buckles are a complete waste of time and money. They do look cool though. So style points for that..

You can buy your Seiko SNK793 here.

Leather Strap & Deployant Buckle here.

Seiko 5 SNKK71

Stock photo

Yes, just joined to the Seiko camp by buying one, brand new. I got a SNKK71 for myself recently because I am bitten by the watch bug. The Seiko 5 series has the 7s26 movement with 21 Jewels, which is a very affordable and reliable workhorse movement. The SNKK71 has a black satin finished dial, and raised indices which are actually very beautiful and not captured by the pictures on the internet.


The caseback is hardlex and allows anyone to look into the 7S26 - which is nice, because this is the first time I owned a watch with a transparent caseback. And actually, even if they say it isn't decorated, the movement is finished in such a way that it still has some nice shiny bits to look at and admire.


I did not bother to get the bracelet adjusted, and immediately removed the bracelet and fit it with a leather strap as shown in my very poorly taken photo (sorry, this was taken at night, with room lighting:

Marvelous.

New Leather Strap for my Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B

Got a new tan leather strap for my Orient 'Wingman' today.

The 'Wingman' gives a very clear and very readable dial, this version with the PVD so it remains readable in bright conditions. You could read the time from a mile away. And many times I have found people trying to read the time off my wrist as a result. Either that, or they are admiraing the Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B.

The stealthily designed date window lines up with the white line at the 3 O'Clock, so it is not apparent at first glance but is there when you look closer, which is a nice touch.

Is there more nice touches? Yeah. Many in fact, but one stood out that I just found out : when you adjust the time, as you push the crown back after setting the time, the minute falls back to EXACTLY where it is supposed to be accordingly to the seconds hand! E.g. if the seconds hand is at the 30 position, the minute hands falls to halfway between the minute markers!

How about that for nice touches?



Specifications

*Self-winding movement
*21600/hour vibrations
*Date indicator
*Stainless steel case
*Mineral crystal glass
*Water resistant
*Diameter 41mm  (by my own measurements: 43mm)
*Lug width 22mm

Cheap Fashion Watch - Curren

Another day, another watch. Today's Quartz fashion watch : Curren

Features a gigantic 8 on the dial and a smaller hand showing date.

Not bad, if viewed from far away.

Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B

Added another Orient to my collection - the 'Wingman' CER2D001B . This Orient, again - like my wife's Orient - looks better in person than it does in photos found on the Internet (especially my crappy cellphone photos). The watch came with a very squeaky leather strap. Since I got the PVD look I put the PVD bracelete from my Orient 'Ray Raven' CEM65007B and put it on for a perfect fit! And I'm especially happy with this swap because I was finally able to use the PVD buckle on my Orient Ray CEM65007B. Personally, I would prefer if I got a brown leather strap for my CER2D001B, but this is pretty good for the time being.

Doukou - another day another watch.

Doukou - another day another inexpensive watch, "Doukou" to show. Not much features, a quartz time keeping device for the wrist, fake leather and snap-on caseback.

Simple dial

No water resistance rating. Simply stainless steel snap-on caseback.

Sunday Orient Ray Raven CEM65007B

Victorinox Swiss Army (Prudential)

A long overdue post. I had this picture of this watch from my friend's collection but simply never gotten around to post it. This is a Victorinox Swiss Army quartz with black leather strap:

Unfortunately ruined by the Prudential logo, this watch otherwise has very nice aesthetics.

100M Water Resistance, Prudential logo on the caseback.

Jaguar Swiss Quartz

This beauty piece belongs to a friend of mine. He finally stops getting cheap watches and got this Jaguar some months back. Quite a high end watch... And by high end I mean its definitely a step above what I regularly get, fitting (finally) his financial status.

The only "problem" here is that it is Quartz. Well, it's not as charming as a mechanical.

 

The Jaguar has a Swiss Quartz movement, sapphire crystal and PVD coating. The nice perforated leather strap curves nicely by default, and the crown has some sort of a protected layer on top.

At the end of the day, I totally forgotten to take note of the particular model other than "Jaguar". Initially I had thought it may have something to do with Jaguar, the car company, but the two are apparently unrelated.

Mission : New PVD Leather Nato Strap

Target sighted: New PVD, leather Nato strap, for my Orient

Picture courtesy of WristSolution

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Should make a pretty awesome combo.  Checks all the right stuff - PVD, buckle - check. Tan colour leather - check.  Nato strap - check.

Well, hopefully. Only one way to find out!! But first let me get my budget straightened out first...

Strap is sold at WristSolution.com for RM75. Woo!