Orient Ray 2 Automatic Dive Watch Review - The Seiko SKX Killer

Orient , owned by the Epson corporation has been killing the scene of affordable dive watches in the past couple of years. They did this mainly with the Orient Ray and Mako lines of dive watches. These watches can be had at under $200 USD and offer a whole lot more in function and quality than the fanboy favorite Seiko SKX.

Case

The 41MM case on the Orient Ray 2 line combines polished sides with brushed tops and a rather proportionate dimension of 41MM x 13MM thick with 22MM lugs. The finishing is rather good for a $175 watch and I think it looks way more expensive than it actually costs. We get a mineral crystal, 120 Click uni directional aluminum bezel , and a screw down signed crown for 200 meters of water resistance. I must admit the bezel action is not that great because it is very hard to get a grip on the bezel due to it being so close to the case and angled downwards. This is a problem for me and I know I am not the only person who noticed that.

Dial

The typical diver layout is utilized here on this straight black dial with applied luminous markers. The seconds hand has a nice red arrow tip which helps stand out over the white lume filled markers. The day and date window at 3:00 are frames with a border and certainly legible at a glance. At 12:00 Orient and Automatic are printed in white while the Orient logo is applied in polished silver.

Movement

The orient In house caliber F6922 is used in this watch which also represents quality and good bang per buck. It is not an easy thing to find a watch at this pricepoint with an in house movement besides seiko automatics. This movement is hackable, hand windable, contains 22 Jewels, and holds a power reserve of 40 hours. In terms of accuracy, you can expect around 7-8 seconds plus a day when broken in. The movement beats at 21,600 BPH or 3 Hertz.

Bracelet

The 22MM stainless steel oyster style bracelet is not the most luxurious or fluid bracelet around but it certainly is better than most Seiko stock bracelets. The bracelet uses push pins for adjustment and features a few micro adjustments on the signed Orient clasp for fine adjustment. We do not get solid end links on this version but it would of been nice.

I threw myne on a Silicone Barton band and it certainly does the watch justice

Furthermore, compared to its competitor the Seiko SKX , I can see why myself and others are grabbing these over Seikos pride and joy timepiece. The watch has a better movement, bracelet, and overall a more modern aesthetic. I will say that the Seiko Lumibrite is brighter than Orient Lume though. At this pricepoint you will have a hard time finding a better set of specifications for the money making the Orient Mako 2 a winner in my book.

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