Orient Bambino White Dial-Rose Gold - #AC00002W

My second automatic watch and it is hand-wind too.

Honestly, I’ve no idea about Orient brand... 

I know of Swatch, Seiko, Citizen, Casio and other brand I normally see at shopping malls and the watch my family and friends own (Rolex and Omega are not in my list, so you know that I am not rich). Maybe because they don't do mainstream advertisement which is why people like myself don't know or has little knowledge of this brand (I might be wrong though). I was introduced to this  watch brand after reading the Philippine watch collector's forum, i.e. www.philippinewatchclub.org. They (the experts) say that Orient is a good Japanese watch brand. Quality is at par with Seiko and Citizen and it is budget-friendly too.

I am new to watch collection. I just started collecting automatic and quartz watches. As I don’t have budget for high-end watches, I make sure that I will bought only the watch that is within my budget and I can practically use. I don’t want to buy a watch that will end up in a display. I think when you are tight in a budget, you look for other practical reasons why you want to build a watch collection.

At may age (46 years old), I want to collect a watch that I can hand down to  my kids. Something that will last a couple of decades (or outlast me) which they can enjoy and appreciate. I know nowadays that people are more keen to own ‘smart watch’ than quartz or automatic ones. Probably only a few breeds are left still wanting a watch that just tell time and leave the smart thing to the wearer. I would presume those are people who was able to enjoy the old technologies and the new cutting-edge ones. I am talking things like pager, Nokia 5110 and bulky television. People who lived in my teenage era are those that love their not-so-smart watch. Those are the people I know will appreciate automatic watches.

I am not into diver's watch…

I like dress watch more which I can wear during church services and on some formal and semi-formal occasions. I first seen a Bambino white dial at lazada.ph. I like the look of the watch and the price is quite within my budget. I started looking for other Bambino watch design in the internet and luckily I found the longislandwatch.com which published reviews of the Bambinos. I immediately fell in-love with the rose gold with white dial. So, I tasked myself of finding where I can buy this watch locally. I search the internet further and found the philippinewatchclub.org where there are traders that offers Bambino at a competitive price. Compare to lazada.ph price of 9,000 plus, I got my Bambino for 7.5K pesos.

The payment is thru BPI deposit to the seller account. It is the risk that I have to take when I decided to buy from the 'gray' market. Lucky for me, the seller is the honest one. I got my shining Bambino after 3 days which the seller shipped thru LBC (YARI ang padala but not this time).

The watch is awesome!

Perfect as a dress watch, very simple and few complications but elegant. Shiny rose gold plated body and hour and minute arms moving over the white dial. I personally like the leather band which doesn’t feel cheap. It is semi-shiny which is perfect and quality is superb. The size is perfect for my small wrist and height is not thick. The watch is really a head-turner but not loud enough to get too much attention. I would say, this is a great watch better than my Seiko, definitely!

Another thing I really love about this watch is the power reserve. I just have to wind it once a day which is enough to make the watch work like a horse for more than one day. This is a beautiful watch which I will definitely enjoy for a long time.

Attention to detail. Very nice.

Perfect for my wrist. Rose gold is really a star!

Seiko Automatic - SNZG15K1

My first automatic watch… but will not recommend this particular model for anyone to own.

Like any new guy in watch collection fever and based on what I read from the cyber-space, I think Seiko is one of the brand that is a good ‘practice’ watch. Quality is good and with an affordable price which is a good news for someone like me who has a shallow pocket.

I initially decided to buy SNK805 or SNK809 but when I went to SM North Seiko Authorized Dealer, I was immediately fell inlove by the look and size of SNZG15K1; black canvas watch band and bigger dial. Though the band is not comfortable to wear because of some lose threads scratching your skin but I think after a few months of use, it will smooth out or you can change it to some after market watch band; which I did.

Actually, SNK805/809 has a similar look as SNZG15K1 albeit smaller. Based on the reviews, it is a good watch to own if you are starting your watch collection. But with a thousand pesos difference with SNZG15K1, I decided to go for the bigger dial.

SNZG15K1 metal case top part has a matte texture while the lower part shines. As this watch is sports model, you will expect some beating which I think why the top part has matte texture. Shiny case is not good as the matte texture in hiding scratches.  The the 3 o'clock crown has the right size which is easy to use during resetting of time, date and day of the week. To set the date, pull the crown halfway and turn clockwise. Turn the crown counter-clockwise to change the day of the week. Except for Sunday which is red, date and day complications uses white font.
The dial has an elevated hour and minute markings with arabic for hours and 24-hours format in the inner lower part of the dial. It help on the aesthetic part of the watch and help dampen the busy look of the dial.

The only gripe I have with this watch is the power reserve which is only around 10 hours or sometimes way less. You will surely need to reset the watch if you left it for more than 10 hours. Having an automatic winder can help avoid the hassle of winding the watch often - but with its price, I don’t think that is sensible.

See through back cover. Mesmerizing components that makes the clock tick. I am not sure how tough is the cover. So far, it has no visible scratches (yet).

I like the contrast of the white arms and markings against the black dial. The 41 mm width is exactly right size for my wrist size and it is not too thick; still a good dress watch if you change the band to a leather. The dial has day and date complication with un-hackable second hand. Day is in Spanish and english (who still use spanish in asia?).

As I said, good size for my small wrist.

Canvas band not really comfortable to wear but quite sturdy. 

Good packaging. Box contains the watch pillow, manual and warranty card. Hopefully, I will not have to use the warranty provided.

Change to leather band bought from Asprey for 450 pesos. I looked for a semi-shiny one but it is not available. Now, I can use the watch for semi-formal occasion.

Authentic and good quality leather from Asprey.

With comfortable leather watch band.

UPDATE

After a 2 months of use, I can definitely say that I will NOT RECOMMEND this watch. The meager power reserve is something that you would not expect from Seiko. Most of the time power reserve is just about 3 hours! Unacceptable right? Sometimes the day stops in Spanish or halfway to its full turn. Very disappointed.