The Gentleman's Watch : Orient Bambino Version 4

One watch that I have always been fascinated upon, was the Orient Bambino. With every reiteration, Orient has been making continuous improvements, Kaizen-style. For instance, it used to be a non-winding automatic movement, then non-winding but hacking movement; and in the latest Version 4, Orient dropped in a Japan-made Caliber F6724 that was automatic, hand-winding, and hacking. The holy trinity in functionalities.

Wass it easy to tell the latest V4 apart from the previous reiterations, from the outside? Well, the case had increased from 41mm to 42mm; and more importantly, the lug size had been increased from 21mm to 22mm. I had been waiting for the increase in lug size for a long while; and the moment V4 reportedly had the more common lug size, I immediately scouted high and low for the Cream Bambino.

However, it was easy to score the Black, Green, Blue, etc Bambino V4 but the Cream one was pretty elusive. It was sold-out at most online stores, and the local AD had to specially order a unit from Japan for me. After months of waiting, the Cream finally arrived in Malaysia. Hooray!

Left to Right : Cream V4, Black V3, Black V4.

Can you tell them apart?

But enough about the side by side comparison pictures, let's take a look at my Cream V4. First off, I took off the Orient leather straps. While they were fine for a watch that cost slightly less than RM1,000, I prefer to have better quality straps and immediately made an online order for some quality 22mm straps that should be forthcoming in the coming weeks.

I would pair the Cream V4 with a pair of Nato James Bond for the interim period. Not the best of choice perhaps, but it would have to do for the time being. The dial was simply gorgeous, and I could looked at it for hours.

And that domed mineral glass done in the classic feel of gentlemen watches from the yesteryears, was simply breath-taking. You simply couldn't get any other watches in this price range, that simply looked as breathtakingly handsome as the Bambino V4.

Simple and elegant, this would be a watch that would stay in my collection. What a beauty!!!