Orient Monarch Review & Complete Guide
Orient is one of the most popular affordable watch brands on the market. In particular amongst watch enthusiasts.
Orient is known for making high-quality watches that offer great value for money, often with mechanical movements (which is obviously something that watch enthusiasts appreciate). Looking at the prices of Orient watches, and then looking at the products in detail, it becomes evident that Orient is one of the best alternatives in its price bracket.
In Orient watches, you find in-house (often automatic) movements that are known to be robust and reliable, able to continue to tick for many years to come.
Another great thing about Orient is that the brand has a large collection of timepieces in all kinds of different designs and executions. There really is an Orient watch for everyone.
The brand is particularly known for its beautiful, well-made, and high-quality dress watches. And in this article, we are going to look closer at one of these models. Specifically the Orient Monarch.
Orient Monarch watch Review
The Orient Moarch was presented in 2015. This is a stylish, refined, elegant, and classic dress watch with a beautiful design that makes it perfect for formal occasions, but also for everyday wear if you are normally wearing more formal attire.
We also love the fact that Orient has made the Monarch in a few different executions so you can choose the one that suits your taste the most. In this review, we will focus on the Monarch reference DD03003Y which features a stainless steel case and a white dial, but everything we say is applicable to the other models, apart from the dial color and case finish (gold or steel).
Orient Monarch Case
The watch is presented with a simple, sleek, and elegant stainless steel case with a classic design. It has a diameter of 40mm and a thickness of 13mm. These dimensions are suitable for most men’s wrists and it is not too big nor too small. Some dress watches can have a diameter of 39mm or even 36mm, and we feel that it is a good choice to make it 40mm as it makes it slightly more versatile and suitable for more occasions than solely when you are wearing a tuxedo.
The 40mm size and its thickness aren’t perhaps considered a dress watch, but it does make it more versatile. At the same time, thanks to partially the lug design, the watch wears smaller than its dimensions may suggest. Despite its slightly larger thickness, this watch still slides under a cuff without any issues.
To go with the elegant and classy theme, it has a completely polished finish. The lugs are rectangular, thin, and short which leaves most of the property to the actual case, but also helps it sit better on the wrist. The bezel has a polished finish and equally so the sides of the case. At 3 o’clock, Orient has opted for a slightly oversized crown which reminds a bit about vintage pocket watches, and this aligns perfectly with the concept of this watch. The crown is a push-pull, as you can expect.
For the crystal, Orient has opted for a slightly domed sapphire crystal. This is a great addition and value proposition for this watch since many watches in this price range often use mineral or acrylic crystals. The domed design also adds a vintage look to this watch which is appropriate.
The case has a water resistance of 50 meters. This isn’t the best, but it is exactly what we can expect from a dressy watch. After all, this isn’t the type of watch that you would go swimming with anyway.
Orient Monarch Dial
The Orient Monarch DD03003Y is presented with a simple and classic white dial but is also available with a black dial. The white dial color is referred to as ”eggshell” by Orient, so it is not chalk-white, but has a slightly more beige/warm hue to it, although it is still quite white. The dial has a subtle sunburst finish which makes the watch more vibrant, particularly in the sun. It’s not just completely flat. The finishing is very subtle, and we would call it pearlescent rather than sunburst as the finishing of the dial is not as obvious as on watches with a true sunburst finish.
What we can say is that Orient has succeeded very well with the design of the dial and making it align perfectly with the vintage-inspired style that this watch is trying to achieve. The first element that reflects this is the Breguet-style Arabic numerals printed on black on the dial. Then, of course, we also have classic-style watch hands reminiscent of vintage watches and pocket watches with a loop at the tip. This type of hand design is also found in Breguet watches, which is a brand that is also known for its elegant and classic watches. With that said, it’s evident where Orient has taken some inspiration from.
The blue hands are a nice addition to this watch since it is, apart from the logo, the only touch of color this watch gets. Blued hands is a signature design element of many vintage watches, but the hands of this watch are actually painted and not blued. Of course, a dress watch shouldn’t necessarily scream with colors, but the blue hands integrate color in a subtle and elegant way. The key (and only) complication in this watch is the power reserve that we find positioned at 12 o’clock on the dial.
The power reserve is indicated with a small blue hand and has markings that show the power reserve of 40 hours. This function on the dial is a nice addition that blends in perfectly into the dial without stealing the show or harming its symmetry. It simply blends into the dial in a nice and seamless way.
Around the very edge of the dial, the watch has chapter ring rail-style markings for the seconds, with small Arabic numerals for every five minutes.
The Orient logo is positioned above 6 o’clock, and right beneath it, it has the text ”mechanical” which reflects the movement inside. Some could say that if you would have wanted a cleaner dial, Orient could have removed the logo, but with the power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock and the Orient logo at 6, it creates a nice balance.
So what about the legibility? Well, first and foremost, this watch does not have any luminescence. In fact, most dress watches do not have luminescence, and this is to give the watch a more refined look. Naturally, it does affect legibility in low-lit conditions. At the same time, luminescence isn’t as crucial in a dress watch compared to, for example, a dive watch.
Overall, the Orient Monarch still has great legibility during the daytime. The blue hands create excellent legibility and contrast against the white dial. The hand design is also good for legibility with the loops at the top, making it easier to read the time.
What we do want to emphasize is that the dial is very nicely executed. Yes, this is an affordable watch, but despite this, it has great attention to detail with nice finish which doesn’t look sloppy in any way. This helps give it that exclusive and luxurious appearance.
Movement
What stands out about the Orient Monarch is the fact that it is powered by an in-house mechanical manual-wound movement. Specifically the Orient Caliber 48C40. The fact that Orient opted for a manual-wind movement is quite unique since there are not a lot of manual-wound watches on the market today. Manual movements both have their pros and cons, but they are particularly appreciated by watch enthusiasts who want to get a connection with their watch and wind it on a regular basis in order to remind themselves about the mechanical craftsmanship that powers it.
This movement also goes very well together with the design of this watch. Manual movements were the standard type of movement used in classic dress watches back in the days before automatic movements came about, so with its vintage-inspired design, the use of the movement aligns perfectly with what this watch is all about.
The movement is equipped with 21 jewels, beats at a frequency of 21600 BPH, has a hacking function, as well as a power reserve indicator. The frequency is slightly lower than what you may find in many other automatic watches, and as a result, the seconds hand ticks slightly. This is a movement that has proven to be robust, durable, and reliable. This is of course what Orient’s watches have come to be known for, so it’s nice to see that the Monarch also aligns with this.
An interesting detail about this manual movement is that it is at its core an automatic movement without the rotor and parts that are used for the automatic mechanism. Because of this, Orient has decided to add a plate to cover it. But Orient has still added a see-through case back, allowing you to see the movement inside. But the only decoration to be found is some perlage decoration on the plates. The plate on top of the movement does contribute to some of the thickness of this watch. Whilst it would be nice to have a beautifully decorated movement, it is perhaps it is too much to ask from the Orient Monarch considering its price. One of the benefits of manual watches is that because they do not have a rotor, they present a full view of the movement, but the plate limits this a bit.
The movement has a power reserve of 40 hours when fully wound, and the battery life is of course indicated via the power reserve indicator presented on the dial.
Strap
The Orient Monarch is presented on a black calfskin leather strap that tapers slightly. The tapering is subtle but helps improve comfort when wearing it. A leather strap is always appropriate and suitable for a dress watch to give it that formal and classic look that we expect from dress watches. If you want to give it a new look, you can always change the strap to something else with its 18mm lug width, but there’s nothing wrong with this strap for a classic and refined look.
There’s not much to say about the strap other than that it is relatively comfortable and goes well with the watch design. It has a classic steel buckle with an engraving. But for the purpose, it does the job very well.
Orient Monarch Specifications
- Water resistance: 50m/165 feet
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Power reserve: 40 hours
- Movement: Hand-wound Orient in-house caliber 48C40
- Complications: power reserve function
- Diameter: 40mm
- Thickness: 13mm
- Length: 45mm
- Lug width: 18mm
- Crown: push-pull
Orient Monarch available models
- Orient Monarch DD03002B – black dial, steel case
- Orient Monarch DD03001W – white dial, yellow gold case
- Orient Monarch DD03003Y – white dial, steel case
Conclusion
All in all, the Orient Monarch is a great watch that we can definitely recommend. It offers everything that we have come to love and appreciate from Orient watches, and it offers all of this at a very attractive price.
The Orient Monarch works best for formal occasions but can also work well for everyday wear if you are used to wearing more formal attire. Every single aspect of this watch has been carefully thought-out, and the attention to detail is excellent. Perhaps the most interesting part about this watch is its hand-wound movement which is actually quite unique in today’s watch market. In that sense, it becomes a perfect watch for those who want something traditional, or simply die-hard watch fans who appreciate a manual movement.
It also incorporates lots of appealing vintage-inspired details which go very well together with the purpose and concept of this watch. This makes it stand out, but in a good and subtle way, and it has enough details to ensure that it never becomes boring whilst maintaining a classic look that dress watches should have.
Orient Monarch DD03003Y
