Orient Kamasu Watch Review & Complete Guide

Orient Kamasu Watch Review & Complete Guide

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There is an endless selection of dive-watches and dive-inspired watches on the market. Like literally an endless selection in all kinds of designs, shapes, and forms.

In fact, the dive watch is actually one of the most popular watch designs today. Whilst originally built for professional divers who needed a trusted companion for keeping track of the time (as well as elapsed time), dive watches have become so much more than that.

Dive watches have become iconic watch designs that appeal to a lot of people. And the fact is that many of them are also extremely versatile. You’d be surprised at how many dive watches can extremely well with a suit, just the way they look great for everyday wear.

Dive watches are often very versatile for their sleek, iconic, and timeless designs. And we say often because there are so many different styles. 

But in this article, we will focus on the Orient Kamasu – a dive watch that captures everything that most people associate with dive watches. This watch has a classic and refined look that is not too sporty, not too elegant.

Orient Kamasu watch review

The Orient Kamasu is a highly popular watch from Orient for a number of different reasons. This watch has a beautiful and timeless design, great built quality and performance, and of course a high-quality, robust and durable automatic movement.

This is not just a dive-inspired watch – it’s also a dive watch that can back up its purpose with its performance.

Orient as a brand is widely popular due to the great value the brand offers and an impressive quality-to-price ratio. And the Orient Kamasu is certainly not an exception.

Worth noting is that the Orient Kamasu, like many other Orient watches, is available in a few different iterations and versions, namely with different dial and bezel colors, so you should be able to find one you like if you like the overall style of the watch.

If you’re looking for a high-quality affordable dive watch with an automatic movement, there’s no reason to look further than the Orient Kamasu. And this is also the watch that we are going to review and look closer at in this article.

Case

The case of the watch is exactly what you expect from a dive watch. It is sporty and robust, but by no means too sporty or too bulky. It has a diameter of 41.8mm and a thickness of 12.8mm, finished in stainless steel. This is a very reasonable size for a sports watch and works well for most men’s wrists. The Lug-to-lug is also 47mm.

If you’re familiar with Orient’s offerings, you probably recognize this case from the highly popular Orient Ray II, and this is because the cases of these two watches are essentially the same.

The case finishing is nice considering the price, but there’s nothing too fancy about it. However, Orient has still done a good job by making the upper side brushed, and contrasted this with polished sides. Also, for a sleeker and more elegant look, but also improved comfort, the lugs curve down slightly which does have an effect on the comfort and how the watch sits on the wrist.

As a true dive watch should, it is equipped with a unidirectional rotating bezel. The bezel has a coin edge to improve the grip and make it easier to operate. Whilst this helps somewhat, it can at times be slightly difficult to grip. The watch has an aluminum bezel insert with 60-minute markings and has a luminous pip at 12 o’clock which helps improve legibility in low-lit conditions. It rotates with 12 clicks and has a reassuring, smooth, and consistent feel to it.

When it comes to the case, there’s not a lot to complain about, but there is one thing we can comment on, and that is the crown. The crown is positioned at 3 o’clock, protected by two crown guards, which add to the sporty look of this watch. But we feel that the crown could have been made larger. Both from a design perspective, and also from a practical standpoint. Because the crown is now relatively small, it does make it more difficult to screw and operate. Also, the crown can feel a bit wobbly when operating it which does affect the impression of quality. But it’s still no deal breaker in our opinion since this watch has so much else to offer. Last but not least, the crown is signed, which is a nice touch.

On top of the case sits a flat sapphire crystal. This is a nice feature that not all dive watches in this price category have, as you can often find mineral crystals used.

The water resistance is a great feature of this watch. It has a water resistance of 200m/660 feet which means that this watch is not only a dive-inspired watch but also has the water resistance to back it up. This means that you can go swimming and diving with no issues.

Orient Kamasu Dial

Moving on to the dial of the Orient Kamasu, you can find everything that we expect from a dive watch. It is presented, as mentioned, with different colors, and has applied hour markers with metal frames and a generous amount of luminescence applied to them. The hour hand is shorter and has an arrow tip. The hands also have luminescence applied to them. Thanks to this, the watch offers excellent legibility, as a dive watch should.

The lume on the Orient Kamasu is pretty good. It’s comparable with many Seiko watches out there and glows long and bright.

Positioned at 3 o’clock, we find a day and date window with a metal frame around it. Depending on the model you choose, the dial is generally monochrome, but on those that are, Orient has solved this by adding a red arrow tip for the seconds hand.

Overall, the dial is very nicely executed and has great attention to detail. Each of the details on the dial is crisp, sharp, and carefully tough-out.

Unlike many other dive watches on the market, this watch does not have a chapter ring, which is an interesting choice from Orient. Ignoring the chapter ring naturally makes the dial appear larger, and it’s hard to decide whether or not this is a good thing, but the dial as a whole does not look terrible by any means

Movement

The movement is a great value proposition for most of Orient’s watches. The Kamasu is powered by the in-house automatic Orient Caliber F6922 which features hand-winding and hacking functions.

The movement beats with a frequency of 21600 BPH and has a power reserve of 40 hours. The accuracy is specified to +25/-15 sec a day. This is a relatively new caliber, released in 2016. 

For the price, this movement is great, durable, and reliable. It has proven to be a robust and long-lasting movement that can continue to tick for many years to come. In other words, very suitable for a sports watch.

The fact that you also have hacking seconds and a manual-winding function is also a great addition to this movement which wasn’t found in the previous generation movement.

Bracelet

Last but not least, we have the bracelet of this watch. Depending on which model and version you choose, you either have a stainless steel bracelet or a rubber strap. Both of these strap options work, but which version you choose is more dependent on the version of the watch you choose, not necessarily which strap/bracelet option it comes with. Plus, with its 22mm lug width, you can always change straps according to your wants. And the Kamasu looks great on many different straps, including NATO and leather straps.

In terms of design, Orient has done a good job with the steel bracelet. It looks good and blends into the overall style of the watch perfectly. However, keep in mind that this is an affordable watch and as is the case for most affordable watches, there is certainly room for improvement when it comes to the build quality of the bracelet. The bracelet is fully brushed which looks nice, however, it has hollow end links and split pins which affect the overall qualitative feel of the bracelet. It is also equipped with a pressed metal clasp. In other words, it would be nice to have screwed links, solid end links, etc, but this is what we expect from affordable watches.

For adjustment, the clasp has four micro-adjustments.

Available models

• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0002L19A – Steel case, steel bracelet, blue dial, blue bezel
• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0004E19A – steel case, steel bracelet green dial, black bezel
• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0001B19A – steel case, steel bracelet, black dial, black bezel
• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0003R19A – steel case, steel bracelet, red dial, black bezel
• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0005B19A – black PVD steel case with gold details, rubber strap, black dial
• Orient Kamasu RA-AA0006L19A – steel case, rubber strap, blue dial, blue bezel

Specifications

• Diameter: 41.5mm
• Lug-to-lug: 47mm
• Lug width: 22mm
• Thickness: 13mm
• Crystal: Flat Sapphire
• Movement: Orient in-house automatic caliber F6922 automatic with hand-winding and hacking functions
• Frequency: 21600 BPH
• Power-reserve: approx 40 hours
• Accuracy: +25/-15 sec a day
• Power reserve: 40 hours

Conclusion

All in all, the Orient Kamasu is a great affordable dive watch that offers exceptional value for money. So much so that we would dare to say that this is one of the best affordable dive watches on the market today.

Overall, the watch is great in most aspects, from movement, to design, to finishing, to build quality. Yes, there are some shortcomings and room for improvement such as the crown, but it wouldn’t be an affordable dive watch without them. Plus, these are small things in the grand scheme of things that, in our opinion, doesn’t make this any less of a good choice.

In fact, this watch offers so many things that you want in a dive watch, even considering its price. It has premium materials such as a sapphire crystal and of course good water resistance.

Another great thing that we love about this watch is also the versatility that it offers. It is sporty, but not too sporty to wear for everyday wear. In fact, this is a great everyday watch that also works for more formal occasions, if you need it to.