Orient Flight Watch Review & Complete Guide
Orient is a watch brand that is appreciated for making high-quality, affordable timepieces. The brand has become especially popular in the watch community and with watch enthusiasts due to the frequency of use of in-house automatic movements in its timepieces.
Orient has a watch for everyone – like seriously. Dress watches, dive watches, sports watches, and of course, pilot’s watches. The latter is the one that we are going to look closer at in this article. Orient has several different pilot’s watches, but the Orient Flight is the most popular of them all. In addition, Orient has also made several different iterations and versions of this model with different designs so you should be able to find one that you like.
Being a pilot’s watch, you know what to expect already from the beginning. And this watch offers many of the iconic design traits that you expect in a pilot’s watch.
Perhaps best of all is that this watch does what so many of Orient’s other watches are known for – offering exceptional value for money.
Orient Flight RA-AC0H01L10B
Orient Flight Watch review
At first glance, it’s evident that the Orient Flight has taken inspiration from classic pilot’s watches. The design elements are clearly inspired by pilot’s watches from world war 2, which is something that goes very well with this watch and gives a classic and honest look.
The Orient Flight model was presented in September 2019, so it is quite a new model from Orient. This model replaced the older generation Pilot’s watch and meant a number of visual tweaks but also technical improvements.
Case
Starting off, the case of the Orient Flight is pretty much what you would expect from a dive watch that has taken inspiration from the originals. It has a relatively large case at 42.4mm and a lug-to-lug measurement of 49.5mm. However, it still has a relatively slim profile with a thickness of 11.6mm.
This is quite good considering the fact that this watch actually has a mechanical movement inside. So despite its relatively large size, it’s not too tall, which can otherwise be one of the key factors that make a watch feel clumsy on the wrist. This is great news if you’re wearing long-sleeve shirts often as they can slide under a cuff without any issues. For a ”tool” and sporty look, the case is completely satin-finished and has a circular-brushed finish on the lugs.
Orient Flight Sports Automatic RA-AC0H04Y
Whilst the case is larger than most watches out there, it is not huge if we’re looking at it from a pilot’s watch perspective. With this said, I would even dare to say that it is quite reasonably sized. At the same time, the lugs have a relatively flat and not curved design, which means it doesn’t ”curve” around the wrist as well as some other watches, which may lead to making it feel bigger on the wrist.
On top of the case, the watch naturally has a mineral crystal. Whilst a sapphire crystal would be nice, it’s not something that we can expect from a watch at this price point.
The watch has a water resistance of 100m/330 feet and a screw-down crown. In my opinion, this is quite good for a pilot’s watch. After all, this is not a dive watch, and not necessarily one that you will go swimming with. But you can still go swimming without any issues.
Orient Flight Black dial RA-AC0H03B10A
Dial
With this watch, it’s evident that Orient has understood what a pilot’s watch is all about. As such, it naturally has a great emphasis on legibility. This model is presented with a large dial with printed large markers for optimum legibility. As mentioned, there are a few different versions so dial colors can vary, but if you’re going for the most classic, then the black dial is the given choice. Around the outer part of the dial, it has large white printed Arabic numerals which indicate the minutes. Inside a ring, it has printed hour markers from 1 to 12. Positioned at 12 o’clock, there is also a date window discreetly tucked in which is always practical to have.
A great pilot’s watch also needs great lume so you can read the time well in low-lit conditions as well, and this is something that Orient has done a great job with for the Pilot. This watch uses Nemoto’s luminova treatment on the hour and minute hands. This lume glows bright and long in green color. Whilst the luminescence is quite good, it’s not as good as Super-Luminova.
The diamond-shaped hands are quite large and have white frames on them to create excellent contrast. In addition, they also have luminescence applied to them.
Orient Flight grey dial & case
The best word to describe this watch would be ”uncluttered” because that is exactly what it is. Orient has also toned down the Orient logo to make it blend in better with the dial and not harm the overall legibility. If there’s one thing we can suggest for improvement, it is that Orient could have made the hands slightly longer to allow for even easier reading. But as mentioned, the legibility is not terrible by any means. In fact, quite the opposite. The automatic text is also often made larger, but for this watch, it is quite small so as to not harm the overall balance or legibility of the watch. Things like depth rating etc. which is often found printed on the dial have also been omitted.
Manufacturers usually use applied markers to provide more depth and a greater sense of attention to detail. But Orient ”combats” this by making the applied paint somewhat raised. Because, at least in my opinion, a pilot’s watch shouldn’t have applied markers. At least not if they want to stay true to the originals. Another nice detail is that the dial is not glossy, but rather has a matte, grainy finish. This prevents reflections, but also gives it a more tool-like look and makes it more interesting. But as mentioned, there are different versions, which either have a sunburst, matte, or grainy dial finish, so just pick the one you like the most.
When it comes to the lume, I also feel that the hour markers are perhaps made a bit too small in order to achieve a strong-glowing lume. Also, from a legibility standpoint, the date is perhaps a bit too small in order to be read quickly and effortlessly, but at the same time, the date function is certainly not the most crucial aspect of a pilot’s watch. In fact, many pilot’s watches have omitted it completely, so I still feel it is great that Orient included it and did so in a seamless and discreet way.
All in all, Orient achieves a dial that is extremely legible, but also sporty, whilst staying true to classic pilot’s watch designs.
Orient Flight movement
Whilst the dial is perhaps the most important part of a pilot’s watch, we can’t forget about the engine – the heart of the watch. This watch is powered by the in-house automatic Orient caliber F6722. The fact that you have an automatic movement in a watch at this price point is one of the things that makes this – and most other Orient watches for that matter – stand out from the ordinary and offer exceptional value for money.
Whilst it’s not the best automatic movement out there, it has still proven to be robust and extremely reliable. It’s not just some random, cheap, and low-quality movement, but rather one that is actually quite good. Especially if you consider the price at which this timepiece is offered.
Furthermore, the movement has 22 jewels and a 40-hour power reserve. It also has a hacking function and a manual-winding function. These two latter functions are often missing in the cheapest automatic movements, so this is a great value proposition from Orient.
The movement operates with a frequency of 21,600 BPH, like most other automatic Orient cabers, so the seconds hand doesn’t sweet perfectly smooth, but again, this is something that only true watch nerds will pay attention to.
Winding the crown is quite simple thanks to the good grip that the crown has. A nice thing is that the crown feels solid and robust – not cheap and rattly like it can on some other affordable watches.
Orient Pilot Straps and bracelets
As far as straps and bracelet options go, different versions have different strap options. Since this watch has a lug width of 22mm, you shouldn’t have any issues finding an aftermarket strap shall you wish to change, but chances are, you won’t choose the version primarily based on the strap option it has.
But it’s still worth noting that this watch can be purchased with a nylon, leather, or steel bracelet. Since you can change straps as you like quite easily, your primary criteria for choosing a watch should be the dial color.
Orient Flight Specifications
- Diameter: 42.4mm
- Lug-to-lug: 49.5mm
- Thickness: 11.6mm
- Lug width: 22mm
- Crystal: flat mineral
- Water resistance: 100m/330 feet
- Crown: screw-down
- Movement: Orient in-house automatic caliber F6722
- Power reserve: 40 hours
Conclusion
All in all, the Orient Pilot is a watch that has both pros and cons. But as you can see, the pros greatly outweigh the cons, and if you also factor in the price of this watch, I’m not sure that there is even a lot to complain about.
The watch has a clean, sporty, and classic design, and Orient has successfully taken inspiration from iconic pilot’s watch designs from world war 2 watches. The watch is naturally bigger due to it being a pilot’s watch, but it is by no means huge. And whilst it is quite large, the case is considerably thin which allows it to slide under a cuff without any issues. This is a watch that can work well on many different occasions thanks to this, and at the same time be extremely versatile.
With a price of around 200 USD, I challenge you to find a pilot’s watch with better quality, attention to detail, and movement than the Orient Pilot. There are a few great affordable Pilot watches out there, but I’m not sure that any of them even come close to offering the value that the Orient Pilot offers.
For this price, you are getting a stylish, classic, and high-quality timepiece with a reliable automatic movement that can continue to tick for many years to come.
