Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B Review & Complete Guide
Orient is a respected brand that is primarily appreciated for making affordable watches that offer great value for money. Orient’s watches are, in fact, amongst the best affordable automatic sports and dive watches in the world, in our opinion.
Orient knows how to make timeless, stylish, and high-quality timepieces and offer them at prices that make them great value for money.
If you are looking for a sporty dive watch at an affordable price, with an automatic movement, and a funky color twist, the Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B may just be the watch for you.
Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B case
The watch features a stainless steel case with a diameter of 42mm. The thickness measures 13mm. The actual case design is simple and clean and is similar to what you associate with dive watches. At 3 o’clock, it has crown guards that extend from the case. This gives it a sportier look but also has the practical benefit of keeping the screw-down crown protected.
The crown guard naturally makes the watch bulkier and more sporty, but it’s not really an issue. With its dimensions, this watch is most suitable for men with medium to large wrists.
For a sporty look, the top of the case is satin-finished. This is, however, contrasted by polished sides.
As a dive watch should, it of course has a unidirectional rotating bezel with a 60-minute graduation scale. The bezel has a shark-teeth edge which both gives it an aggressive and sporty look, but most importantly also provides good great for easy operation. The bezel has a matte dark red or burgundy aluminum bezel which reminds of that of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay 79230R. The red color makes it stand out and is a nice twist to the standard monochrome dive watch design.
Being a dive watch, it has a water-resistance of 20BAR/200M/660 feet water-resistance. This means it is suitable for essentially any water activity you may subject it to, including diving, scuba diving, swimming, and more. With that said, it is not just a watch with a dive watch design, but instead, it has the water-resistance to back it up.
Orient RA-AA0011B19B dial
The dial of this watch is rather classic and what you would associate with a diver’s watch. This means a black background with large hour markers for optimum legibility.
The dial is matte black which gives it more of a vintage look but also prevents glare and reflections.
As mentioned, the dial has large rectangular hour markers with polished metal frames around them. They also have a generous amount of luminescent material applied to them for improved legibility in the dark.
The hands are aggressive and have a sword/diamond shape made in a similar design as the hour markers. We also have an arrow-tipped seconds hand with some luminescent material applied to its tip.
At 3 o’clock, Orient has added a date and day window. These are, however, separated with a black ”wall” which makes it easier to distinguish them. The windows have white backgrounds that provide good contrast and legibility.
The dial is kept clean with not a lot of dial printing. Printed on the dial, we only have the Orient logo, ”automatic, ”Water Resist”, and ”20 bar”.
Overall, the dial is more or less just what you would expect and want from a dive watch.
Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B movement
The watch is powered by the automatic F6922 caliber.
This is an in-house movement that beats at a frequency of 21600 BPH and has 40 hours of power reserve.
The movement does not have any decoration apart from the Orient logo and some specifications which have been etched onto the rotor. But since this watch has a screw-down case back, the decoration isn’t really the point of this movement. Instead, it is built as a solid workhorse that can handle shocks and bangs and can continue to tick for years. It’s a sturdy movement that is as built for the Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B. In other words, it is made to last.
RA-AA0011B19B strap
The watch is fitted on a black rubber strap and has a steel buckle. Rubber straps tend to go very well together with dive watches, and they also bring the benefit of having great water-resistant properties as well as adding to the sporty look. Furthermore, the rubber strap can be worn on top of a wetsuit without having to adjust with diver’s extensions and such.
Specifications
- Diameter: 42mm
- Thickness: 13mm
- Movement: Automatic caliber F6922
- Jewels: 22
- Crystal: Mineral
- Dial: Black
- Water-resistance: 200m/660 feet
- Crown: Screw-down
- Bezel: Unidirectional
- Frequency: 21600 BPH
- Power-reserve: 40 hours
Conclusions
All in all, it is safe to say that the Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B is a great automatic dive watch that offers great value for money.
It has a nice finish but most importantly, is built to last. It feels solid, rugged, and sporty. And its automatic movement which powers it is robust and built to last.
In terms of design, it is just what you would expect from a dive watch. It is clean, timeless, and offers great legibility. And as a fun twist, it has a burgundy color.
The Orient Mako III RA-AA0011B19B is available to order from Amazon.
