Moving on to the bezel and dial, the Midnight Blue model is striking. A first for Orient, the decision to forego the domed bezel, and give the watch a flat, transparent bezel makes for a more dramatic wrist presence. I need to add, that when I saw the first images of the watch, I thought the bezel was black. Its dark blue insert is incredibly susceptible to light. I tried to capture just how dramatic the changes can be with as many different kinds of light as possible – something that I think Orient should have done in their marketing materials. Which brings me to my first small gripe with the watch. The bezel scratches incredibly easily. I think the transparent resin on top is cool, but it accentuates scratches ten-fold, and isn’t nearly as resistant as the steel Mako. For a tool watch, I wasn’t expecting the fragile nature of the bezel.
The dial is hands down my favorite part of the watch. The Orient Nami has some ridiculously clean lines. The finishing of the applied hour markers are thick but uncluttered, the baton or “pencil” style hands are chunky enough to be superbly legible, and the spear-tipped sweeping seconds hand over the sunburst blue dial is nothing short of entrancing. I appreciate the five-second Arabic numeral indexes on the chapter ring instead of the hashes of Orient’s previous divers. Additionally, this watch has some of the crispest lume I’ve seen on a sub-$500 watch.
Where the Mako fell a bit short with me was dial clutter. The Orient logo is large, which is paired with a day-date, the lines of text, hefty hands, and over-sized indices crammed into a 41.5mm case. I think choosing to go with the bigger case size and no day function gives the Nami room to breathe. My only disappointment here is that Orient opted for a mineral crystal instead of the sapphire that most of their recent divers have.
The last feature of this watch I want to discuss is the integrated rubber strap. I imagine on bigger wrists, it’s more fitting because it can reasonably embrace your wrist and allow the case to sit on top of it. However on my smaller wrist, it tends to twist upwards regardless of how tight it is and I find myself often adjusting or pulling it back down. As is often the case with fitted straps on watches in this price and category, I would recommend swapping it out for something else if you have the same experience or find something more appealing. The rubber itself is high quality, isn’t hair-pulling or irritating, and is actually quite comfortable. Additionally, I would have loved to see a bracelet option that complimented the lug design – even if it was a bit more expensive.
Overall, the Orient Nami is hard to beat in its category. Even with my few gripes, a lot comes with a small price tag. The finishing is excellent, the in-house caliber with hacking and manual wind functions are a great bonus, 200m of water resistance makes it a formidable tool watch, and both models come in at less than $500. Sure, 46mm is big, and that will deter many potential enthusiasts, but for those apt to dabble in a bit of wrist-heft, the Orient Nami is a valid option that will work as a serious tool watch, or a weekend barbecue companion.
The Orient Nami pictured above is available now for $375 on Orient’s website, which is slightly more than the Mako II or Ray II, but on par with the Mako USA II. The Carbon Black version on a black leather strap goes for $445. orientwatchusa.com
Necessary Data
>Brand: Orient
>Model: Nami
>Price: $375
>Size: 46mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Yes
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone who likes their tool watches really water resistant, and isn’t afraid of a little wrist presence.
>Best characteristic of watch: The finishing of the dial.
>Worst characteristic of watch: The integrated strap and difficulty in making it look good on something else. Also, a cool tapered bracelet that fit the lug design would have made for a good option.
