Yep, these days perhaps they think of it as a plus, i.e. the frustration of loving Orient, keep the fans wanting more ...

What a gorgeous watch, and picture! Thanks for that.

I have been looking at this for a while ... so-called "ladies" watch ... but actually unisex ...

My conclusion: BUY. Squeeze a straight-edged 18 mm simple leather strap on it and you're done

So W&W just put up their hands-on of the new Orient Bambino in 36mm from Baselworld:
https://wornandwound.com/baselworld...om/baselworld-2019-first-look-at-the-new-36mm-classic-date-bambino-from-orient/

It looks great, but something immediately looked off about it. The classic proportions of a 36mm watch includes a standard 18mm lug width for a ratio of 2:1 case:lug dimensions. This one looked... narrow. So I busted out Photoshop. Lo and behold:

If you do the maths, these lugs are 17mm.
36/3.25 = 11.08
1.53x11.08 = 16.95

There you go folks, Orient is still insisting on silly lug widths on their otherwise great and immensely popular watches. Count me out... again.

View attachment 14014627

 

Design looks good. Let's wait and see about the lug size.

 

My biggest gripe? The date window. At least this time they replaced the index with the date field, but they left it unadorned.

 

Orient and Tissot are infamous for the odd lug sizes.

 

You do know how easy it is to get non standard watch straps don’t you?

 

Non-standard strap width? Easily fixed w/ hacksaw, file or scissors (on the strap, please!)

 

If just buy a 17mm strap.

Ok, so not quite as much choice as 18mm, but they exist and they're easy to find.

 

Bought one. Available here for a very reasonable 150 dollars or so:

Orient Bambino Watches | Dutyfreeislandshop.com

 

Is it really a lady’s watch? Come on.

 

I am definitely interested in this! It really does tick a lot of boxes for me:

- reasonably sized (for me) at 36.4mm
- domed crystal
- thin dark hands on light dial
- narrow lugs probably mean that the bracelet is light
- hacking & handwind.
- vintage vibe

But it seems to be using a snap-on caseback. (picture is a screen grab from creation watches)

As i do not have much experience with snap-on casebacks, how do they compare with regular screw-on casebacks?
Would it stop you from a watch purchase?

 

I am definitely interested in this! It really does tick a lot of boxes for me:

- reasonably sized (for me) at 36.4mm
- domed crystal
- thin dark hands on light dial
- narrow lugs probably mean that the bracelet is light
- hacking & handwind.
- vintage vibe

But it seems to be using a snap-on caseback. (picture is a screen grab from creation watches)

As i do not have much experience with snap-on casebacks, how do they compare with regular screw-on casebacks?

Who told you screwed-on casebacks are any more "regular" than snap-on?

Would it stop you from a watch purchase?

My snap-on case-backed Omega Speedmaster certainly doesn't think so.

 

Not what I was expecting it to be. I was hoping they would have gone with a smaller variant of their Gen 2 Ver 3.

 

I agree. The V3 is the best looking of all the Bambinos. Itis my favorite style.

 

All they had to do, was downsize their 40mm+ Bambinos to 36mm, then add on 18mm lug width. Didn't even need to change any of the designs like they did here.

Granted, I don't know what really goes on behind the scenes in their design team, but that seemed like the cry of the fans of Bambino, or those who almost bought the Bambino but was turned off by the size.

 

It looks like a cross between a V1 and a V4. I still like the V3 the best but with a little longer hands of the same V3 style.

 

Small / "boutique" strap makers will do any size. Many will be able to offer you straps that are nicer and more personalized than standard ones, at any price range. I get my straps from Martu https://www.martuleather.com/ and Jaro Watch straps and leather goods online store - both offer great choice of straps and customization (especially Martu - though usually Jaro ships faster). Including 17, 19, and 21 mm...

 

Mine arrived, it's gorgeous but I will have to flip it (see Private Sellers forum here if you are interested) ... I think my optimum size for a dress watch like this would be just slightly bigger.

And yes, the lugs are 17 mm.

 

Mine arrived, it's gorgeous but I will have to flip it (see Private Sellers forum here if you are interested) ... I think my optimum size for a dress watch like this would be just slightly bigger.

And yes, the lugs are 17 mm.

View attachment 14098759

I believe I have seen this in 40mm now. I was thinking about pulling the trigger on this too.

 

They could have done better, yet again. Being an Orient Fan can be rather frustrating.

 

Cannot believe they took this long to do smaller size! finally only after I literally just purchased 2 weeks ago this LIP as alternative after 1.5 years searching for an affordable small dress watch fitting my taste which isn't a central seconds hand quartz with its annoying tick nor bland stick hands.

I'm very happy with the Lip, beautiful dial and unique case but damn how I would have loved to have bought one of these after letting go by Bambino Gen 3 for looking like a dinner plate on wrist.

A shame Orient omitted a blue dial version. The lug width never bothered me, many 18mm will fit but I found the water resist text cheap and naff and in this case its really weird that they also choose a brushed finish for top surface of lugs on a dress watch and one they consider a 'ladies' watch which are almost exclusively all polished in my experience. Brushed edges or step layer like a sarb033, but just top of lugs and no where else looks a little odd to me.
Dial looks lovely though and 2nd that avoiding the partial marker next to date window side is a plus.

I still cannot fathom why so many mass market brands insist anything less than 39/40mm is a ladies watch when the major Swiss players happily sell 36-38 for men as midsize options, albeit some silly AD staff will say it's the ladies version but the brands don't claim as such.

Anyway I digress. At least this is progress! There is hope

Sent from my VKY-L09 using Tapatalk

 

17mm width is not terrible. You really can squeeze an 18mm band on there or throw it on a nice 18mm Nato.

 

I have the yellow gold version arriving this week. I can post pics with my 18mm Nomos shell strap in brown.

 

Alright, here are a few pics

18mm NOMOS strap w/16mm deBeer deployment:

 

Also note: NOMOS shell cordovan straps come in 17mm, so fitting an 18mm is not really necessary for this option.

https://nomos-glashuette.com/en/store/straps#/en/straps/horween-genuine-shell-cordovan?number=5805.S

 

My opinion, I don't mind 35-36mm watch cases but the strap's got to be at least 20mm.. (for a man's wrist, at least)

 

It really depends on your wrist size. I have 6-6.25 inch wrists, so 18mm doesn't look too bad on a vintage size watch.

 

It's really nice. I picked up the red gold tone version as well. Another shot in the yellow:

 

Very nice indeed!