I hope they didn't discontinue them. They haven't had any new ones on the Orient USA website for a long time, and I think the ones they have on the site are all sold out.

 

Once you accept that the bracelet is pretty much disposable, the Orient Tristars are absolutely amazing and criminally underrated. The 20mm lugs make strap changes easy.

 

I thought Tristars were 19mm? At least the older models from ca. five years ago

 

Yup. The only weakness of this watch is the substandard bracelet.

 

What's the typical wr?

 

I believe the older 37mm Crystals are 3 bar, but I my 39mm with code AB0C-C0-A indicates 5 bar on the back.

 

Still a bundle of them in an online marketplace accessible from my locality. Not only the Tristar, but retros and SP models also disappear. On the high side, the classic Orient Star happened to receive the same fate, especially those with 40 hours of power reserve (the new one 50 hours). I think this is part of the business exercise by Epson since they take charge of Orient. They only keep some retros while introducing new lines. My 5 cents WIS.

 

I love mine to bits. It's 20mm lugs, and 5 bar wr

 

Yes I noticed it as well...my guess is Orient wants to move a little bit upmarket, like getting rid of anything that is not hacking/hand winding. Look at the kamasu, it was was an upgrade over the mako with sapphire.

 

Interesting but not in a good way. The Tristar has been Orients' entry level auto for 30-40 years, sad if it's discontinued.

Of course, there are still millions? out in the wild, no shortage of variants either. And that's not even dipping into the 'FrankenStars' from the clash-mod sellers.

 

You may be right. There's new line, Altair, also called TriStar sometimes. I got mine 2 years ago, around $100.
hand-winding, and hacking.

 

Yes, teh Altair has a different movement (with the 24 hour subdial).

There may be something to the going upmarket theory (although the Kamasu did not replace the Mako). However, the counterpoint is that there have been Tristars with updated movements. In addition to the aforementioned Altair, there was the "Deneb" and "Vega." Can someone confirm whether those had updated movements or not?

There may also simply be delays in production that Orient will catch up on soon 🤷‍♂️

 

AFAIK the Vega, Deneb and 'regular' Tristars all use the F49 movement, which lacks hacking & hand winding. I looked at the Orient global site and there are no Tristar models listed, but the new OS and Mako models are listed. Guess we all stay tuned for further developments.

 

I didn't realize how lucky I was to find one for $90 on EBay. I don't understand why Tri-Stars aren't listed on the global website but are listed on the OrientUSA site. I'm also shocked at the prices I'm seeing. Many in the $165 range and others ranging up to over $400. The hacking and hand winding Altair looks interesting, too.

 

Another thread in the forum discussed whether Epson (Orient brand owner) is phasing out the Tristars. With rising prices the Tristars and Bambino lines are beginning to overlap. There are probably millions of Tristars produced, and plenty used available on-line.

 

Huh, since I posted the above I went over to EBay to find the ad I purchased my Tri-Star from and couldn't find it. After a moment of head-scratching I realized a whole lot of Tri-Stars (perhaps the majority) aren't listed as Tri-Stars but merely as Orient Automatics with the model number. So they aren't as rare as I thought.

EDIT: And another whole bunch there are listed as Three Stars.

Amazon, OTOH, seems to always have them listed as Tri-Stars.

 

A few years ago I saw this red Tristar and I didn't buy it, to this day I regret it, it was worth 60 dollars and I could never find one again, also all the few that remain are very expensive.

 

Recent check of the Orient Global site, no TriStars, Tristars, 3 Stars, Tri Stars, etc. in the online catalog. Only place I find 'tristars' is on the Orient Brazil site and none of them look like the regular Orient TriStars we're accustomed too.

I've looked at several Orient EU sites and no TriStars listed there either.

 

They disappeared, I was left wanting one

 

I'm certain there are new TriStars available even if discontinued. I see NIB/NOS models available for models discontinued several years ago.

 

The only model that I have managed to find is this one at usd $120

 

get it! it's awesome.

 

I checked Amazon, there are TriStars listed but the prices.... $200 and higher! Wasn't that long ago you could pick up one from Joma for well under $100.

The Orient Store on A'zon has a number to TriStars available.

 

Sounds like old stock only. I bet they will disappear from all Orient websites soon. The Orient USA website at least still had them last time I checked.
This saddens me. My Tristar is my favourite watch, and I was always following new releases thinking I would get another one at some point, especially when it looked like they would use different movements. Now it seems unlikely I will get another one.
Orient seems to be going upmarket, like everyone else. I hope they don't lose their identity in the process. The new 40mm divers which show some cost-cutting attempst on their part (no lumed pip for e.g.) look disapointing. At least the tristars were really good at what they did: affordable quality. There's something democratically poetic about that which few brands can get right. Most end up with affordable but without quality. I hope Orient maintains that strength going forward.

It's also just plain annoying to see the price increase for what's left of the Tristars. Reminds me of the SKX situation when they were discontinued. Such is life. We grieve and move on, I suppose.

 

¡Consíguelo! es impresionante.
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do you think i should buy it? It is in a watch store in my city for 105 dollars

 

105 dollars? Yes! Get it! Without hesitation. Movement doesn't handwind, and bracelet is not great (but personally I wear mine on leather straps and natos anyway). Even when taking that into account, 105 dollars is an incredible deal.
The real question is: Do you like it? What do you truly feel whe you look at that dial? Your answer is there.

 

105 dolares? ¡Si! ¡Consíguelo! Sin dudarlo. El movimiento no es manual y el brazalete no es muy bueno (pero personalmente uso el mío con correas de cuero y natos de todos modos). Incluso teniendo eso en cuenta, 105 dólares es una oferta increíble.
La verdadera pregunta es: ¿ Te gusta? ¿Qué sientes realmente cuando miras ese dial? Tu respuesta está ahí.
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Siempre quise esos con diales estilo vintage, me falta un poco para convencerme

What stops me is that the numbers are painted

 

Yes, the numbers are painted. If you find something better, automatic, day and date, for $105, then go for it.
This is an honest person's everyday watch, not a fancy-finished luxury watch. Its charm is in its noble humility. It depends on your needs.