Orient’s entry-level mechanical automatics are awe-inspiring. It’s a mystery the way they offer those high-grade complications at that low prices but that’s not what we are getting at. It’s the Curator we are going to discuss this time; not the prices, but parities.
The Curator is one among the higher-priced Orient watches but way below than what others would charge for the step-up in materials, fit and finish. To consider it as your watch, you should be, primarily, a collector – keeping to its name. Next, you should also be someone who takes care after his collection. Obviously, you try to give it shape through other exotic acquisitions and never soft towards removing some of your earlier mistakes.
This latest addition to Orient’s Executive collection, the Curator is more refined; polished to a sexy shine and gently avoids the sporty look. Its refined looks are meant for the rungs higher up the social and/or corporate ladder, but the occassional matte keeps it slightly away from the dress domain. As long as you are not wearing your black or dark blue tux, it’s okay.
Comes loaded for the corporate chambers and you can head straight from there towards formal to moderately casual evening outs. The 41mm stainless steel case strikes the perfect place between small and slightly large. Just 11mm thick – now, the perfect dress should be lower than that.
But truth be told, a lot of the costlier dress watches don’t case a movement half as good as the Orient 46N40. The automatic movement is made in-house, in Japan and stores energy worth 40 hours.
Now, I really don’t want to tell you if you should like the white one or the black; bright yellow gold or the rose gold; individual tastes vary. How you will interpret the wider, cleaner index layout or the needle tipped, lume-filled hands is entirely yours to think. I’m more of a quality check person and I also tell if it’s a quality design. That’s why the power-reserve struck.
If we look at the grammar or horology, a GMT is a show-off at evening-outs; everyone expects you to come clean of client-time monitoring or tracking flights. Even a 24-hour indicator; you are not in an underground lab, so don’t pretend! It’s a tool and this watch certainly doesn’t need that.
But oh, the power-reserve is a fun complication to own. It’s practical, sort like the fuel gauge on the control panel. So while you know a fully winded off mainspring is not Apocalypse, also know it’s credit not to let your watch stop even for once after the mechanism has started. It also let’s you see the craftsmanship that went into it; longer it runs accurately without needing a service, better it is. With the Curator, you’ll maybe need one in a decade and a half. That will come handy, for this great, non-sport styled daily wear will seldom see rest.
