In Review: The Orient Bambino “vintage”

Orient FER2400CN0 Bambino – $182 w/ DAPPERED30 ($260)

Code = 30% off as well as a free watch of your choice from a batch that Orient has set aside. 

Everything about this watch says “vintage-timepiece.” The blue hands. The cream, leaning custard-colored dial. The roman numerals. The intricate font and lines that mark the minutes around the face’s outer ring. Everything about this watch does say vintage-timepiece… except for the fact that it’s brand new.

Not just vintage in looks, but a more classic, 41mm case too.

The design itself isn’t even that old. Released last fall, these things sold like sheet cake at a carb-lovers convention. They were there, there was a bunch of !!!!, and then… gone. They were just gone. Sold out. And sold out for the longest time.

But now they’re back in both the crisper looking white dial & rose gold version, as well as this even more mature looking blue hands & cream dial model.

The cobalt blue hands & custard dial.

The size of the case is even a bit of a throwback. 41 mm that wears a bit smaller. Even with the domed crystal, the thickness of this thing is pretty standard, if not slim, and should fit easily under a shirt cuff. They skipped showing the day function, and instead stuck with just a date window. It doesn’t hack or handwind, and the water resistance is just 30m, but this is the kind of watch you most likely won’t be wearing when dressed down.

The Bambino’s recognizable domed crystal.

Just two qualms. It might look a little too old for some. Not everyone is into wearing something that looks like it could be an antique, and this version, the cream/custard dial option, is the older looking of all the new “vintage” looking Bambinos. The second issue some have had is the choice of a simple “I” to denote 5, 7, 9, and 11 o’clock. In the designer’s defense, if you were to pile V, VII, IX, and XI onto this dial, it’d get cramped pretty quick. Plus those extra “I”s add some symmetry.

It’s really an instant heirloom. Something that you can pickup now, and possibly pass down to a future generation (assuming the movement is serviced, etc…). The only thing is, if the relative who inherits it is more concerned with the hawking of the watch, instead of the bequeathing of such, then they might be a little disappointed with the deal you got at the onset.

NOTE: Entries for this giveaway were closed on 8/7/14