Orient Mako 40mm Sport Review | Is This Orient's Biggest Blunder?
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Performance, build quality, and, in recent times, attractiveness. Those are the traits often associated with acclaimed Japanese watchmaker Orient. Their most recent launch, the Orient Mako Sport, promised to be their sexiest to date, with a breathtaking dial that makes most affordable watches blush. But, what if I told you that this stunning façade hides a flaw so unexpected that it's left me and many others completely baffled?
Believe it or not, you're looking at that very mistake right now…notice anything strange? Well, stick with me, and we'll take a closer look together.
It's only been a few weeks since I covered the extremely impressive Orient Mako III. While the price increase wasn't appreciated, the new colors and design changes were; helping to reinvigorate an older line that had fallen into the shadow of some popular newer releases. To that point, it was arguably the best-looking Orient diver, but Orient wasn't done there. Yeah, literally days later, I received this in the mail, the newest member of the Orient Mako family, this time in a smaller, 40mm case size. Thanks to TUS watches for providing this review sample; you'll find it linked below as always.
Orient's naming scheme is diabolical. Instead of calling it this enigma code, I'll do the honors and coin this the "Orient Mako Sport". It just feels right, you know? Orient's press release infers this is perhaps the "Orient Mako 40", but it's visually very different from the other Mako watches, so I'm unsure why they'd try and connect the two.
Mako Sport Dimensions
What first hit me was the sizing. I've always thought 40mm divers were too big for me, but this feels way smaller. With the calipers, it sits at 39.8mm in diameter, with a thickness of 12.9mm and a lug-to-lug of 46.4mm. Funnily, that last measurement is exactly the same as that on the recent Mako III, but the lugs here are slimmer, and overall it looks way smaller when side by side. Some of this sorcery is down to the bezel being narrower than the case width, at only 38mm, which combines with the much smaller dial to shrink the perceived proportions.
As a result, the Mako Sport 40mm actually suits small and average-sized arms really well, but larger wrists may prefer something bigger. Additionally, the NATO-style strap adds considerable thickness to this otherwise compact timepiece, so it's begging to be changed out; for more reasons than one, it turns out!
Case Construction
While this new Mako Sport also comes in at a similar launch price of about £240 or around $300, the case here is sharper cut than the Mako III, with a neater set of chamfers running the upper edges of the watch and a harsher brushed upper. The polished flanks are executed to the same standard, though, and it comes with a similar rear, securing the watch to 200m. It has some other diver-standard features, like a screw-down crown and a unidirectional rotating bezel, though the latter feels quite different to the Mako III, with a firmer click and reduced back play. Still, it doesn't have a lume pip, in a similar manner to the Rolex Yacht-Master, suggesting that deep-sea performance isn't of primary concern here.
Rather, the minimalist look indicates that the Mako Sport is really designed to just look great on the wrist and boy does it achieve it…well, almost!
Dial Design
Several versions of this watch are available, including the standard blue, black, and white, as well as two more experimental colors; the salmon pink and, my favorite, the purple version. Admittedly, Orient's product shots are a little deceiving, as only in very specific lighting conditions does the dial look as saturated as in the images, but boy, even this slightly lighter violet tone looks incredible for a budget watch. The strength of the sunburst here is mesmerizing, and together with the deep and thick hour markers, it makes this watch look genuinely like a luxury watch. I've got to say, this is probably the best-looking dial I've come across in four years of running this blog.
To the naked eye, the hands are super-clean and unintrusive, while the low-key text and font don't distract from the minimal vibe. Even the date window at 3 o'clock slots in perfectly. It kind of looks like an Oyster Perpetual had a baby with a Yachtmaster and it's somehow produced something just as stylish as either. Obviously, this is no Rolex in terms of quality or super-macro finishing, but still, from arm's length, this Mako Sport looks genuinely better than many of the four-figure watches you commonly see in jewelers' windows.
Powering it is also a decent F6722, which is solid, outside of a somewhat noisy rotor. It even has a scratchproof sapphire crystal, rather than the mineral used by Seiko at this sort of price.
I thought this would be a slam dunk. One of the few watches where I can say yes, run out and buy this watch now!
Watch Issues
Unfortunately, there is one perplexing thing holding this watch back, which I can't recall ever seeing on a watch before.
No, it's not the horrendous strap. If this is calf leather, then I'm a prime rib. I've heard of distressed leather, but this poor thing looks traumatized by its own lack of quality. No, it's not that, it's not even that fact that you can get cheaper watches with similar specs. Those two things, I can easily look past, given the sheer beauty of the Mako Sport.
What I can't fathom is how this watch launched with this. You're looking at a watch with a completely botched minute track. Now, you've probably seen misaligned markers before, maybe even a misaligned chapter ring. These things happen, especially with budget watches.
However, I've never once seen a minute track where the gap between printed second markers has been messed up. If you look closely, you'll see the 26-second line is butted right up against the white 25 marker. Then, there's an abnormally large gap between it and the 27-second mark. Opposite it, you'll also see something similar, but to a lesser extent, from 32 to 35 seconds. The spacing is completely out.
And like me, you're probably thinking, "oh, this is just a tiny printing error, just return it for a replacement". You can try that, but it won't work. You see, Orient hasn't just messed up this watch or even this batch of watches. From what I can tell, this bizarre flaw is present in every single production unit in their new Mako Sport line.
Those press release product shots, if you look closely, you'll see the same flawed marker spacing. And other video reviews? You guessed it, the same problem again, even on other color variants of this watch.
The ubiquity of this slip-up suggests a core design blunder rather than a manufacturing defect. Somehow, the misaligned design slipped through the cracks and got final approval without anyone noticing, which for a huge, vintage watchmaker, is really embarrassing! I've reviewed hundreds of watches, and I've never seen an error quite like this. It's arguably the most simple part of the watch, it's just some printed lines; how do you mess this up?
Admittedly, it's far from the most noticeable mistake I've encountered; my first Timex Galli, for instance, had a faulty, gouged-out bezel release notch that was triple the proper size, which I had to return. The error on this Orient isn't apparent unless you're looking for it. Nevertheless, the Timex flaw was on an individual, defective unit. Here, Orient has willingly applied their error to every Mako Sport watch they've shipped to dealers.
At this rate, they may have to pull a Scameti and claim it's not a fault, but a feature. A bit like coins with minting errors, maybe these will be a high value collectors item years down the line, due to this unique screw-up!
Jokes aside, I'm not sure what Orient will do in this situation. Without this error, this watch would get an 8.0 in terms of value and a style score of…9.3! Visually, this is comfortably in the upper echelons of what you can get at this price, so hopefully, a corrected version of this watch will be available soon. For now, the ratings will totally depend on how much the flaw bugs you. Personally, I'm more frustrated by the missed opportunity for a killer watch on day one.
*Update*
Actually now I do know! According to TUS, Orient is now aware of this problem. The defective models will be suspended from sale until they’ve had their dials replaced with a corrected version, which is much quicker than having retailers send back all the watches to Orient. But eh, maybe you want to keep one of these unique dodgy pieces?
