Wrapping Up a Week with the Orion Field Standard

One of the real pleasures of writing this blog is that from time to time you get to tell an interesting story.

Courtesy of the Orion Watch Project

Nick Harris gradually came to the conclusion that he wanted to not only be a watch "tinkerer", but rather a full-fledged watch maker. This began, as it often does, with a family heirloom being passed down to him.  In this case, an Omega that had a lot of sentimental value, but only provided the right time twice a day as it was missing a few "minor" parts - the crown and stem.  While the watch ran, without those two items, it was a bit of challenge to set the correct time ; )

What started as a desire to restore his inheritance morphed into a passion that has now taken Mr. Harris to school to train full time as a watch maker.  And in the little spare time that he does have, he has launched the Orion Watch Project to not only help explore his design ideas and sharpen his skills, but to help pay for his school expenses as well.  My understanding is that the majority of the assembly work is undertaken by Mr. Harris.

But back to the watch -

 
The Field Standard's case measures 38 mm in diameter and is made of sand blasted stainless steel.  The case features a rather prominent crown guard as well as a very prominent, very tactile screw-down crown.  Per Orion, it is rated to be water resistant to 100 meters.

 
The crown operated very smoothly, making time and date adjustment and winding from a dead stop a breeze.
 
The dial is black, with 12 large indices as well as an interior set with a military time scale on the interior of the dial, with a very prominent, very legible date window at 3 o'clock.

The cathedral hands are a good match for the watch, and the second hand is made even more visible with a red tip.  The hands are filled with lume, providing quite decent readability in dim light.

The case back is solid steel, and was (I am presuming) provided with a special flourish added by Mr. Harris to practice and further his craft -

 
Under the hood is Seiko's NH35 automatic, which features a hand winding, and hacking function.

The time keeping was quite good, no major variances experienced, if any complaints, just a wee bit fast (literally a gain of a handful of seconds over the entire week).

The size and fit of the watch is quite good owing to the slightly elongated lugs.  It was comfortable all day long and while prominent, was not overwhelming to wear.

The Orion Field Standard is a very solid watch, and at $450 is priced at a level that is affordable. 

Here are the pertinents, straight from the source -


Specifications:

• 38mm case diameter not including crown, 41mm including crown
• 20mm lug width, 49mm lug tip to tip
• Integrated black croc patterned leather strap
• 9mm knurled and screw down crown
• 100 meter water resistance
• Drilled lugs
• Domed sapphire crystal with blue AR coating
• 316L steel case
• NH35 automatic, hand winding, and hacking movement
• Date wheel (don't adjust date between 10pm-4am!)
• Luminous dial and hands (C3 lume)
• 1 Year warranty against manufacture defects