The Most Premium Orient Watch You Can Buy: The Orient Star Skeleton 

Such a nice looking wooking. Orient also had their strange Monbijou line in the 90s/2000s, which had a lot of variations with skeleton dials. There was also their (Royal) Orient (Star) watches with the Peseux 7001 movement.

Such a shame this gorgeous watch falls into the "i wont buy it because the brand is not recognizable"

Orient Star isn't really in the category of "I won't buy it because it has less brand values..."... It has been producing analog watches longer than Grand Seiko (much longer...in fact Grand Seiko as a brand itself has been around much shorter and only has been popular in the West especially in the US in recent years...) And Orient Star watches are actually produced by Epson, a main stream manufacturer (look it up it is a huge mainstream manufacturer of many high tech devices including printers). It is actually the same scale as Casio in terms of scale, which is a main affordable brand of digital watches in Japan but for analog watches (of course Casio is known as a much more affordable brand than Orient Star). Orient Star is much more affordable than Grand Seiko for comparison. Grand Seiko in Japan (I live in Japan) ranges up to $15-20,000+ even and much more expensive than Orient Star. Average affordable Grand Seiko is $5000+ for men's watches, while Orient Star is much cheaper. Their slogans are also different. Grand Seiko focuses primarily on luxury and high end (some of their watches are much more expensive than Rolex...), while Orient Star focuses to produce watches that no one else other than them can make. They both are craftsman watches and all produced in Japan (none of it is made in or assembled in China, and the supply chains are all in Japan).

I was very interested in the second generation of the Orient Star retrograde calendar, but in the end I passed it up for other watches. I think that, like you, I felt that something was missing from Orient to finish convincing me, I don't know what

The lack of a rotor is perfect on a skeleton watch. I understand skeletons aren't for everyone, but I say this is the one to get especially if found under 1k.

Like it .

Did you buy it or on loan??

Orient is a strange company. I mean, they definitely have the skill and expertise to be able to make watches that rival Grand Seikos. But the way they class and design their watches is strange. It seems like their better watch designs are in the Orient line. While their strange designs are in the Orient Star line. They would be killing it, if they made a Bambino with the finishing of an Orient Star. I don't like any of the Orient Star dress watches. Most of them either have skeleton design, or have busy dials with the power reserve indicator, or a hole in the dial so you can see the movement. When I look for dress watches, I prefer simple and clean dials, with very little clutter or text. That way I know the design will be timeless and look good 10 years from now.