Orient’s Mako Diver brings new sizes and dials this summer

The new designs offer something for every dive watch lover.

Confession: I love diving watches. Today’s dive watches remind me of when mechanical watchmaking allowed us to explore new environments and survive them. Even today, most diving watches retain and build on practical innovations for greater precision or durability underwater, sacrificing some style for utility.

Orient’s latest Mako models aim to change that. The Mako is just one of many diving models from the Japanese watchmaker, which has a long history of creating diving watches. The first was from 1964 and re-created in a small, limited edition series in 2021 to celebrate the brand’s 70th anniversary. Other collections include the King Diver, Triton, Kamasu, and of course, the Mako.

The Orient Mako 40

The Mako comes in many design variations, but usually with the following details: a day and date display, bar indexes, and sword or arrow-tip hands. They also usually come in case sizes upwards of around 42mm. However, the new Mako 40 comes in at just 39.9mm across, with a lug-to-lug length of just 46.5mm, making this a diver that will fit snugly on most wrists. They’ve also dropped the crown guards usually found on the watch to keep its design clean and elegant.

The anodised aluminium bezel inserts have also been replaced with a brushed bezel engraved with decimal minutes and a 15-minute countdown scale, and a luminous bead can be found at 12 o’clock. On the dial, the day of the week indicator has been dropped, keeping just a small date window at 3 o’clock on the pristine display. Bar indexes and sword-shaped hands are coated with Luminous Light for legibility in the dark, and the classic case middle with tapered and slightly curved lugs flow into a straight three-link bracelet. The seconds hand is tipped in yellow instead of red.

The Mako 40 has a touch of nostalgia behind its design – not a retro-chic kind of look, but a well-worn and rugged presence thanks to the matte dials, brushed surfaces, and polished chamfers all across the case, bezel, and bracelet. In fact, the marine blue model has a bit of a tropical dial feel to it as if the watch has been exposed to the sun too long. Three classic models come in black, white, and blue dials, while two other versions have a sunray brushed finish in apricot and lilac. The latter two come with NATO-style leather straps with pin buckles in brown and grey, respectively.

On the caseback, the Mako 40 features an engraving of its iconic double dolphins leaping over the waves. The watches are powered by Orient’s Calibre F6722, which has a 40-hour power reserve and is accurate to +25/-15 seconds daily. They are also water resistant to 200m, more than ample for any diving adventure. The watches are priced at S$600 and S$565 for the bracelet and leather strap models, respectively. They will be available at all authorised retailers within the month.  

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