Best Orient Bambino watches

44mm of published lug-to-lug is genuinely small by modern standards, and it is the number that makes this the one to buy. The 40.5mm and 41.5mm versions reach 46mm and 47mm, which is a visibly bigger watch on the wrist for the same money.

It is also the only Bambino with a standard, even 20mm lug width. The other three use 21mm, which is stocked but costs more and takes longer to find — a difference that repeats every time a strap wears out, for as long as you own the watch.

The in-house F6724 hand-winds and hacks, with about 40 hours of reserve, under Orient's three-year warranty. For a dress automatic, there is not much more to want at this level.

The compromise is the one the whole line shares, and Orient has never fixed it: a domed mineral crystal that will collect marks you cannot remove, and 30m of water resistance. It scores 6.3, the highest of the four, and almost all of the gap to the eights is those two lines.

A 44mm lug-to-lug is genuinely small by modern standards, and this is the Bambino to buy if the 40.5mm versions never sat right. The domed mineral crystal is the compromise, and it is the one Orient never fixes on this line.

An aperture over the balance wheel is the cheapest way onto this site's openworked list, and the in-house FT622 underneath carries the same three-year Orient warranty as the rest of the line. At 12mm it is also the thinnest Bambino here.

The footprint is 46mm on a 40.5mm case, which is 2mm more watch than Version 7 — not dramatic, but noticeable if your wrist is small.

The aperture is the reason to buy it and the reason to think twice: an open dial is a taste that dates faster than a plain one, and you are looking at the same mineral crystal and 30m rating as every other Bambino. It scores 5.9. Our best skeleton watches page sets it against the openworked watches that have sapphire and 100m instead.

The aperture is the reason to buy it and the reason to think twice — an open dial is a taste that dates faster than a plain one. The movement underneath carries the same three-year Orient warranty as the rest of the line.

Small seconds at this price normally means a module bolted onto a center-seconds movement. Orient's F6222 does it properly, which is the reason this version exists and the reason collectors like it.

12mm thick on a 40.5mm case with a 46.5mm footprint — the same proportions as the Open Heart, with a quieter dial.

Two things to know. The 21mm lug width is the tax you pay at strap-buying time, and Orient does not list this reference on Amazon, so the link below goes to Orient Watch USA and earns us nothing. It scores 5.9, the same as the other two 40.5mm-class versions.

Small seconds at this price normally means a module bolted onto a center-seconds movement. Orient's F6222 does it properly. The 21mm lug width is the tax you pay at strap-buying time.

This is not a Bambino, and it is on the page because it is the answer to the Bambino's one real problem. The AK00 is the Orient dress automatic with domed sapphire instead of domed mineral, plus 50m instead of 30m and a standard, even 22mm lug width.

Those three lines lift it to 8.0, which is nearly two full points above the best Bambino, on the same in-house F6B24 movement and the same three-year warranty.

The cost is size, and it is substantial: 50.5mm of published lug-to-lug on a 42.5mm case, 14mm thick. That is a big watch whatever the spec sheet suggests, and it is the opposite of what makes Version 7 worth buying. If a 44mm footprint is why you are reading this page, the AK00 is not your watch.

Domed sapphire at this price is unusual and it is why this one is here. The 50.5mm lug-to-lug is not — that is a big watch, whatever the 42.5mm on the spec sheet suggests.