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Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

Marlin vs Bambino

Timex Marlin vs Orient Bambino

Both are real automatics at a price where almost everything else is quartz. Only one of them tells you what is inside.

By Sawyer V. · Published

The short answer

Buy the Orient Bambino Version 7 if you want to keep it: an in-house automatic that hacks and hand-winds, at 38.4mm with a published 44mm lug-to-lug. Buy the Timex Marlin if you want the mid-century look and a crystal you can polish at home — accepting that Timex publishes neither the caliber nor a service price.

These are the two watches people land on when they want a mechanical dress watch and have a budget that stops well short of Swiss. Both deliver on that: they are genuine automatics, they look far more expensive than they are, and either makes a good first mechanical watch.

Where they differ is what happens after a few years, and that comes down to one thing — whether anyone can tell you what is inside the case.

On prices: we publish no figure we have not verified today. Where a live price is shown it came from the price layer this morning; otherwise the button reads "Check price on Amazon".

How we picked

We have not worn these watches. What follows is what we checked instead, on documents you can open yourself — the same criteria, in the same order, on every roundup on this site. The full method is on the methodology page.

  1. 01Movement disclosure

    Orient names the F6724 and it hacks and hand-winds. Timex does not publish which caliber is inside.

  2. 02Crystal

    Acrylic against mineral. Acrylic scratches easily and polishes out at home; mineral resists more and keeps every mark.

  3. 03Size

    38.4mm with a 44mm lug-to-lug against 40mm with none published.

  4. 04Water resistance

    50m against 30m. Neither is a swimming watch.

  5. 05Warranty

    Three years from Orient against one from Timex, with the crystal, strap, case and battery excluded.

Disclosure · Some links below are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not decide what goes on this page or in what order — here is exactly how that works.

Quick picks

Ranked on the Keep Score below — six published specifications, weighted identically on every page. The last row is the one we would not buy.

#WatchBest forKeep ScorePrice
1
Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

40mm, acrylic crystal, 50m, a genuine automatic.

If you want the mid-century look6.5/10
Check price
2
Orient Bambino Version 7 RA-AC0M03S30B

Orient Bambino Version 7 RA-AC0M03S30B

In-house F6724, hacking and hand-winding, 38.4mm, 44mm lug-to-lug.

If you want to still own it in fifteen years6.3/10
Check price
—
Orient Bambino Version 9 RA-AK0803Y30B

Orient Bambino Version 9 RA-AK0803Y30B

14.2mm thick, 30m, mineral, 21mm lugs.

Skip this one

Not the Bambino to buy5.9/10
Check price

Keep Score is arithmetic, not opinion — six published specifications, weighted the same way on every page. The formula is on our methodology page, so you can re-run it yourself.

01

Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

Best for: If you want the mid-century look

Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600

6.5/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1.8/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
0.6/1.5
Warranty
0.35/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.2/1
$299.00 · View on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · Price as of September 27, 2026

The case shape comes from Timex's own 1960s catalog, and the domed acrylic crystal gives the dial the warm distortion that modern sapphire deliberately removes. It is a charming object at a low price.

Acrylic is the right crystal for this style: it scratches from almost anything, then polishes out at a kitchen table with a cloth and a little compound. A marked mineral crystal never recovers.

Timex publishes no caliber, no power reserve and no service price, and the one-year warranty excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery. Nobody can tell you what keeping this running will cost.

Acrylic reads as a downgrade and mostly is not: it scratches easily and polishes out with a cloth and a tube of paste, which sapphire does not. On a watch you intend to keep for decades, that is a feature.

Manufacturer specifications for the Timex Marlin Automatic 40mm TW2V44600
MovementAutomatic (caliber not published by Timex)
Power reserveNot published
Case40mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lugNot published
Thickness13mm
Lug width20mm
Crystalacrylic
Water resistance50m
Warranty1 year

Timex's one-year warranty explicitly excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Specifications read from Timex product page, TW2V44600.

02

Orient Bambino Version 7 RA-AC0M03S30B

Best for: If you want to still own it in fifteen years

Orient Bambino Version 7 RA-AC0M03S30B

6.3/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
0.3/1.5
Warranty
1.05/1.5
Strap standard
1/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.4/1
$225.20 · View on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · Price as of September 27, 2026

Orient names the movement, and it both hacks and hand-winds — so you can set it to the second and wind it without shaking it. It is an in-house caliber from a company owned by Seiko Epson, in current production.

38.4mm across with a published 44mm lug-to-lug and 12.5mm thick, which is the classic dress proportion and fits a narrow wrist properly. Three years of warranty against Timex's one.

A mineral crystal that will mark permanently, 30m of water resistance, and Orient publishes no US service price — so the eventual overhaul is a quote, just not on an unknown movement.

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.

Manufacturer specifications for the Orient Bambino Version 7 RA-AC0M03S30B
MovementOrient F6724 in-house automatic, hand-winding, hacking
Power reserve40 hours
Case38.4mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lug44mm
Thickness12.5mm
Lug width20mm
Crystalmineral
Water resistance30m
Warranty3 years

Specifications read from Orient Watch USA product page, RA-AC0M03S30B.

Skip this one

Orient Bambino Version 9 RA-AK0803Y30B

Best for: Not the Bambino to buy

Orient Bambino Version 9 RA-AK0803Y30B

5.9/10

Keep Score

Crystal
1/2.5
Serviceability
2.5/2.5
Water resistance
0.3/1.5
Warranty
1.05/1.5
Strap standard
0.6/1
Cost-to-keep transparency
0.4/1
$345.00 · View on Amazon

#ad Affiliate link · Price as of September 27, 2026

Version 9 adds a weekday, a date and a 24-hour sub-register, which read generously on a specification list.

They cost 2.2mm of case height against Version 7 — 14.2mm against 12.5mm — on a watch styled as a dress piece and rated 30m. A 14.2mm dress watch does not go under a cuff comfortably, which is the one job the category exists to do.

Add a 21mm lug width that narrows every strap purchase and the trade stops making sense. If you want a Bambino, buy Version 7 above.

At 14.2mm this is the thickest Bambino here, which is what a day-date-24h module costs you in height. Worth it only if you will actually read all three.

Manufacturer specifications for the Orient Bambino Version 9 RA-AK0803Y30B
MovementOrient F6B24 in-house automatic, hand-winding, hacking
Power reserve40 hours
Case41.5mm stainless steel
Lug-to-lug47mm
Thickness14.2mm
Lug width21mm
Crystalmineral
Water resistance30m
Warranty3 years

Specifications read from Orient Watch USA product page, RA-AK0803Y30B.

Side by side

Read from Timex's and Orient Watch USA's own product pages.
Timex Marlin AutomaticOrient Bambino Version 7
MovementAutomatic, caliber not publishedOrient F6724 in-house, hacking and hand-winding
Power reserveNot published40 hours
Case40mm, 13mm thick38.4mm, 12.5mm thick
Lug-to-lugNot published44mm
CrystalAcrylicMineral
Water resistance50m30m
Lug width20mm20mm
Warranty1 year, with exclusions3 years
Read from Timex's and Orient Watch USA's own product pages.

The named caliber is the whole argument

When a mechanical watch stops in eight years — and it will — the question is what fixing it involves. With a named Orient F6724 the answer is a known service on a current caliber from a company that still makes it. With an unnamed movement the answer starts with a watchmaker opening the case to find out what is in there.

At these prices that quote often exceeds what the watch cost. That is what separates a cheap watch from an inexpensive one to own, and it is the argument our cost of ownership page makes across the whole site.

Acrylic against mineral

This is the one line where the Timex wins outright. Acrylic is soft and scratches from almost anything, but every one of those scratches comes out at home in a few minutes. Mineral glass resists more and then keeps every mark forever, because it is too hard to polish and too soft to resist grit.

Sapphire beats both and neither watch has it at this price. The full ranking is on our crystal comparison.

Which to buy

Buy the Bambino. It is smaller, better documented, better covered and built around a movement with a future, and 38.4mm with a 44mm lug-to-lug is the proportion a dress watch should be.

Buy the Marlin if the 1960s case and the domed acrylic are what you actually want — they are genuinely lovely, and there is nothing wrong with buying a watch to enjoy for a few years rather than to keep forever. Just buy it knowing which one you are doing.

Questions people actually ask

Is the Orient Bambino better than the Timex Marlin?

For keeping, yes: a named in-house automatic that hacks and hand-winds, 38.4mm with a published 44mm lug-to-lug, and three years of warranty. The Marlin wins on crystal — acrylic polishes out at home.

What movement is in the Timex Marlin Automatic?

Timex does not publish it, which makes the cost of an eventual service unknowable.

Can you swim with either?

No. The Marlin is rated 50m and the Bambino 30m — rain and hand-washing on both, and neither has a screw-down crown.

Which Bambino should I buy?

Version 7 at 12.5mm. Version 9 adds complications and 2.2mm of height on a watch already rated 30m, which is the wrong trade in a dress watch.

Sources

Every specification and figure on this page came from one of these documents. Where a manufacturer does not publish something, the page says so rather than filling the gap.

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