Orient Neo 70s Panda WV0041TX

One of my first two watches. My original plan at that time was to buy a dark chronograph. Never thought about buying a light-color watch because I thought that was too ‘dressy’. However the first time I learned the white panda concept I couldn’t help but say this type of watch is just gorgegous. Then I learned about this Orient Neo 70s from a JDM watch Youtuber and the price blew my mind. I immediately ordered one from Amazon, giving up the plan I had for weeks.

Out of the 3 watches I bought on my virgin watch journey, I liked this one the most. The hands and the indices both shine. But the most surprising thing is the circle around the 3 subdials also shines under the light, even thought you don’t see anything if you stared at them directly. I am surprised to find this level of subtlety at this price range. At first I am a bit unhappy about the lack of Tachymeter bezel. After living with this watch for a few days I realized I would never use a Tachymeter and the lack of a bezel actually makes the watch less-sporty and more classical. I began to appreciate that there is no bezel.

The biggest cons is the bottom subdial is too small to read. I don’t understand why they would give the most important subdial (chronograph minutes) the least amount of space. Also all subdial hands are invisible under some light condition. The date window is also unuseable. One final thing is the lume is close to nothing. They might as well just remove any lume.