Orient Neo 70's Neo 70's Solar Panda Sporty Watch, Dark Gray

Product Information

The watch has a mineral crystal with a sapphire coating and anti-reflective treatment to help preserve the somewhat pronounced domed crystal. The domed crystal adds some distortion and visual interest when viewing the watch at an angle, and certainly adds to the vintage charm. The Neo70s, on the other hand, has a creamy off-white dial that has some very subtle vertical texturing to it that’s nearly unnoticeable except upon close inspection. Not to mention, the accuracy and large power reserves of a solar-quartz watches are convenient to have, even if they aren’t the most exciting. Of course, a bit of that is relieved with the smooth sweep of the chronograph second hand, giving you that feeling of a mechanical chronograph, without actually having to deal with the hassle and costs of servicing a mechanical chronograph (which can sometimes be quite costly). The dimensions could be a touch smaller, but it is wearable enough that almost anybody with wrists larger than let’s say 6 3/4″ will have a great time wearing this watch. If your wrist is smaller, it might be worth it to give this watch a second consideration, as at 42mm in diameter, it’s not the most wearable for those with small wrists.

Solar meaning it’s powered and charged from light. It has the accuracy of a quartz watch, which is very precise, keeping time within +/- 15 seconds a month, and can hold a charge for up to 6 months.It also has a mecaquartz hybrid movement, just like the Orient Neo70s, however, it is not solar powered. It also has a ceramic bezel and sapphire glass which makes it look a little bit more modern than the Neo70s. It is based off the new Rolex Daytona, after all. As fellow bloggers Two Broke Watch Snobs mentioned in their Neo70s review, the movement in this watch is a bit puzzling. The lume on this watch is pretty awful, though I’m surprised it even has lume at all. So I guess the fact that it does is a positive in itself. There isn’t a huge variety of affordable and good-looking panda dial chronographs on a budget, though I’ve written an entire article about them if you want to learn more.

This particular panda dial watch is a true-blue racing watch and is part of the IWC Racing Team series. It takes a more classic take in regards to its sports watch design and is one of the most sought-after by collectors as there are only 176 models that were put into production and sold around the world. You can tell they really care about the details and that’s why I’m such a big Orient fan, especially when considering the price of this watch. Really, it’s only Orient and Seiko that consistently produce such high-quality watches at this lower price point. Let us go to another eye-candy luxury timepiece, this time in the form of the IWC Ingenieur (IW380801) Chronograph.It’s built completely in-house from Orient (aside from the possibility of the ‘Orient’ Solar movement actually being a Seiko movement, but we aren’t certain about that). The Seiko Solar Chronograph Watch SSC446manages to one-up most panda dial watch designs with a simple yet highly effective design tweak – the inclusion of gold accents. This gave the Seiko Solar Chrono SSC446 a luxury charm that makes it a certifiable head turner. Basically, this watch is so neutral in color and versatile when it comes to straps, you can wear it on almost anything and it will look absolutely killer. Just make sure the straps have a 22mm width to fit properly. Lume