VIDEO REVIEW: The Orient Excursionist, A Very Affordable & Rugged GMT + A Special Offer

March 11, 2011

Today were having a bit of a look at the Orient FFE06001K, ?which happily for all concerned is more commonly referred to as the Excursionist. Its one of Orients few GMT watches and all in all offers a lot of watch for your cash.Breaking the Excursionist down a little; it has a 45mm case, so it wears large, but not crazy huge on the wrist. Its about 14mm high, so again it has presence but it isnt out of control. It comes shipped on a 22mm non-tapered oyster style bracelet that is pretty well built for a watch of this price. Its rated to 200m of water resistance, so it can more than handle most every day aquatic activities. It comes in four dial variants (black, white, grey and a lovely blue) and the crystal is mineral.?Stylistically, this watch owes a lot to chunky tool divers and the angular styling of the lugs and the design of the dial remind me a lot of some contemporary Seiko divers. The most noticeable thing about this watch is the bezel. The bi-directional (60 clicks for those playing at home C and I found it a little finicky to line up) bezel displays two scales on it, giving it a busy look quite in keeping with the Excursionist's tool styling. The inner scale shows 24 hour time (The GMT hand cannot be set independently on the Excursionist). The outer bezel displays a nautical compass C which could be handy if youre ever lost in the wilderness.?For those who may not know how use your watch as a compass (thatd include me up until a few minutes ago) it sounds pretty simple. If youre in the northern hemisphere you point the hour hand of your watch at the sun, and the mid point between the hour hand and the 12 marks south. Rotate bezel to indicate this and hey presto, you know what direction youre going in (See C you learn something every day on the dink). On balance this is a pretty great watch, the combination of its really solid build quality, the ever functional GMT complication and a price which wont make you overly concerned about scratches and dings means its a perfect watch to strap on if youre doing anything if youre doing anything physical or potentially hazardous to the wrist region. Plus itll look pretty good doing it. ?Its not a perfect watch though, not that youd necessarily except perfection for a recommended retail price of $375. There are a few points that could be improved upon C the lume is ordinary, perfectly serviceable but not up the standard of other watches in a similar price range. It would also be nice to see solid end links on the bracelet, but those two points really dont really detract from the overall package, which is very satisfying. The Excursionist is available from Orient USA, who are lovely people C so lovely that theyve given HODINKEE readers a little something extra, a discount code of your very own! Just type in Hodinkee25 at checkout and get 25% off. What are you waiting for?