Reddit mentions of Orient Men's FDB08004B Esteem Open Heart Dial Watch

First of all, skeleton watches when not done correctly are absolutely ghastly. Look at any number of Stauers, Akribos, invictas and friends for reference.

Secondly, a good skeleton will generally be manual wind instead of automatic, as to not obscure the beauty of the movement. Some of the big names have skeletons with micro rotors, but you're looking at 5 figures.


Something that might appeal to you is an open heart style watch. Something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005HZU7LK might be a good fit for you and can be found around your budget. Some companies that make affordable open heart watches are Orient, Bulova and Sea-Gull. These are reputable manufacturers. There are dozens of poorly made Chinese brands who make open heart, but QC is a crapshoot.

Hope this helps.

Hey, have you looked into orient watches? They are automatic and on the less expensive side.

Here are a couple of links on Amazon:

Orient Esteem

Orient Classic


Edit: not sure if you mean your budget is 300$ or you want to spent less than 300$ per watch.

Edit 2: inexpensive Seiko 5

Edit 3: more Seiko

in black

Okay, you might like the [Orient Bambino]
(http://www.amazon.com/Orient-ER24005W-Bambino-Leather-Automatic/dp/B008VBUZ2I)
Or the Orient Esteem (I like the open heart, so you can see the movement working)
These are both automatic mechanical watches meaning they'll wind themselves and usually only require a service every 10 or so years.

Orient is a division of Seiko and it's a nicely regarded brand

You're basically looking for a dress watch from the looks of it. I set some filters and tried to find you a watch under $150. Also threw some expedition watches into the mix. I hope you don't mind that most of them are from Bulova. Their dress watches look pretty great.

• Bulova Men's 96B104 Stainless Steel Dress Watch
  
  
• Bulova Men's 98H51 Stainless Steel Dress Watch With Croco Leather Band
  
  
• Seiko Men's SNDC31 Classic Stainless Steel Chronograph Watch with Brown Leather Band
  
  
• Orient Men's FDB08004B Esteem Open Heart Dial Watch
  
  
• Seiko Dress Men's Quartz Watch SUR065
  
  
• Caravelle New York by Bulova Men's 43B137 Analog Display Japanese Quartz Black Watch
  
  
• Bulova 96B217 Mens Dress Brown Leather Strap Watch
  
  

Firstly, that watch you linked to has Dual Time in its name, which is kind of misleading. I can assume that they mean it is dual time in the sense of the hands and the day-night indicator showing the time, but it is the exact same time, not dual time which would imply two different times. Is that a feature you want? In which case that will severely limit choices. Nope, it does have a second time zone at the 6 o'clock. Thanks /u/oldaccount!

Anyways, I see that you are rather set on a skeleton watch and three brands I would suggest that may have something you want:

• Bulova (1, 2, 3, & 4)
  
• Hamilton (1 & 2)
  
• Orient (1, 2, & 3)
  
  Hopefully those may be close to what you want and they are brands that people here consider to be better quality.

Check out the Orient Esteem. Its around $100, automatic in-house designed movement, leather strap, and has an open heart (albeit you don't really get a fantastic view of the inside of the watch, its mostly an undecorated plate and half a gear spinning).

http://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410796305&sr=8-1&keywords=orient+esteem

I bought this one: link

Looks similar but no sub dials.

around $200 you can look at the orient open hearts. like this esteem: https://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK

I do not have much experience with orient outside the bambino, but the bambino is a pretty nice watch for its price range... since its mechanical though it'll be off somewhere in the range of +25 to -15 per day. for the most part since i have multiple mechanicals i dont ever really run into this outside of watches i keep on winders, since i just rotate through and set them as i need them.

as was mentioned somewhere else, accuracy is a little rough in the less expensive mechanicals.

Not sure if all of these are quite what you want, but here are some ideas.

Skagen for under $100

Citizen Eco-Drive for just over $100

Orient, IMO this model is great bang for your buck b/c sapphire crystal is unusual at this price point

Orient with open heart

Automatic Orient

Really cheap Orient

Orient Symphony automatic

Orient Capital quartz watch

Orient for $117 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HZU7LK/ref=dp_cerb_3#nav-search-keywords

Does it have to be an open heart watch, or was it more the colour and styling you liked of the fossil?

First suggestion:
Doesn't check all of your boxes but hear me out when I say I would get a Seiko SARB033. In my opinion, the SARB has a quality worth every penny and is a fan favorite that will look amazing for your wedding and there on.

Second suggestion:
More to your requests is orient. Orient has a lot of open heart watches under 300 dollars but I just happened to like this one and if im not mistaken, most of their movements are in-house.

Hope this helps

https://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK

If you dig the open heart look on the dial, I think this is way cleaner looking than any of the Seiko watches you've been looking at. I feel like if you're going to have that open heart on the dial, the rest of the dial shouldn't be so busy.

If Roman numerals are more important to you than the open heart, Orient again has very clean looking models in your price range. Just search "Orient watch Roman Numerals".

Someone is offering to buy me a watch for Christmas, they haven't put a limit on the price but i want it to be under $250.

I currently have 4 watches, all pretty cheap. A Stührling, Timex, Casio, and Bering.

I have pretty much exclusively looking at Seiko and Orient because I have seem them raved about on this sub at this price.

The Orient Esteem watches look very interesting and more stylish that what I currently have. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
I was also looking at these [6] [7]

As for the Seikos, I really enjoy the look of the day window on this [1] And the others that I quite like are [2] [3] [4]

Quick edit: I forgot I had this Rodina page [1] bookmarked!

I know this is a really long post with a lot of different watches, but I just want to get something reliable and not similar to what I currently have (to a degree). Thanks ahead of time!

I've been tempted to get that exact Seiko, but a couple of things have stopped me: the nylon band is not that good, and the watch itself is really small. I am used to old automatics in the 36mm range but somehow that seiko feels much smaller and lighter. On the other hand, the sandblasted finish and glass on the back make it really attractive and different. One thing I noticed is that different sellers list different prices for that model according to color. Blue tends to be the most available and lower price, while black is higher and more scarce. I have no idea why. There are green and khaki version too, if I am not mistaken. So I suggest you check in a couple different places.

How would you feel about an eco drive? I think this blue dial would look nice in a different band.

For automatics check Orient too. The Tri star are the most affordable and have a retro look. I like this one, the faceted glass may be strange at first but is a detail I've really liked after having one. Check the Orient bambino too. I recently saw this deal on the Orient Esteem, some people do not like the open heart but it is different and for me it makes the watch feel alive. I am not sure I would choose it because I check the date a lot, unfortunately. Another great deal I think is the Orient Full Date. Those hands and textured dial are really attractive in person and I always liked having the full day. The red tip on the seconds hand is a nice touch. Btw if you read the one star review you will see it is very positive and probably a mistake that it was rated so low. My final recommendation is the Orient Marshall, it has more of a sport look and the inner bezel can be used to time events. Check this video explaining it, I believe that is the exact same version.

Orient was a separate company but is part of seiko now, btw.

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/rotary-jura-watch-review-affordable-skeleton/
http://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK

You're not going to find a good skeleton for less than probably 2K. However, have you seen 'open heart' watches? Something like this Orient Esteem is closer-ish to a skeleton. Orient makes good watches, and it's well well well well within your budget.

I can't think of anything in the Bauhaus style that has a skeletonised dial. However if you go for a handwind with a skeleton case back you'll get a great view of the mechanism.

Example would be the Stowa Antea 41: http://www.stowa.de/lshop,showdetail,141409824612628,en,1414098264-12699,antea,anteaks41,5,Tshowrub--antea,.htm

Alternatively, there are a couple Orients that are minimal but open hearts: eg. http://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412233161&sr=8-1&keywords=orient+esteem

1

2

3

I would like to present these to you for your consideration. I have owned a Skagen before and while they are decent watches they are over priced for what you get. These Orients are well built and are a very accessible entry into the wonderful world of mechanical timepieces.

Tissot T-Classic Dream

Edit: I just saw that you were looking for an Automatic. Orient Esteem Open-Heart

I think that an automatic is important when you are going high dollar on watches but when you are looking sub $500 I think it is totally acceptable to go quartz.

Orient Esteem can be had for the low 100s

http://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405572881&sr=8-2&keywords=orient+esteem

Be wary, I was kind of scared off of the Parnis/Sea-Gull open heart ones because they're really, really thick. Double check that.

Wow. this one is very nice! a tiny hint too large in my opinion, but i love it! also found this one, which i really like http://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK/ref=pd_sbs_watch_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0PANB9TSEV4CS95E5VPG#customerReviews

https://www.amazon.com/Orient-FDB08004B-Esteem-Heart-Watch/dp/B005HZU7LK

fossil has a wider selection of open hearts but an orient will last you much longer - it has far better build quality