Give your Mako II a chance! I agree about the crown; I have far smaller wrists, hands & fingers, but that little thing is hard to operate. *However, the other dislikes are easily fixed* (and reversed into features) with a couple of quick & fairly cheap mods: new bezel (I like the coin-edge from Namokimods) and a new bezel insert (lumed glass looks awesome at night!), replacement bracelet (jubilee w/ solid endlinks from Long Island Watch is a winner, cheaper options on major platforms). Maybe throw on an AR coated sapphire dome (the blue looks insane under the blue AR!) That Mako would be uniquely yours and totally 🔥🔥🔥 Granted, by then you've spent as much in mods as the initial cost of the watch, but it addresses all of your dislikes and turns them into strengths/features. With a dial that nice looking and unique, it really stands apart (above, IMO) from the pack of low cost, Sub-clone divers. It's about the process, to me, that's why I like to mod. And the Mako is a great kid base due to its (comically) low MSRP. Great channel BTW 👍 Edit: spelling
Just saw your mention on the Live Stream. I have an Orient Bambino, Cream dial, and I'm a woman (don't like the kitschy, bland, bling, predictable watch designs for women) :D
Great review! I like the Mako well enough that I bought two more to give as gifts. Agree with the crown being a bit too small. I replaced the bracelet with a shark mesh style. Gives the watch a rugged look and very comfortable without any link rattle. Now about the rotating bezel. Mine also was difficult to turn, so I popped it off and removed excess glue that leaked through the pip hole of the indexing triangle. Now the bezel rites with minimal effort.
Same here. So nice & bought it THRICE (blue, black, and Pepsi). Blue is a mod base/strap king, the black & Pepsi are both riding on Jubilee bands from Long Island Watch - look & feel great 👍
What a coincidence. I ordered a Seiko watch this week (I haven't worn a watch in years). Now I see Randy is doing watch reviews! Great to see the expanding offering of video topics.
The fact that the bezel doesnt move easily is actually a huge blessing when using it for legit diving. Can be life or death if it moves. My bezel paint edges are starting to come off after a couple of dives. Granted I use it to time spearfishing dives so it gets used alot. Love the watch otherwise though and it's super legible underwater. An orange one would be top tier. I plan to replace the bezel with a long Island watch seiko replacement when it wears through.
I’ve had a Mako II for about four years and I wear it regularly. It has held up exceptionally well - only light scratching on the bracelet. I agree the bezel is hard to turn but I’m not a diver so whatever. With an in-house movement I think this watch is a winner.
I love my Orient Bambino. Very accurate, beautiful dial and hands, and domed crystal. $110. In my opinion, the only watch that is a better bang for buck is the Seiko 5 field.
I have all the watches you mentioned and I've gotta say: Steeldive is giving them a run for the money (for less money!) All have sapphire crystal, NH35 movement (auto, hacks, winds), solid end links, ceramic bezel insert, really intense AR coating that looks great in the sunlight, and simply outstanding LUME. I never knew lume was important to me until I saw my SD1970 (Capt Willard homage) in the dark 🤯 Steeldive and San Martin are beating Seiko at their own game and exposing them for the price gougers that they are. Why pay 300-500 USD for a SKX or far more for a classic Seiko like the Willard or 62MAS with a misaligned bezel when you could get a NEW 1:1 homage with all of the mods already factory-installed? That's no choice at all. Edit: "ceramic"
I can attest to the bezel being good , I've worn this watch to work everyday as a electrician and it's held up perfectly fine , this watch is on par with Seiko and actually beats out other seikos in the same price range , my only complaint is the small crown
As a Patreon member to your audio group it's nice to see you add watches as a channel! I'm a Seiko / Orient fan myself. If you add a target pistol channel next that would be great LOL !
A few suggestions for your review: Baltic Watches (Aquascaphe Blue Gilt) Traska Watches (Free Diver Carbon black) Nodus Watches (Retrospect III Aurora Green) Tissot PRX Powermax 80
Randy! What??? I love this! Let's do this! ANY content you put out is worthy of my time. Great review. I also love the blue dial. I wish my arm hairs didn't get caught in the metal band. Thank you, brother!
Hey Randy - good to see you're now doing watch reviews along with audio equipment, and thanks for the review of this watch. One item I would note is that this watch does not have a "Band", just a bracelet. Calling a metal bracelet a "band" in the watch world is like calling a turntable a "record player" in the audiophile world. In fact the word "band" is rarely used at all - most non-bracelet watches have "straps", which can be leather, rubber, etc. The only time the term "band" is used is for watches that sport an stretchy-type of item to secure it on your wrist, like an elastic band. Just my thoughts.
Henry, this sort of nit-picking pedanticism turns people off to new hobbies. Your post wasn’t so much about a concern for accuracy as being a know-it-all showing off.
@@cheapwatchman_official Hi Randy - understood, and I hope I was helpful. I love your cheapaudioman channel and am subscribed to this one as well. Keep up the great work!
@@WisGuy4 This type of reaction is exactly why I hesitate to say anything at all most of the time. However, in this instance I decided to speak up anyway as I admire Randy's work on his other channel. Using more accurate terminology to refer to different watch components will allow Randy to appeal to a wider audience of watch enthusiasts - at least that was my primary goal in commenting.
Like it, but only in Blue? If so, you couldn't give it to me. Though the entire ensemble looks very nice. Though as you mention the polish verses polished...
Check out the orient Kamasu. Sapphire crystal, better bezel action. Orient bracelets are not great. I am thinking about a bracelet from strap code. Looking forward to your upcoming vids.
I got the Orient Ray as a High School graduation gift and it worked great a couple of years until it started frequently stop even though being wound. All the local watchmakers charge around 300 bucks to repair it so I've not bothered since it's almost as much as a new watch. Now that I've recently graduated from uni I'm thinking that I'll use part of my first paycheck to buy a new watch. I really started to like the look of field watches, any budget recommends in that category? Cheers and good luck with new channel!
I have a Citizen brand field watch I love. Warning, the strap isn’t great but I generally have to replace them due to big wrist syndrome. It’s under $150 and eco drive which I’m also a fan of. If that isn’t your cup of tea, Island Watches has a Seiko field for roughly the same price right now. Whatever you choose I hope you enjoy your field watch as much as I do mine.
I find it odd that all your HiFi measurements are imperial - inches, but because of the whole watch market thing, everything is SI - mm. Are there any makers in the USA? do they use inches? I have two favourite watches, niether of which I will ever own. Panerai luminor are cool, love the simplicity. My all time favourite is a Roger W Smith series 2. I would have to sell my house to buy one and wait a few years, but a completely hand made from scratch watch is just mind blowing.
I would have totally loved this channel about 10 years ago when I started getting into collecting watches and had a couple of Invictas, a couple of Seikos, a Citizen and a dress watch by some smaller Swiss manufacturer. I started looking for a golf watch but discovered that for only about $25 more, I could get a Garmin VIvoactive, which had most of the golf features plus was a semi-smart watch and fitness tracker. After about six years, my Garmin was starting to lose a little bit of battery life, (but diminishing from ten days to only four days was still vastly better than one of those dumb Apple watches with an 18 hour battery life). I got a new Garmin Venu 2+, the latest Garmin smart watch that has both a speaker and microphone so I can answer calls on it from my iPhone. This has been a true blessing, as my wife, being a typical wife, loves to call and check up on me for no reason at all multiple times a day and of course always does so at the worst moment. Now when I am out on the water kayaking, or playing golf, I can just touch my watch to answer a call without having to fumble around to find my phone. The fact that I am now answering calls more easily and quickly seems to have eliminated a lot of the pleasure and satisfaction out of making these unnecessary check-in calls, as she can no longer complain that I’m ignoring her if, as I typically do when playing golf, I don’t answer calls. Without the pick-on-the-husband/wife-is-a-martyr! factor, she tends to call me much less. So since getting my two Garmin watches, I don’t know that I’ve even put on one of the other watches ever since.
Orient Mako 2 Diver amzn.to/3QzUCBO
check out TH-cam.com/cheapaudioman to support the channel
Give your Mako II a chance! I agree about the crown; I have far smaller wrists, hands & fingers, but that little thing is hard to operate. *However, the other dislikes are easily fixed* (and reversed into features) with a couple of quick & fairly cheap mods: new bezel (I like the coin-edge from Namokimods) and a new bezel insert (lumed glass looks awesome at night!), replacement bracelet (jubilee w/ solid endlinks from Long Island Watch is a winner, cheaper options on major platforms). Maybe throw on an AR coated sapphire dome (the blue looks insane under the blue AR!) That Mako would be uniquely yours and totally 🔥🔥🔥
Granted, by then you've spent as much in mods as the initial cost of the watch, but it addresses all of your dislikes and turns them into strengths/features. With a dial that nice looking and unique, it really stands apart (above, IMO) from the pack of low cost, Sub-clone divers. It's about the process, to me, that's why I like to mod. And the Mako is a great kid base due to its (comically) low MSRP.
Great channel BTW 👍
Edit: spelling
Just saw your mention on the Live Stream. I have an Orient Bambino, Cream dial, and I'm a woman (don't like the kitschy, bland, bling, predictable watch designs for women) :D
Great review! I like the Mako well enough that I bought two more to give as gifts.
Agree with the crown being a bit too small. I replaced the bracelet with a shark mesh style. Gives the watch a rugged look and very comfortable without any link rattle.
Now about the rotating bezel. Mine also was difficult to turn, so I popped it off and removed excess glue that leaked through the pip hole of the indexing triangle. Now the bezel rites with minimal effort.
Same here. So nice & bought it THRICE (blue, black, and Pepsi). Blue is a mod base/strap king, the black & Pepsi are both riding on Jubilee bands from Long Island Watch - look & feel great 👍
What a coincidence. I ordered a Seiko watch this week (I haven't worn a watch in years). Now I see Randy is doing watch reviews! Great to see the expanding offering of video topics.
Very cool!
The fact that the bezel doesnt move easily is actually a huge blessing when using it for legit diving. Can be life or death if it moves. My bezel paint edges are starting to come off after a couple of dives. Granted I use it to time spearfishing dives so it gets used alot. Love the watch otherwise though and it's super legible underwater. An orange one would be top tier. I plan to replace the bezel with a long Island watch seiko replacement when it wears through.
This cheap man can keep going with channels! Sincerely though, great to see your perspective on watches.
cheap ice cream man
Great watch and awesome review. I own the Orient Ray 2 Orange 🍊 dial . Wearing it now . Extremely impressed with this Ray 2 .
Hey you're the Cheap Audio Man!! I didn't know you had a watch channel lol. I have this watch. Love it.
I’ve had a Mako II for about four years and I wear it regularly. It has held up exceptionally well - only light scratching on the bracelet. I agree the bezel is hard to turn but I’m not a diver so whatever. With an in-house movement I think this watch is a winner.
yeah. tomorrow's vid says as much when comparing it to a couple of other watches
Very much a modern classic, for entry level divers.
I love my Orient Bambino. Very accurate, beautiful dial and hands, and domed crystal. $110. In my opinion, the only watch that is a better bang for buck is the Seiko 5 field.
I have all the watches you mentioned and I've gotta say: Steeldive is giving them a run for the money (for less money!) All have sapphire crystal, NH35 movement (auto, hacks, winds), solid end links, ceramic bezel insert, really intense AR coating that looks great in the sunlight, and simply outstanding LUME. I never knew lume was important to me until I saw my SD1970 (Capt Willard homage) in the dark 🤯 Steeldive and San Martin are beating Seiko at their own game and exposing them for the price gougers that they are. Why pay 300-500 USD for a SKX or far more for a classic Seiko like the Willard or 62MAS with a misaligned bezel when you could get a NEW 1:1 homage with all of the mods already factory-installed? That's no choice at all.
Edit: "ceramic"
Randy, awesome review.
Thanks!
You're going to get me to buy a watch Randy. I feel it coming.
I can attest to the bezel being good , I've worn this watch to work everyday as a electrician and it's held up perfectly fine , this watch is on par with Seiko and actually beats out other seikos in the same price range , my only complaint is the small crown
As a Patreon member to your audio group it's nice to see you add watches as a channel! I'm a Seiko / Orient fan myself. If you add a target pistol channel next that would be great LOL !
ha. no plans on the target pistols quite yet
A few suggestions for your review:
Baltic Watches (Aquascaphe Blue Gilt)
Traska Watches (Free Diver Carbon black)
Nodus Watches (Retrospect III Aurora Green)
Tissot PRX Powermax 80
Randy! What??? I love this! Let's do this! ANY content you put out is worthy of my time. Great review. I also love the blue dial. I wish my arm hairs didn't get caught in the metal band. Thank you, brother!
what's up, brother! Having a ball with this... next will be cheap knife man
Hey Randy - good to see you're now doing watch reviews along with audio equipment, and thanks for the review of this watch. One item I would note is that this watch does not have a "Band", just a bracelet. Calling a metal bracelet a "band" in the watch world is like calling a turntable a "record player" in the audiophile world. In fact the word "band" is rarely used at all - most non-bracelet watches have "straps", which can be leather, rubber, etc. The only time the term "band" is used is for watches that sport an stretchy-type of item to secure it on your wrist, like an elastic band. Just my thoughts.
thanks, Henry. I'm still getting to know all of the correct ways of describing things
Henry, this sort of nit-picking pedanticism turns people off to new hobbies. Your post wasn’t so much about a concern for accuracy as being a know-it-all showing off.
@@cheapwatchman_official Hi Randy - understood, and I hope I was helpful. I love your cheapaudioman channel and am subscribed to this one as well. Keep up the great work!
@@WisGuy4 This type of reaction is exactly why I hesitate to say anything at all most of the time. However, in this instance I decided to speak up anyway as I admire Randy's work on his other channel. Using more accurate terminology to refer to different watch components will allow Randy to appeal to a wider audience of watch enthusiasts - at least that was my primary goal in commenting.
Like it, but only in Blue? If so, you couldn't give it to me. Though the entire ensemble looks very nice. Though as you mention the polish verses polished...
Check out the orient Kamasu. Sapphire crystal, better bezel action. Orient bracelets are not great. I am thinking about a bracelet from strap code. Looking forward to your upcoming vids.
going to be comparing this one directly to some other affordable diver style watches in the next day or two
I have the same complaint about the bezel on a Citizen (also part of Seiko) as on this watch. It is hard to turn and has the same over-polished look.
I actually knocked off some of the polish with a Brillo pad. Looks almost titanium now and I like it way more
I got the Orient Ray as a High School graduation gift and it worked great a couple of years until it started frequently stop even though being wound. All the local watchmakers charge around 300 bucks to repair it so I've not bothered since it's almost as much as a new watch.
Now that I've recently graduated from uni I'm thinking that I'll use part of my first paycheck to buy a new watch.
I really started to like the look of field watches, any budget recommends in that category? Cheers and good luck with new channel!
thanks so much for watching!
I have a Citizen brand field watch I love. Warning, the strap isn’t great but I generally have to replace them due to big wrist syndrome. It’s under $150 and eco drive which I’m also a fan of. If that isn’t your cup of tea, Island Watches has a Seiko field for roughly the same price right now. Whatever you choose I hope you enjoy your field watch as much as I do mine.
@@guytracy7224 Thanks Guy! I'll check it out, after a quick search I got to say some of the Citizen Garrison line is looking good.
I have to stop watching, pun intended, before I go bankrupt. 😂
ha. well it's not terribly priced
My mistake it is Mako 2 just not called Mako 2 in Japan.
I find it odd that all your HiFi measurements are imperial - inches, but because of the whole watch market thing, everything is SI - mm. Are there any makers in the USA? do they use inches? I have two favourite watches, niether of which I will ever own. Panerai luminor are cool, love the simplicity. My all time favourite is a Roger W Smith series 2. I would have to sell my house to buy one and wait a few years, but a completely hand made from scratch watch is just mind blowing.
Billy you enjoy the finer things in life...
You should check out Nico Leonard's channel,he's quite entertaining
I would have totally loved this channel about 10 years ago when I started getting into collecting watches and had a couple of Invictas, a couple of Seikos, a Citizen and a dress watch by some smaller Swiss manufacturer. I started looking for a golf watch but discovered that for only about $25 more, I could get a Garmin VIvoactive, which had most of the golf features plus was a semi-smart watch and fitness tracker.
After about six years, my Garmin was starting to lose a little bit of battery life, (but diminishing from ten days to only four days was still vastly better than one of those dumb Apple watches with an 18 hour battery life). I got a new Garmin Venu 2+, the latest Garmin smart watch that has both a speaker and microphone so I can answer calls on it from my iPhone. This has been a true blessing, as my wife, being a typical wife, loves to call and check up on me for no reason at all multiple times a day and of course always does so at the worst moment. Now when I am out on the water kayaking, or playing golf, I can just touch my watch to answer a call without having to fumble around to find my phone. The fact that I am now answering calls more easily and quickly seems to have eliminated a lot of the pleasure and satisfaction out of making these unnecessary check-in calls, as she can no longer complain that I’m ignoring her if, as I typically do when playing golf, I don’t answer calls. Without the pick-on-the-husband/wife-is-a-martyr! factor, she tends to call me much less.
So since getting my two Garmin watches, I don’t know that I’ve even put on one of the other watches ever since.
I used to do triathlons and I always had a Garmin on. I actually loved the way it looked. but my heart has always been with mechanical watches
I've had my eye on this one for some time...
it's gorgeous, G. But feels a little chincy
So you wore a Invicta for 15 years which seemed to last and do what it was designed for. Not sure why so many haters?
At least it doesn't have that stupid quick change push button that they put on most Orient's on the top left of the case.
Sub'd!!!
My orient is built like a tank
U should have got the Rolex
You could sell it for a profit
yeah. saying "go get a rolex" is like saying go listen to the speaker in the show room to an eskimo.
Instead of reviewing the entry level diver, you wined about the watch for 5 mins 😂
Worst review I've ever seen.
How’s the “watch” time for these videos?
wish it was higher...
That sticker-bezel is a little disappointing.
yeah. I liked the way it wore and even looked but I just didn't feel like it would last
Not a mako 2