John’s Watch Box #4: Orient Bambino

Hey, everyone. I had been interested in getting an Orient Bambino dress watch for quite a while, so I recently acquired one for my collection. I opted for the confusingly-named “2nd Generation Version III,” as it had a lot in common with my vintage Benrus alarm watch. I really liked the look of that older watch, but its requisite servicing proved to be prohibitively expensive. So, this Orient seemed like a good option until I could afford to repair the Benrus someday, and I decided to pick one up.

Upon receiving the Bambino, I fully appreciated just how similar it is to the Benrus. They both have that 60s look, featuring heavily domed crystals, sunburst dials, rectangular hands, and straight lugs. Granted, the Bambino does have some very noticeable differences, such as its 40.5mm case diameter, dial markers, and color, but I think that Orient did an excellent job of replicating that vintage watch aesthetic.

Bambino

Benrus

Aesthetics aside, the Bambino is still a very solid dress watch for the price. It has a mineral crystal, a decent automatic movement with hacking and hand-winding, a date window, a stainless steel casing, and splash resistance. My only real issue with this timepiece is its odd 21mm lug size, but it is possible to find alternative straps for this watch. Thankfully, the stock strap it comes with is usable, although it’s nothing special. Also, this is a nitpick, but I think the “Water Resistant” label on the dial is a bit cheesy. Regardless, for only around $130, the Orient Bambino offers a lot more than I expected for the price. Thus, I can easily forgive these shortcomings.

To conclude, I’ve been very impressed with this Orient Bambino. Its vintage, minimal aesthetic is incredibly cool, and it’s built very well for such an affordable timepiece. For those reasons, it has become one of my favorite watches in my collection, and I can easily recommend it to those looking for a budget dress watch.

If you're interested in this watch, here is the Amazon listing that I got it from.

Late 2014 Mac mini in 2022 - Still Worth Buying?

About a year ago, I reviewed the 2014 Mac mini on this blog. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was still an excellent machine for productivity tasks, but it could also handle some more intense things you threw at it. Thus, it became my daily driver up until I upgraded to a 2017 MacBook Air a few months ago. That being said, I’ve still been using it some, so I thought I’d briefly share how it’s holding up these days. Here are my thoughts on this miniature Macintosh one year later! Performance Over the last year, I’ve been impressed by how much this Mac can handle. It’s rocking a 2.6 GHz dual-core Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM and a Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SATA SSD. What all that jargon essentially means is that it’s a moderately powerful little computer, although it certainly isn’t going to put newer Macs to shame. Regardless, I’ve been able to do lots of coding, video editing, and schoolwork on this computer, and it has generally worked pretty well. Granted, it can take a while to

Violoncello for Windows is finally here!

Hi, everyone! Ever since I first started working on it over a month ago, I have spent countless hours creating and perfecting Violoncello for Windows. Featuring a slick and minimal UI, lots of customization options, and support for Windows versions going all the way back to XP, I am very pleased with how the Windows version of Violoncello has turned out. As a result, I am very excited to announce that Violoncello for Windows has finally been released! Violoncello for Windows is packed with features, some of which are found in the mobile version, and others that are not. Some of these include: Open in main browser: Easily open the page you are currently viewing in Violoncello in your default browser! Custom search engine: Choose from Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, or set your own. Lots of customization: Change the background and text colors, and choose a font. Bookmarks: Easily manage and visit bookmarks. Jump to top: Quickly jump to the top of a page. (0, 0) Those are most of the

Weird Cars I (Really) Want

Hey, y’all. Today, we’re talking about cars again. Good thing they’re super neat! This time, we’re going to discuss 5 exceedingly strange cars that I want to own. I should clarify that these cars were not necessarily ugly or strange at the time they were released, but they’re not particularly pleasant to look at or own now. So, let’s dive in. Fiat 126 This car is absolutely abysmal. It’s been covered by a lot of big YouTube channels , and it is so ridiculously underpowered that I can’t help but admire it. Having 2 cylinders in a “proper” car is hilarious to me, and I would love to see how terrible the acceleration is. I also enjoy how basic and barren the interior is and that the engine is located in the back. You can tell that this car was not made for Americans. I know that it’s probably a very deadly ride, but I want a 126 regardless. There’s no helping it. The desire will not go away. Is friend. PT Cruiser Convertible To begin, I am not a Chrysler fan… or a PT Cruiser fan. That sai

John Spahr

Search This Blog