Description
ORIENT vintage quartz watch
MADE IN JAPAN
“Orient” takes its name from the Latin word oriri– “to rise” or “to be born” – the same root behind “Orient” as a direction: the east, where the sun rises. The company’s roots go back to 1901, when watchmaker Shogoro Yoshida opened a watch shop in Ueno, Tokyo, initially importing pocket watches before starting his own watch-case production in 1913. After his clock-making venture Toyo Tokei Manufacturing (founded 1920) was shut down during wartime, Yoshida’s watchmaking business was reborn in 1950 as the Tama Keiki Company, renamed Orient Watch Company, Limited in 1951. So the brand name ties directly to the idea of a new dawn – a fitting name for a watchmaker rebuilding itself from the ground up in postwar Japan.
About the Swimmer 100 Line
Orient has used the Swimmer name since the Royal Orient Swimmer of 1959-60, applying it to its water-resistant models rather than to a single case or movement family. It ran on mechanical watches through the 1960s and 1970s, on the Weekly Auto and Calendar Auto Swimmers, and carried over onto quartz in the late 1970s and 1980s. The “100” in Swimmer 100 refers to its 100-meter water resistance rating, printed right on the dial, pitching it as a genuine daily sports watch rather than a dress piece that merely tolerated splashes. Quartz Swimmer 100s were built around several different calibers rather than one; what they share is the brief. A round stainless steel case, a day-date complication at 3 o’clock for daily utility, and a clean dial legible at a glance.
About This Watch
This example is ref. H569103-80 CA, powered by Orient’s in-house cal. 56910, a two-jewel quartz movement stamped ORIENT 56910 2J. and running on an SR1120W silver-oxide cell, behind a solid screw-in case back. The blue dial is a gradient, bright at the centre and darkening toward the rim, and it carries applied stick markers, a day-date window at 3 o’clock, and the “100m” water-resistance marking typical of the Swimmer 100 line. The day disc is bilingual English and German, so Sunday reads SON. Based on the caliber family and case styling, this watch dates to the early-to-mid 1980s. It is currently fitted with an aftermarket Expandro bracelet made in West Germany, its clasp stamped ADJUSTABLE / VERSTELLBAR, rather than an Orient-signed bracelet.
Technical Specifications
- Brand: Orient
- Line: Swimmer 100
- Reference Number: H569103-80 CA
- Movement: Orient cal. 56910, quartz, 2 jewels
- Battery: SR1120W silver-oxide (currently fitted)
- Serial Number: Not externally marked
- Production Date: Early-to-mid 1980s (estimated from caliber and case styling)
- Case Material: Stainless steel
- Case Diameter: Approx. 35mm (excluding crown)
- Dial: Blue gradient, applied stick markers, bilingual English/German day-date window at 3 o’clock
- Crystal: Acrylic
- Case-back: Stainless steel screw-back, engraved “ORIENT QUARTZ WATER RESISTANT ALL STAINLESS STEEL H569103-80 CA”
- Country of Manufacture: Japan
Condition Report
The blue dial is clean, with no fading or spotting. The lume plots on the markers and the fills in the hands have aged to a yellowed cream, and the chrome frame around the day-date window has darkened with tarnish. The stainless case shows light wear consistent with age, including fine surface scratches on the case-back and bezel; no dents or deep gouges. The day-date function advances and quickset correctly. The watch is currently fitted with a period bracelet (see note above on its origin) in good working order.
This watch has recently been serviced by a professional watchmaker and keeps good time.
Comes complete with vintage steel bracelet*. (*)Note: Stock bracelets are often shortened by previous owners and may not fit you(see bracelet size in the product images).
We match the strap to this watch’s lug width, so there is nothing for you to measure — just pick a padded leather strap for Orient from the options at the top of the page.
This watch ships from 🇺🇦 Ukraine with tracking number
Why Collectors Want This Watch Today
This is an accessible entry point into Orient’s early quartz era, and a 100-meter sports model rather than a dress watch. Orient built these in quantity and they are not hard to find, but the deep blue gradient dial and the bilingual English/German day-date wheel give it more character than most budget quartz watches of the period, and it remains fully functional today.
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We guarantee the item you receive looks and works exactly as advertised — or your money back.
Orient lug-width matched leather straps — 18 / 19 / 20 mm
About the watch factory
Orient Watch Company, Ltd. (オリエント時計株式会社) is a Japanese watchmaker founded in 1950, tracing its roots to a Tokyo watch shop opened in 1901 by Shogoro Yoshida. Orient built its reputation on in-house automatic movements sold at accessible prices, and it kept making them right through the quartz era, when much of the industry moved away from mechanical watches. Since 2009 Orient has operated as a subsidiary of Seiko Epson, a separate listed company from Seiko Group Corporation though both descend from the Hattori/Seikosha lineage, with its watch business fully folded into Epson in 2017. Movements are produced in-house by Epson’s Akita facility in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture, the same roots as Orient’s historic manufacturing base. Today Orient’s catalog splits into two tiers: the mainline Orient collection (value-driven automatics and quartz pieces, including the cult-favorite Bambino dress watch) and Orient Star, the brand’s higher-end line with in-house movements, hand-finished dials, and occasional skeletonized or complicated pieces aimed at serious collectors. Across both tiers, Orient has built its reputation on delivering genuine mechanical horology, export-quality automatic movements with real jeweling and finishing, at price points well below what Swiss competitors charge for comparable engineering.
