Orient World Map LE: Six Month Retrospective

There’s always that one person in your life that you stand by regardless of their more undesirable qualities. Be it a family member or a friend, you always make sure to support them in their time of need, even if they’re occasionally dickish or otherwise rough around the edges. This same quality can be found in inanimate objects as well; people still wrench on 40-year-old Maseratis and Jaguars, because the joy they provide outweighs, or at least cancels out, the pain they cause when they inevitably break down.

That one thing for me is my limited edition Orient World Map. I adore it, even though it’s been a labor of love since the first full day I owned it over six months ago. It and my PRX were my most worn watches of last year, and it’s one of the three or four that’s in my definitive daily rotation.

Even though the World Map is one of Orient’s mid-range models that costs twice as much as the Kamasu, it started exhibiting a pants-shittingly terrifying problem within 24 hours of my receiving it. You see, Orients and other budget mechanicals occasionally evaporate excess lubrication after sufficient exposure to different temperatures. Since I got my Orient in late June, it is no surprise that when I tried to test the water resistance in some cold water, the movement’s oils partially evaporated. While I feared that water got in the case, some Watchuseek sleuthing determined that’s not what occurred, as a couple of people had similar issues with their Rays and Makos, which, like the World Map, came with an F6922.

Resultantly, the crystal had a thin layer of evaporated lubricants on its underside. While I had the means of removing it, I didn’t want to, as I destroyed a 5KX’s chapter ring with my crystal remover by using too big of a die, and I also didn’t want to lose any water resistance. So for a while, I had to make do with cleaning the parts I could clean without removing the crystal, and even then, it still looked like dogshit.

I eventually said “fuck it” and decided to put the World Map under the knife-or rather, under the press-last November. After locating the correct die, I removed the crystal, cleaned it with alcohol and an extra clean microfiber, used a puffer, and put it back together. It finally looked as beautiful as it did when it arrived from Orient. And because I’m still using the stock crystal instead of replacing it, in theory, there’s no WR lost, or at least not enough to the point where it can't be used for water activities.

The reason I initially bought a World Map was that I didn’t have a GMT/world timer, and I wasn’t going to be satisfied with an Aliexpress fauxmage that merely aped the look of a GMT Master with a sketchy-ish Chinese movement (even though I really want San Martin’s vintage-inspired SN005G). Although I haven’t traveled far enough to use it, the World Map will be my go-to watch for when I won’t know my home time off the back of my hand, and I want something that'll take whatever's thrown at it in stride. It's also surprisingly versatile and goes with lots of straps.

I *was* mad at the fact that I spent nearly $500 on the World Map, even if it’s number 730 out of a run of 1200. But here’s the thing: I don’t care. The World Map LE does so many things for me that I forgive it for its transgressions. It’s simultaneously practical and tooly yet unique and colorful. Yeah, it’s not a “true” world timer, and yeah, its internal bezel sometimes has a mind of its own, but this watch is so goddamn charismatic that it doesn’t matter. You can’t help but love its commitment to simply being a fun tool watch, and quite frankly, isn't that what this hobby needs more of?