Bambino 38 No Date the date-free Bambino fans asked for, at £295

What is new about the Bambino 38 No Date?

The Bambino has been Orient's affordable automatic dress watch for well over a decade, and every mechanical version until now has had a date window at 3 o'clock. Worn & Wound, reporting the announcement in February 2026, noted that the date was the main thing collectors had asked Orient to drop. This is the first mechanical Bambino without one.

Orient announced the no-date models in February 2026, and Fratello reported their European and UK rollout in July 2026, with a UK RRP of £294.99 on leather. The green dial covered here is reference RA-BB0001E. The same 38.4 mm case also comes in white, ivory and brown, plus a grey dial limited to 3,300 pieces and a purple, gold-tone version of 125 pieces sold only through Orient's own web shop.

The dial mixes Roman numerals at the even hours with baton markers at the others, inside a minute track and a separate seconds scale. With no date, it is fully symmetrical, which is the whole point of the model.

How big is it, and how will it wear?

Orient lists the case at 38.4 mm wide, 44 mm lug to lug and 12.5 mm thick, with 20 mm lugs. The date-equipped Bambino now sits alongside it at 40.5 mm wide and 46.5 mm lug to lug, so the no-date model is the smaller of the two by a clear margin.

A 44 mm lug-to-lug span should sit comfortably on wrists from about 15 cm upwards without the lugs overhanging. The thickness is the figure to watch. At 12.5 mm, it is taller than many dress watches, partly because of the domed crystal. Fratello calls it a little chunky for the category, though not enough to spoil the proportions. If you wear slim shirt cuffs, expect it to catch more often than a 9 mm or 10 mm watch would.

What movement does it use, and how accurate is it?

Inside is Orient's in-house calibre F6524, an automatic that can also be wound by hand and stops the seconds hand when you pull the crown (hacking), so you can set it to the second. Orient quotes a power reserve of more than 40 hours and accuracy of +25 to -15 seconds a day. Monochrome describes that as acceptable rather than impressive, which is fair for the price.

In practice, you can expect to reset it every week or two if you care about precision. Take it off on Friday night and it should still be running on Saturday evening, but probably not on Monday morning. The movement is on show through an exhibition caseback.

One note on the spec sheets: Orient's UK product page lists the calibre as F6724, but Orient's own press release, Monochrome, Worn & Wound and Fratello all give F6524 for the no-date model. F6724 is the calibre in the 40.5 mm date version.

How well is it built?

• Case: stainless steel, with a conical crown and a see-through caseback.
• Crystal: domed mineral glass on the front. Mineral glass scratches more easily than sapphire, which is the usual trade-off at this price.
• Water resistance: 30 m. That covers rain and hand-washing, not swimming. Fratello points out that this is modest for a watch with "Water Resistant" printed on the dial.
• Strap: 20 mm croc-embossed leather with a pin buckle. The 20 mm width makes replacement straps easy to find.

Orient does not list lume on the hands or markers, so do not expect to read it in the dark.

Is it good value against its rivals?

The two obvious alternatives are the Timex Marlin Draper Automatic 37 mm, listed by Timex UK at £230 on leather, and the Seiko Presage Cocktail Time Crushed Ice, which Notebookcheck reports launched in the UK at £420.

The Timex is cheaper and offers 50 m water resistance, but it uses a supplied movement rather than an in-house one, and its cushion case gives it a more retro look. The Seiko costs about £125 more. For that, you get a slimmer 11.8 mm case, a heavily textured dial and Seiko's widely serviced 4R35 calibre, though Notebookcheck gives it a wider accuracy range of -35 to +45 seconds a day.

The Orient sits between them on price and is the only one of the three with no date at all. If a clean dial is your priority, that settles it.

What is the catch?

The 30 m water resistance limits it to dry days and desk wear. The 12.5 mm thickness means it is not the slimmest dress watch you can buy. The mineral crystal will pick up marks over time.

It is also too new for meaningful owner feedback. The no-date models only reached UK retailers in summer 2026, so long-term reports on the F6524 calibre are not yet available. We will add owner themes once they appear.

“The cheapest way to own a symmetrical, domed-crystal automatic dress watch from a brand that makes its own movements.”