Orient Ray II vs Mako II: Is There A Big Difference?
Orient remind me of Seiko. Which is not surprising really, because they are owned by Seiko!
They provide: Top quality dive watches at affordable prices.
These guys are always innovating, improving and pushing the limits of what their watches can do, and all for a very reasonable amount of money. And perhaps it’s no surprise, given Seiko’s parent company actually owns them too.
With both the Ray II and Mako II, you can get a Rolex looking watch without having to spend your entire savings.
Both these watches are stainless steel, with uni-directional bezels for diving, great lum to help in low-light, easy to read, and feature a Japanese Automatic movement that has 2 days of reserve power. Not bad for a non-Swiss (aka expensive) dive watch!
Although the Mako and Ray are actually “almost” identical in terms of specs (which you can see in the table below), there are actually quite a few cosmetic differences worth mentioning.
I will go over those below, along with the other great features of these two watches, so you can quickly decide which is for you!
The Differences Between The Orient Ray II and Mako II
Let’s start with the face, because that is where the biggest differences are.
Markers
The Ray II has circular markers, with more obvious tapered markers at 6, 9 and 12 o’clock. They are all generously covered in lum, which is what you want to see on a dive watch.
There are also fine, but noticeable minute markers running around the bezel’s edge, which is great for being able to align the bezel for diving or just seeing exactly what time it is.
The Mako II provides a more stylish face with numbers at 6, 9 and 12 o’clock instead of oblongs, and has thinner hour markings in general.
Hands
Those with an eye for detail will also notice the hands differ quite a bit too.
The Ray II, with the overall thicker look, also has a significantly thicker and more tapered hour hand. And slightly thicker, and less tapered minute hand. The second hand also has a thicker head with lum on the Ray II.
Bezel
- Bigger, more pronounced numbers and markers on the Ray II
- A thicker and flat-ended triangle at 60 minutes
They both have minute markers up to 10 minutes and the ribbing along the outside edges
Day/Date
The Band
Another slight difference between these two watches is in the band (as pointed out, thanks to Alwin in the comments below).
The Ray has a more classic look with the 3 piece stainless steel band with a beveled line on each side and a slightly different finish on the steel beyond those lines.
This gives the Ray a continuation of the more embellished classic look. Whereas the Mako has a similar 3-piece stainless steel band, but it is completely flat with no lines or difference in finish. This is far more modern.
Where To Buy The Ray II & Mako II
Amazon is my go to place to get watches that are in this price range (ie. not Rolexs, Omegas etc).
You can sometimes get even better deals from sellers on Ebay.
Here are some links to both products on Amazon and Ebay to help you find the best price.
Shared Features Of The Ray II & Mako II
The F6922 Movement
Orient have not been sitting around just tweaking their design on these watches, the Mark II versions of both watches feature the new in-house designed Orient Cal.F6922 Automatic movement.
Compared to the previous version of both watches, the new movement has both manual winding and hacking.
For those that are not familiar with why both are a big benefit, here goes. Manual winding means you can keep your watch going, even when you don’t wear it for a while. You see, automatic watches need your physical movement to keep them going and this model can only store power for about 2 days.
Hacking allows you to stop the second hand to properly set the time, as opposed to having to fudge it by waiting for the power to run down.
200m Water Resistance Dive Watch
It’s always nice to know you can wear you watch around, or even in the water. The problem is, when you only have 30m water resistance, you can never be 100% sure you can swim or snorkel in it.
With a dive watch like this, that is certified down to 200m, you can rest assured Orient have checked!
Combine this with the improved 120 click uni-directional bezel, and it is quite a functional dive watch (the previous version of both watches only had a 60 click bezel).
Styles & Colors
The Ray II
The Ray II has three colors to choose from.
The main two are the black and blue-faced stainless steel band models. Then, there is also a Ray Raven II, which is a very unique all-black metal model.
There are also two rubber band models, with the same blue and black faces.
The Mako II
The Mako as we now know, is quite like the Ray II, but, the styles are also where things vary a little.
The Mako II has four face/bezel color combos, which you can see below. (There are no rubber straps).
Notice the addition of the Pepsi style bezel (blue/red) which is quite reminiscent of the Seiko SKX009.
