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Orient was long one of the Japanese big three: SEIKO, CITIZEN, ORIENT until Casio pushed into watch market after having successfully introduced a very inexpensive handheld electronic pocket calculator. In 2001, Seiko's EPSON subsidiary bought 30% of Orient' stock. So Orient is today partly owned by SEIKO. There is a lot of talk whether that partial take over would affect Orient's corporate direction. In the past, Orient had often raced creating great inhouse movements against SEIKO and CITIZEN. And often, all in-house movements of those companies had great similarities.
Orient today seems to have shifted into a slightly higher tier of watches in Japan, whereas internationally they continue to promote their less expensive lines. Orient watches are also very popular in Russia and Orient has a large factory in Brasil where they are also very popular. One thing is sure, Orient has always been known as providing excellent value for the money at a sometimes unmatched quality level in the given price league.
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