I’ve really been slacking on my job around here! I only just found out that Orient Watch has released the next generation of the extremely popular Ray dive watch, what is now known as the Orient Ray 3.
According to Orient’s website (in Japanese), this newest diver has been available since September 2018. I’ve found very little discussion online of these new watches though, only a couple of Reddit posts from people who had picked one up already.
The Orient Ray 3 is currently available in eight different variations – five with a sapphire crystal and three with a mineral crystal. The three with a mineral crystal also have a different bezel design and size than the other five.
Variations of the Orient Ray III
| RN-AA0001B | RN-AA0002L | RN-AA0003R | RN-AA0004L | RN-AA0005A | RN-AA0006B | RN-AA0007L | RN-AA0008B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Sapphire Crystal | Sapphire Crystal | Sapphire Crystal | Sapphire Crystal | Sapphire Crystal | Mineral Crystal | Mineral Crystal | Mineral Crystal |
| 41.8 mm case diameter | 41.8 mm case diameter | 41.8 mm case diameter | 41.8 mm case diameter | 41.8 mm case diameter | 44.0 mm case diameter | 44.0 mm case diameter | 44.0 mm case diameter |
| Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon.com |
Orient Ray II vs. Orient Ray III
The Ray III has undergone quite a face lift from the Ray II.
Orient Ray II in Blue 
Orient Ray III in Blue
Some of the new design, especially the hands, is taken from the Orient Mako USA II, a watch only available direct from Orient USA. Other noticeable changes are to the hour markers, going from circles to mostly bars. Instead of Water Resist 200m, the Ray III now lists the water resistance in bars (20 bars).
Sizing seems to be the same as the Ray II, except for the three models that come stock with a mineral crystal and different bezel – those have a 44 mm diameter as opposed to the Ray’s ~42 mm.
The biggest change of course is in just the variety of color combinations released, which you can see in the table above.
If you want to know more about the Orient Ray II, be sure to check out my review of the Ray II here.
Orient Ray III Specifications
- Caliber F6922 automatic mechanical movement
- Hacking and hand winding
- 22 jewel
- 40 hours power reserve
- Unidirectional 120-click rotating divers bezel
- Sapphire / mineral glass crystal
- Stainless steel case
- 41.8 mm diameter / 44 mm diameter
- 46.8 mm lug to lug / 50 mm lug to lug
- 12.8 mm thick / 12.9 mm thick
- 22 mm lug width
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6 Comments
Or, just get a Triton…
You got this all wrong, your showing the 5 models of the mako 3, all 5 have sapphire. There is also a ray 3 out with 3 models that get the 44mm case and mineral crystals
Thanks for the feedback Matt. Where are you getting this info about the Mako 3 vs. Ray 3? The Japanese Orient site doesn’t seem to use that branding ( I can’t read Japanese, but it doesn’t show up in the translation), and Orient Watch USA hasn’t listed these yet. I was just going off of what they’re being called by others around the web.
Also, if you scroll the table over above you can see I included all 8 watches.
Picked up the Red Dial Ray III from a Japanese website for 280. Beautiful case and dial as usual for Orient. The bezel has a smoother, more Seiko-esque click and is much easier to turn than previous Ray models. I’m super stoked that the day wheel is Eng/Kanji so I can sport that JDM look. Now for moans/niggles- the crown is a pain in the thumb to screw back in- very strong spring pushes outward and you may have to make more than a few attempts to get it to catch the screw channel whilst fighting the spring pushing it out. And the bracelet is the same as the other Rays… hollow endcaps, stamped crappy clasp. Rattles like Michael J Fox carrying a pie pan of dried beans. I have a strapcode replacement on the way. Currently I have it on an Uncle Seiko waffle strap… looks great.
Does the Strapcode bracelet fit properly? Read somewhere that there were slight diferences in lug shape between Ray II and III..
It does not, lug holes are too far to the outside.