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Orient Star strips things back for its first Sakigake

The first Sakigake project watch trades Orient Star's familiar power-reserve display for a clean dial, a new integrated bracelet and calibre F7542.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 14 September 2026

• The first Orient Star Sakigake design-project watch is a simple three-hander with no date or power-reserve display.
• Four 38.7 mm steel references share a new integrated bracelet and automatic F7542 calibre with more than 50 hours of reserve.
• The global range launches in September 2026; Japanese equivalents cost ¥120,000 or ¥130,000 plus tax, while Australian pricing is unannounced.

The power-reserve display has been one of Orient Star's most recognisable signatures for decades, which makes its absence the first thing to notice here. Announced on 9 September, the new Orient Star Three Hand begins the brand's Sakigake design project with a deliberately spare dial, an integrated steel bracelet and a new automatic movement. Four references are planned, including one 900-piece limited edition.

Sakigake starts by removing furniture

Orient Star describes Sakigake as a project for exploring new expressions of beauty. Its first watch uses “supple strength” as the design theme, but the more useful explanation is visible on the dial: no power-reserve arc, no calendar and no complication beyond central hours, minutes and seconds. The applied baton markers, faceted hands and fine minute track are given room to define the watch without a subdial dividing the surface.

That subtraction is significant because it changes how an Orient Star reads at a glance. This is not a basic version of an established reference. The broad, flowing case and integrated bracelet introduce a separate visual language, while the clean dial asks the finishing and proportions to carry the design. The result feels less like a conventional mechanical dress watch and more like a contemporary steel watch with an unusually quiet face.

Four dial treatments set the initial range. RE-BQ0001G is gold, RE-BQ0002L is light blue, RE-BQ0003S is silver and RE-BQ0004Y is copper. The copper version is the only limited reference, with 900 pieces planned. All use the same three-hand layout and steel exterior, so the distinction rests primarily in colour rather than a hierarchy of functions.

The bracelet is part of the case design

The SUS316L stainless-steel case measures 38.7 mm wide, 47 mm from end to end and 11.8 mm thick. Those are moderate dimensions, although the integrated construction means the first links will influence how it sits more than the nominal diameter alone. Orient Star has shaped the lugs and bracelet as one continuous form rather than attaching a generic bracelet between conventional straight lugs.

Rounded centre links sit inside H-shaped outer links, creating the soft, three-dimensional surface that the brand's design language promises. The short links should allow the bracelet to articulate closely, while the compact push-button triple-folding clasp is newly designed to continue the same proportions. The bracelet is 20 mm at the case and the complete watch weighs 134 grams.

The gold-dial reference in the official images makes the treatment easy to read. Brushed faces run through the bracelet and case shoulders, while polished bevels and link edges break up what could otherwise become a broad field of steel. The dial's radial texture provides another controlled change in direction. Nothing here is visually loud, but the surfaces prevent the simple three-hand display from feeling anonymous.

A dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating covers the front, with a second sapphire window in the back. The case is rated to 100 metres and meets JIS Type 1 magnetic-resistance requirements. That combination places the Three Hand firmly in daily-wear territory. It has the clean display of a dressier watch without asking its owner to treat it like one.

F7542 makes simplicity the point

The new in-house F7542 is an automatic calibre that can also be wound by hand. It runs for more than 50 hours and is regulated to a stated range of plus 15 to minus 5 seconds per day. There are 22 jewels, a stop-seconds function for precise setting and no date mechanism to interrupt either the dial or the crown routine.

An exhibition back reveals the movement, but this is not presented as a hand-finished flagship calibre. Its job is to make the simplified watch practical. More than two days of reserve is useful, 100 metres of water resistance removes an everyday concern, and the absence of a date means there is less to reset after the watch has stopped. The technical package supports the design instead of competing with it.

This first Sakigake release is therefore interesting for what Orient Star has chosen not to carry forward. The familiar power-reserve display remains valuable elsewhere in the range, but treating it as mandatory would limit the brand's ability to find a cleaner identity. Here, removing it has forced more attention onto the bracelet, case profile and dial finish. That is a credible starting point for a design project.

Orient Star Sakigake Three Hand pricing and availability

The global Orient Star Sakigake Three Hand range is scheduled to launch in September 2026. Its Japanese-market equivalents arrive in October, priced at ¥120,000 plus tax for gold RK-BQ0001G, light-blue RK-BQ0002L and silver RK-BQ0003S, or ¥130,000 plus tax for the limited copper RK-BQ0004Y. Australian and other international prices have not been announced. Copper-dial RE-BQ0004Y is limited to 900 pieces, and the brand lists a three-year warranty.