I posted on Facebook saying that I am going to do a dial (and movement) swap on two of my Orient Bambinos. Today, I am happy to say that it’s done and I am happy with the end result.
Below is a picture of the original Orient Bambinos. On the left is the ER24002W (rose goal case with rose gold hands and indices) and on the right is the ER2400BW (stainless steel case with rose gold hands and Roman indices).
I bought the rose gold ER24002W with the idea of trying out a rose gold watch. It turns out that I am not really a fan of the rose gold case. The Roman dial ER2400BW is a nice watch but the small Roman indices bothers me a little. Since both watches are not getting the wrist time, I decided to swap the dials to create something that I really like.
The swap is done by my watchmaker and it is really simple process. For each watch, open the caseback and remove the crown and stem. Pop out the movement (with dial and hands) and swap them over. Place the crown back and tighten the caseback.
Here is what they look like after the swap. The watch on the left is what I am after – stainless steel case with rose gold hands and indices. The watch on the right unfortunately is the by-product created.
Here is another picture of the resulting watch.
Yeoman's Watch Review 
Great foresight! Both actually look better after the swap! Especially the one in the left!
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Great combination you’ve made. I’d buy it!
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Both looks better after the swap. Good job!
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Nicely done. Looking at both the before and after photos, the swap of both watches really brought a different character altogether. I like what you have done to your watches. From these pictures, my preference would be the rose gold one. The Roman indices really enhance this character well. However, I may have different opinion if I were to view them in person. Well done indeed.
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Yes, opinion will be different if you see them in person. The watch on the left looks very good after the swap but the roman dial version didn’t get better. The Roman indices are a tad small and they get overpowered by the rose gold case.
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Un-balance huh… That was the initial response from various numbers of fans when the news on 2013 Bambino released. But… strangely, i observed that the RG case with Black dial and RG indices version, which is a little challenging in reading, seems to be out from the local market for a certain time… I wonder does the importer had the same sentiments as you on, “Un-balance”… or just simply, the black gets better market response?
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Ooops… forget to add that the 2010 “Bambino” looks well balanced!
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That is not a Bambino. The case design is totally different.
https://yeomanseiko.com/2010/01/23/quick-look-at-orient-eer1r003b0/
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Are you are referring to ER24008B? I don’t remember seeing this model at the local distributor when they brought in the Roman dial Bambinos. I believe it was added to the lineup after the ones with mesh bracelet were removed. The post below shows the Roman dial variants that were introduced in October 2013. The variants with mesh bracelet were removed because there was an issue with the quality of the bracelet. They did a product recall for that.
http://yeomanorient.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/new-orient-watches-i-saw-at-big-time-5th-oct-2013/
These are the ones in the current lineup.
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What bracelet is on this?
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You’ve created a monster! Only Seiko can create Monsters, preferably orange. 🙂
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Ouch!!!
You beat me to it! When i got both back in last November, i oredi had such a thought of swapping the cases! Duh… now i have to look for some other ways to get a different look than yours…
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Haha, put on your thinking cap man. Create a different Bambino.
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Since you had pointed out “un-balanced”… let me think… does replacing the RG hands to blue… look balance?
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I think there is not much you can do to compensate for the small Roman numerals.
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Love the left side end result. I remember I bought my first Orient automatic watch before, there are two choices of white or black background with stainless steel case. I regret that I get the black background (not sure whats it called). Turn out white on stainless stell case is elegant and nice.
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For stainless steel case, you can’t go wrong with either black or white dial.
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Both are very much improved! I would absolutely buy the steel Bambino with the rose gold hour markers (left one)–looks gorgeous!
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Hope that Orient makes a variant like this in future.
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We’d Love to hire you to do this mod for us to post on our e-zine. Can you contact me please?
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It is a simple mod that any watchmaker can do. All you need to do is purchase the two watches from an Orient dealer.
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i actually like the rose gold case with the Bambino 2. what are you going to do with that version?
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I sold it to someone who appreciates it.
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Amazing result for both of the pieces. Do you know if this swap can still be done, on gen2 bambinos?
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I’m not sure unfortunately.
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Hi! Is it possible to install cathedral hands on the v2g2 bambino? If so? Which one will fit the movement?
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Not sure about that. Sorry.
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Intersting that watches
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