Lorus is an enigmatic brand. If there was ever an under-the-radar brand it was this. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone wearing a Lorus. I have seen them for sale in high street Jewellers in the UK, I think, or maybe that was Pulsar? Hmm… That’s the point though, no one knows about Lorus. It is a subsidiary of Seiko, it uses all the old favourite Seiko components but at rock bottom prices. You might think that people would be super keen to pick up what is essentially a Seiko 5 for 3/4 of the price. But they are not… Why?
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Lorus first popped up onto my horological radar thanks to Ben’s Watch Club
![](https://tfhorology.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/lorus-rg871cx9-rg871cx9-12302190.jpeg)
Ben loves the Lorus field watch RXD425L8 model and yes it is an absolute cracking watch but sadly only available as quartz. I would buy the pants off of a mechanical variant but I don’t think that is on the cards. That lume dial is so cool though…. I might still get one of these. Interestingly, this, possibly the most well known Lorus, perhaps the only well known Lorus, is not available on the Lorus website – peculiar.
You can very easily pick one up on Amazon for about £50.
So I recently stumbled across an automatic pilots watch by Lorus. I have a thing for pilots watches, they are usually designed for great legibility and compared with dive watches look very clean.
I was very surprised that I could pick this watch, essentially a Seiko 5 but by another name at retail price in the UK for less than £100. Much less than £100. I paid £67 for this watch… The RL461AX9 is a black PVD coated automatic watch with the venerable Seiko 7S26 movement in the back and it looks great!
Okay, cards on the table, the strap which allegedly has a leather upper is… crap. It went directly into the bin. It is also a little slab-sided. Your Seikos tend to have chamfered cases that allow the soft tissue of the wrist to contour somewhat to the watch and make it wear a little thinner. This watch on the other and with its completely flat underside feels every one of its 13mm… Chunky.
The watch is not small. 42mm is on the larger side but pilot watches are meant to be big. This is smaller than a traditional Fliger by 6mm diameter. Dial area is exponentially proportionate to diameter. So if you think a 40mm watch is marginal for you, a 42mm wears a lot bigger. Far more than the 2mm diameter would seem to indicate. The numerals and hands are nicely lumed on this watch however they are not up to the modern Seiko 5 standard. They offer effective visibility for a few hours but they do not glow with Super Luminova brightness that you would have become accustomed to if you had a Seiko diver. Being a Seiko brand, Lorus also uses Seiko’s infamous Hardlex. I do not like Hardlex. Honestly, I would rather have plexiglass. I have not managed to scratch this one yet but it is only a matter of time!
I have mine on a two-piece canvas strap. It would have looked good on a nato but it is already pretty tall, adding 1.5mm of canvass to the underside would not help matters. I have been using this as my sports watch, hiking cycling etc. It has 100m of water resistance so it really can do a little bit of everything. It costs so little that if I was to give it a big whack on something and did real damage I wouldn’t shed much of a tear. It is useful to have stuff like that sometimes.
Mostly however I am left in wonder as to how such a complete and useful watch can be made and marketed for less than £100, less than $100. It really is a lot of watch for the money and I would say a great way for someone who doesn’t have a lot of money to get a nice automatic watch from a brand with the backing of horological giant Seiko.
There are a lot of good looking watches on the Lorus site, most of them are Quartz, it is definitely worthwhile for any watch geek to pay some attention to the brand and what they are producing. It is very interesting indeed.
“When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.”