Grab this stealthy all-black Orient Star Modern Skeleton while you still can

If you’re in the market for an all-black, stainless steel watch with a skeleton dial, allow me to present the new Modern Skeleton collection from Orient Star.

The Japanese watchmaker is celebrating 10 years of its Modern Skeleton with a range of four new colourways. These include three silver stainless steel models, with rose gold, yellow gold and silver highlights, plus an all-black model.

All four watches have a 41 mm case width and are 12 mm thick. They all have a sapphire crystal on the front and crystal glass exhibition case back. Also present-and-correct is the in-house calibre F6F44 automatic mechanical movement with 50 hours of power reserve, and 10 bar (100 metres) of water resistance.

The three silver-coloured models are called ivory, champagne and silver. The latter is an all-silver affair, including the case, bracelet, dial and bezel. The ivory model features rose gold on its bezel, crown and Roman numeral hour markers, as well as the hands, and the bezel of a window at the nine o’clock position that gives the Modern Skeleton its name.

The champagne variant replaces the rose gold colouring with yellow gold, and these details are also joined by a champagne-coloured dial.

Lastly, there’s the all-black variant. This model has a black case, bracelet, bezel and dial, with silver hour markers, hands and other dial details. This is the model that really caught my eye when I saw this news from Orient Star. I’m so used to seeing more traditional metal colourways from the Japanese company, that the all-black Modern Skeleton came as a surprise.

I think the darkness of the dial, case and bracelet is lifted nicely with the silver hour markers and of course the skeletal view of the movement within, and daylight streaming through from the exhibition case back behind. Truly all-black watches can feel like overkill, but to my eyes this model presents a well-judged balance that I’m sure will be well-received by Orient Star fans.

And if you’d like to buy one you’d better be quick. Because, while the silver models are not limited, the black variant is limited to just 600 examples. The black model is priced at £899.99, while the all-silver is £794.99 and the champagne colorway is £824.99. The ivory model doesn’t yet have a UK price, but is around €1,075 in other markets.