New Orient Star watches capture the beauty of the Northern Lights

Two new watches from Orient Star are designed to mimic the moving colours of the Northern Lights.

Those feature a moonphase and an open dial, respectively – and cost less than you might think!

The world can be a pretty magical place at times. Take a phenomenon like the Aurora Borealis – or Northern Lights – which sets the skyline ablaze with vivid colour.

If, like me, you're dreadful at picking the right night to stay up and see them, great news. The latest watch from Orient Star is designed to mimic those ethereal colours on your wrist.

Dubbed the Orient Star M34 F7 range, users can enjoy a duo of models. Both are 40mm models, with one sporting a moonphase complication and the other complete with an openworked dial.

Both sport a mother of pearl dial, which appears to shift its colour in the light. A grey base does no justice to the rainbow on offer as you move it through the light.

As mentioned above, you'll find a 40mm stainless steel case encapsulating those dials. Those also boast a relatively slim 47.3mm lug-to-lug width, counteracted by slightly chunky thickness measurements. The open-dial variant is 13mm thick, while the moonphase is a portly 14.1mm.

Both make use of in-house movements, with beautifully decorated rotors. Those are built with an accuracy of +15/-5 seconds per day, which is more than enough for most people.

They also sport the Orient Star metal bracelet, which is a H-shaped design. I've been using one on a different model, and it's impeccably comfortable.

Both models also include the power reserve indicator at the 12 o'clock position. That's something which the brand makes use of a lot, and helps to establish its visual identity.

Priced at £1,064.99 (approx. $1,385 / AU$2,078) for the open dial variant, and £1,369.99 (approx. $1,781 / AU$2,672) these models represent a pretty good value proposition. As I've alluded to above, this brand is to Orient what Grand Seiko is to Seiko.

To buy a Grand Seiko, though, you'd expect to spend about four or five times as much as this. Orient Star watches definitely aren't four or five times worse, making this a solid pick for those seeking something a little different for their watch roll .