I hadn't seen the article or heard of these plans, but Orient current models are widely available in the U.K. And EU. I bought a Mako 3, the limited edition one with the mother of pearl effect Blue dial. It was stunning to look at, but Orient for some strange reason have developed an issue with the crowns. With each new model they seem to get worse. The one I bought was dreadful, so fiddly and felt like the crown was going to come away from the watch every time you used it. I ended up returning it for a full refund.
The old Mark 1 Mako had a superb larger crown that caused no issues at all. The Mako 2 introduced hacking and winding and got rid of the day setting crown at the 2 o'clock position that some loved and others didn't, but people on several forums again moaned about the crowns.
Sorry, but I can't miss an opportunity to show a gratuitous wrist shot of the Mark 1 set that I had which included the rare Yellow US only limited release.
They are fantastic watches for very little money.