^^^^^^ very good points. Steinhart is one brand where I believe you first have to remove the bezel insert before you remove the bezel. If you just try to pry it off you will likely break something.


I just noticed something sweet! Dang Seiko is tossing red meat to the people who like to mod their watches.

Seiko made some slight changes to the case of the new land tortoise and it has the same crown location as the iconic Willard / 6105 & it’s many homages or clones!!





The Seiko turtle & SKX crown location is just a tad higher and makes swapping in a complete dial/movement impossible unless you don’t mind it being misaligned.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

My Arnie (now gone) arrived 4/1/2020. And I researched where Seiko produces in China. One of the bigger locations is not at all far from Wuhan. The date code was december.

But you got vaccinated, right?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jhe888,

I set in the UV light for a few days.

Make sure the watch wears a mask

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
vthoky, This is a brief but decent review with good pics including the unique blue & green lume : Seiko Save The Ocean Black Series Prospex Samurai SRPD09K1 Review

Neat! I'm loving the PVD Samurai case!

It’s funny you mention that rOgue. I actually did just that in 2020 with a few watches that came from Hong Kong and the Guangdong region of China.

The pin marks the location of Wuhan. The watchmaking capitals of the world are not that far south of Wuhan. It’s not exactly right next door to Wuhan but it isn’t that far away either.

Emailed Lum-Tec yesterday to see if and when the B47 would be back in stock and they replied today that the B45/46/47 are in production and should be in stock by the end of July. The employee sent another email to clarify that they’d double-checked with the dial lab and confirmed that the dials are being painted now and should be finished mid-July and that the watches will be in stock by the end of the month.

I haven’t even bought a watch from them and I’m already impressed with their customer service. They ran a sale on Memorial Day. If they do one for Independence Day, I’ll just pre-order one. It’ll be a quartz movement, which isn’t that compelling, but it’s an American made watch with a sapphire Crystal and a titanium carbide PVD finish on a total lume monster of a dial, so I think I’m going to go for it.

I sent my Glycine Combat Sub out for warranty service yesterday. Fingers crossed that it just needs regulating and they’ll send it back without any further charges. $38 payment up-front.

I called a not-too-far-away Seiko retailer today to ask about a couple of "Monster" variants. A moment later I got a flurry of text, telling me which models I requested were in stock there and offering an alternative.

The alternative offered was Seiko's SRPG57K1 -- the "Prospex Save The Ocean Special Edition Diver’s 'Antarctica'" Monster.


(Image from Fratello Watches)
Bigger pic here.

It's not something I think I'd buy, but I can't deny the coolness of the tiny "penguin prints" on the face.
Fratello article here.

Very nice! My old Black Monster is one of my favorites.

I'm aiming to have a look at a couple of Monsters next week.
Hoping they're not too "yuge" for my skinny ol' wrist.

SBDY037 is way attractive, too.

Black watches matter!

I LOVE that blacked out Monster!

Today’s watch. I wish I had bought it from Gnomon instead of directly from Steinhart. They would have removed the cyclops!

You guys ever bid on something on the fleabay thinking to yourself dang that starting bid is low and there isn’t much time left but I probably won’t win it. Then no one else bids and you win it?

Subtle, understated and classy as heck.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I called a not-too-far-away Seiko retailer today to ask about a couple of "Monster" variants. A moment later I got a flurry of text, telling me which models I requested were in stock there and offering an alternative.

The alternative offered was Seiko's SRPG57K1 -- the "Prospex Save The Ocean Special Edition Diver’s 'Antarctica'" Monster.


(Image from Fratello Watches)
Bigger pic here.

It's not something I think I'd buy, but I can't deny the coolness of the tiny "penguin prints" on the face.
Fratello article here.

I like it. I don't need another Monster, but I like it.

I have a classic - Orange Monster. Mine is a second gen. I got it cheap when the third gen came out.

JHE888, the gold turtle has jumped up a bit in value. I hesitated twice recently and twice missed out on scooping one up. One was used and the other a sale price I thought would last longer than one dang day. Now I can’t find any for sale at a reasonable price, they are all about the same as the rest of the Turtles $525-575 and on up to ridiculous territory.

I’m leaning towards building my own now. If you ever get bored with yours and are interested in selling it let me know.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
JHE888, the gold turtle has jumped up a bit in value. I hesitated twice recently and twice missed out on scooping one up. One was used and the other a sale price I thought would last longer than one dang day. Now I can’t find any for sale at a reasonable price, they are all about the same as the rest of the Turtles $525-575 and on up to ridiculous territory.

I’m leaning towards building my own now. If you ever get bored with yours and are interested in selling it let me know.

That is too bad. I'll let you know, but for now I am inclined to keep it.

Now if your wife wants to trade her Steinhart pearl . . .

quote:

Originally posted by dfens:
h2oys your wife's watch either uses a miyota or hattori japanese movment powered by a 377 silver oxide battery which is the most common battery used.

You can try cleaning the contacts where the battery sits with rubbing alcohol on q-tip or putting a drop of oil on the gears.

The actual cost of the movement is 6-8 bucks but you have to remove the stem and crown which is not hard but you also have to take off the hands and pry the dial off the old movement.

Any decent local watch repair shop would charge you 40-80 bucks total.

At that price I would just get her a new one.

If your wife is wearing it even when it’s not working, I would definitely hit up Dave Truong at Mimi’s jewelry. He’s the forum’s watch wizard and will be sure to point you in the right direction on repair/replacement. For daily drivers, it’s easy to mark off that repair/replacement cost line but when you start getting into sentimental value probably worth doing everything reasonable to get it fixed up for her.

Do you guys know if Tudor ever made this watch or a limited special edition run exactly like this watch but with a DLC finish? If they have I can’t find any but I figured maybe someone here might know for sure.

I know they make a DLC Black Bay & a new black ceramic BB that’s gorgeous but I am not sure if there was ever a BB GMT DLC version.



So far this new ceramic BB and the DLC seem to be the closest thing.

I think I get why people love modding Seiko watches. It’s so much FUN! when you don’t break everything.

I have an old Seiko 4205 that my son broke after wearing for less than a week. Somehow he managed to knock the second hand off. It’s sat in my parts bin for about a year. Today I managed to work up the courage to tear into the tiny diver and attempt to reattach the seconds hand. (My son is hard on watches). Holy smokes the 4205 has a tiny movement and miniature rotor!!

I didn’t even have the correct tools to install hands and just made do with my crappy tweezers and hand puller which doubled as the part to push the second hand back on. It worked! Believe it or not I was able to reattach the seconds hand and not break anything.



To get an idea how small this thing is look at it next to a turtle. This JDM Turtle is about to be my next project.



I was watching Lume Shot on YouTube today modify a super rare ($1100-1200+) Seiko Ninja Turtle and it made me feel good that I’m not the only one drawn towards modding the rare and more obscure Seiko divers.

This is a dial from one of the rarest Seiko Sumo watches. The dang things run about $1250 or more. It has an Omega Seamaster vibe going on with the way the waves catch the light. Super cool dial. It’s all but impossible to get even on the HUGE Seiko modding aftermarket. The dial is from a watch that is part of the Seiko Zimbe line which is a wild and interesting stylistic exercise to say the least. Some of the watches in that line are pretty neat....others are a bit over the top. The watch this dial came came from has some serious aesthetic issues going on with color choices but when pulled from the Sumo and placed into the “gilt” Turtle it looks amazing. I’m going to build one of these very soon. I’m toying with the idea of doing something like this or maybe similar but with a DLC case.

Nice job on the reinstall, stick!

I'm still not adventurous enough to tear into one, though I'll admit you've started me looking at eBay for old Seiko bits and pieces.

quote:

I'll admit you've started me looking at eBay for old Seiko bits and pieces

You ain’t the only one....

Said “hell with it” and searched for “Seiko orange” and I’ve got a few things on my watch list. I want that Lum Tec, but I was hoping they’d run a sale this weekend. Doesn’t look like that’s happening and I’ve got the itch, bad. A Seiko just might have to happen, finally.