Seiko Prospex SRP775: Rebirth of the turtle

Wishing myself a Merry Merry Christmas

After years of being neglected and forgotten by Saint Nicholas aka Santa Claus; I decided to take the thing into my own hands. Hmmmmm maybe my house does not have a chimney.... 

See what did I find underneath my Christmas tree this year? It's the newly relaunched Seiko Turtle 6309, Seiko Prospex SRP775. I have a fatal attraction with any dial that is black and gold combination. 

This diver is measuring 44.3 mm in diameter and has a thickness of 16.6 mm. Whole watch is made of stainless steel and comes with stainless steel bracelet.

SPR775 has a unilateral rotating bezel that has a black and gold insert. From some angle, it has some resemblance to Rolex Submariner.  

This watch has the Hardlex mineral crystal and a big screw down locking crown. 

It is water resist to 200 Meters depth and is suitable for mixed air diving. 

SRP775's dial is based on the original 6309 diver's dial with Prospex logo added. The dial also stated this watch is waterproof to 200M instead of 150M of the original 6309.

However, the hands design is from a more modern Seiko diver SKX007.

Like all Seiko divers, this watch has Seiko's famous LumiBrite luminescent hands and LumiBrite luminous indices. 

If I am the designer for this watch, I would have a gold Seiko emblem on the dial. I would also replaced the day and date discs with a gold wordings and black surface to better match the dial. 

The turtle case itself is an endless design masterpiece......

The only different I noticed with the SRP775 case and the original 6309 turtle case is that the new one has 4 pin holes at its lugs. 

The stainless steel bracelet is actually of single solid link. Somehow I find the bracelet to be a bit bulky to my liking. A jubilee type bracelet or a metal mesh bracelet may better fit a retro diver. 

This bracelet has the extension designed for wet suite diving. It is not easy to operate and a friend snapped his nail while trying to operate it. 

At the end of the bracelet is a double locking deployment buckle that has Seiko signed on it. 

Its bracelet is coded 631 and MOEV-Z-C.... 

The stainless steel case back is screwed down type and has a Tsunami wave engraving. 

The back case has "Air Diver 200M" and a Prospex logo stated. 

This watch used the 24 Jewels 4R36 movement. This is an automatic mechanism with manual winding capability. It has a day-date and hacking function. 4R36 Calibre is beating at a speed of 21,600 beats per hour. It used the SPRON 110 mainspring and has a power reserve of 41 hours. 

From every angles and every aspects, this is a true beauty and a timeless classic. I just could not resist to press my order when first learned this watch has launched. This is just as beautiful as the Santa ladies below....... My everlasting love for something sexy!

My Original Seiko Diver 6309 Turtle can be find HERE and HERE and its distance cousin 6306 Here  

Something is not right with this 56 King Seiko

5626 or 5625? Or Matrimony of the two?

I bought this watch through an ebay auction. It was early on when I was still fresh and naive in the affairs of collecting vintage watches.... Well, I am still fresh and naive today..... From the superficial, it looks like a legitimate 5626 King Seiko. 5626 KS is the epitome of automatic King Seiko. 

This 5626 KS has a gold capped case measuring 37 mm excluding its crown and with a thickness of 10.5 mm. The lugs are thick and give a distinctive looks to the 56 KS. The lugs are 18 mm apart. 

There is a regulatory adjusting screw between the lower lugs. The crown is KS signed as well. 

This watch has a monocoque body i.e. the case is of a single piece. To have access to the movement, once must open through the top mineral glass. If you look at the back case, you would notice that this case is actually meant for 5625-7000. 5625 is a date only watch, whereas this is a day-date 5626 and it is clearly stated on its dial. 

This watch also missing the gold medallion at its case back. Below is a photo that I found to show how's an original beauty looks like......

Despite the obvious flaws, this is still a pretty much lovely timepiece. The flat white silver dial with applied gold linear hour markers is as classic as any watches can get.

Apart from the gold emblems of Seiko and KS wordings, the dial has a gold window frame at three o'clock position for the watch's day-date functions. On the dial, it is stated this is a high beats automatic watch and with a Daini logo.  

This watch has gold dauphine hands highlighted with black lines centrally and a long slim gold sweeping second hand. 

This watch is powered by a 25 jewels 5626 movement beating at 28,800bph. The 56xx calibre was made by the Suwa branch of Seiko.  

When I look at this watch, I see functionality and simplicity. Nothing exaggerated.... This is a timeless beauty with a faded makeup and with slightly noticeable wrinkles......

Titoni diver: The Seascoper

Titoni Seascoper V

This is a photo that taken from Titoni website. The Seascoper V is also featured in the milestone of Titoni 90th years anniversary book. 

In 2014, Titoni launched new series of Seascopers that playing a tribute to the original Seascoper V. The new Seascopers is measuring 41mm in diameter with a double curved anti-reflective sapphire glass and powered by automatic Sellita SW200 movement. Sellita SW200 is a 26 jewels clone of ETA2824-2 movement. The new Seascopers can withstand water pressure upto 200 meters depth. 

The best description on Seascoper may well be the one stated on Titoni website: "A time-honored adventurous spirit and the fine art of watch craftsmanship are brought together in perfect balance – the new Seascoper. The legendary masculine timepiece is a triumph of sobriety and modest elegance."  

The new Seascoper is retailing for RM5000++.... Yes, it ain't cheap. Nope, I don't have one either. What I have is of the 1970's, the original and the ancestor of the current Seascopers, the one and only Seascoper V. 

Seascoper V is measuring 40mm in diameter in a stainless steel turtle shell with a coloured bezel and a mineral crystal top. The green bezel on this watch has worn off significantly. Apart from that, this watch is in a descent condition. 

The dark blue dial with Titoni metal logo filled in red. give a good contrast to the eyes. There are also a white ring and a grey ring circulating at the outer dial encapsulating the metal hour markers. 

I am still looking for a signed original Titoni crown to match this watch. 

The backcase has fairly noticeable scratches here and there..... I believe with proper polishing, it may breath some new life into this watch. I love the protruding Seascoper V symbol at the caseback; it added that extra touch to this vintage watch.

I had since sent this watch for a full overhauling..... An order has been pressed for a custom bezel. The existing leather strap will be replaced with rubber b type strap. Once I have the watch back, I will took mugshot of the new reconditioned Seascoper V!

This Titoni Seascoper V is actually an identical twin of Titoni World Time (Click to see). They used the same casing. Both use the 25 jewels ETA Cal 2788 automatic movement with quickset day-date and with hack feature. The dial for both watches are identical with only one initiated as World Time and the other Seascoper. The only differences are the bezel and the caseback. 

Seiko Lord Marvel Diashock 23 jewels

Once a Lord, forever a Lord: Seiko Lord Marvel 5740-1990

Before the time of the Kings and the Grands, the Lords ruled the land...... Seiko Lord Marvels were once the highest, the best and the most expensive watches Seiko produced. Seiko Lord Marvel was first introduced in 1958. 

One point to stress; Seiko Lord Marvel is not the same class as the later Seiko LM (Lord-Matic). This watch is believed to be from 1960 and the third generation of Lord Marvel. It has a very elegant 14K Gold-filled case (80 Micron) with an artistic curved acrylic crystal. 

This Lord Marvel has an enchanting silver dial. The dial is decorated with raised gold stick markers. Silver and gold do make a great combination. "Seiko Lord Marvel" and "Diashock 23 Jewels" were finely printed. At the bottom of the dial it is proudly declared as Japan with its model number 5740-1990TAD. 

This watch is tastefully equipped with gold dauphine hands and a long sweep second. The case is measuring 36mm excluding the crown. 

As the model suggested, this watch is powered by a handwinding 23 Jewels 5740A. 5740A movement has an amplitude of 18000 bph. 

This watch comes with a snap on clam-shell back case. The back case is also 14K gold filled with only the serial number of the watch engraved on it. 

Below is an antique Seiko catalogue.... The first one on the left center is the 5740-1990, from my shallow understanding of Japanese, it is stated "World Class Standard". 

After more than half a century, the 14K gold filled casing does show some wear and tear, but it is still in an excellent condition. An old Seiko mechanical movement is an everlasting power horse. With descent using and proper caring.... this Seiko heritage can last for many more years to come......

In my opinion, a classic watch like this is best matched with a dark brown calf leather strap. I do not bother to put one up for two reasons.... One I am not going to wear this in any near future; two, this one is missing the original crown... a watch of this age is sometime very difficult to find the correct spare.......

Citizen Electronic X8 Cosmotron

Remember the time

This is possible the missing link in the evolution of time pieces. This was the transition period from the mechanical watches to the Quartz revolution. The evolution of time pieces is somewhat different from the laws of Nature.... Electronic watches like Citizen Cosmotron and Seiko Elnix had well extincted in the production line whereas their older ancestor like mechanic and automatic watches still flourished today. These watches laid the foundation for greater modern movements like Quartz, Kinetic, Auto-Quartz, Solar powered and Spring drive. 

The Cosmotron X8 is the first transistorized electric by Citizen and also the first in Japan introduced as early as 1966/67. Cosmotron works like a mechanical watch except for one fundamental part... Instead of using the traditional mainspring; Citizen employed a moving-magnet type balance motor, driven by transistors as the regulating device. These watches are extremely accurate and reliable. Cosmotron has smooth sweeping second hand and sounded like a mechanical watch. 

What I have here is a simple Cosmotron with 3 hands.... nothing more; no date, no day; plain and simple. The stainless steel turtle case is measuring 38mm. This was the second generation of the Cosmotron, it is running at 21,600bph (0840) and with 12 jewels. The 0840 was launched in 1969, I believed this watch to be dated around 1970. 

It is very easy to fall in love with this watch.... The dial is so appealing.... Its simplicity, making time telling effortless. The Citizen and the red transistor symbol of Cosmotron emblems give good contrasting effect to the plain white dial. 

The crown is signed CTZ and is situated at 4 o'clock position.

The stainless steel bracelet for this watch is a piece of art. The solid links bracelet is meant to last......

The clasp is signed Citizen and really reflected the quality of Japanese watches back in the 1970's. 

The stainless steel back case is screw down type and it is labelled as Parawater or in other words water resist. 

Below is a photo of the 4840 movement taken from http://sweep-hand.org. This movement has 12 Jewels and powered by a 1.55v silver oxide battery. This movement is extremely robust and after 45 years or so it is still running strong.......

For further reading on Cosmotron X8 please visit http://sweep-hand.org/the-x8-cosmotron/ . It is a very comprehensive write up on Cosmotron. 

The Cosmotron X8 production was short run. With the rise of the quartz, the electronic watch technology was quickly rendered obsolete and production ceased....

A Candy box full of Titoni

This is part of my Titoni collection.... Mainly Cosmo Kings, Cosmo Kings 14K, a World Time and an Airmaster gathered inside an elegant wooden watch box. The Box is labelled Titoni of Switzerland... Just something to share... haven't been active lately.....