Sexyback : Diamondback Black Sea

"I'm bringing sexy back. Them other boys don't know how to act. I think it's special, what's behind your back. So turn around and I'll pick up the slack."

Readers whom followed this blog since years ago might recalled that I went through a period tinkering with micro-brands such as Archimede, Lum-Tec, Magrette, Maranez, Mondaine, Moto Koure, Prometheus, Steinhart, Yonger & Breton, and Zelos. And there was also a period that I went into modding Seiko pieces with parts from Crystaltimes, Dagaz, Dr. Frankeinstein, Yobokies, and the likes.

After I have satisfied my hunger for micro-brands and mods, I went back into more collectible pieces with Rolex taking the centre stage. The fact that the hot models could be easily flipped (and I was known as a serial flipper) was an added bonus, so I had a stream of Daytona, Hulk, Batman, Yacht-Master, and the likes going in and out of my collection.

Last month, I had a bit of a Tudor Black Bay relapse episode, in which I missed the ETA-dial with that smiley face placement. However, it would seemed just a tad silly to spend good monies on the ETA ones when the in-house movement ones were clearly the superior ones, which would be attainable with a slight top-up in funds. I have a couple of Black Bay GMT pieces coming in shortly, but these 2018 pieces no longer have the smiley face attribute no more.

Straight face vs Smiley face :)

So I thought about the old days when I would get a SKX009 and build a BB-homage in my watch room. I no longer have those pictures but a quick search on Google found this link from Watchbloke, which described the process in order.

But I wanted something better than those BB-inspired SKX009. I wanted better parts and a better movement than the 7S26 movement, which was non-hacking and non-winding. And while searching for options for the build, I came across Jake's Diamondback Black Sea. I'm not kidding when I say that this Diamondback build would be bringing Sexy Back.

It had almost all that I had wanted for the build, minus the work and water pressure testing. I contacted Jake if he could build for me a Black Sea further custom with Crystaltime's Top-Hat; and he quickly agreed with some top-up. A top-hat with a top-up, geddit?

I received the custom build in due course and what a handsome piece this Black Sea was indeed!

Given the thickness of the crystal and the case, I knew that it would take a befitting premium strap to match this sexy piece. Prior to sourcing for the strap, I had it placed aside for the right time to have it out in the wild. As I no longer have any Black Bay to compare it with, I placed it next to the Submariner for our readers here to gauge its differences.

The premium strap that I had in mind was a brand new Kain Heritage, which soon found its way onto this Black Sea.

So on 19/8/18, the Black Sea matched with Kain Heritage was worn in the wild for the first time. I wore it to a residents' association pool party and it was quite the hit. I soon learnt that quite many of the fellow residents here were watch collectors as there were quite a lot of queries coming my way with regards to this unique watch. I could well have been the spokesman for Dagaz and Kain Heritage for the day really.

And how does the lume looked like, you asked? Well, let's just say that you won't be disappointed, mates!

Now here's hoping that this Black Sea scratches my Black Bay itch for some time to come :)