Review : Sharkey Bronze Tuna Version 2.0 (SBBN015 Homage)

NB : After getting this Tuna, I have decided to throw caution to the wind and net the massive SBDX014 Tuna instead. Will need to work on strengthening the wrist further then ;p

Readers would remember that I was pondering over some custom jobs for an automatic SBBN015 Tuna equivalent with an automatic NH35A movement some months back; and while I had located an Indonesian-based watchsmith i.e. Pak Ridwan whom could hand-make bronze and stainless steel Tuna cases, the relatively high cost (app USD500 per case, excluding cost of a genuine Seiko Sumo for him to harvest the parts) had me on second thoughts. For instance, if I were to utilise a Sumo as the base, I could be looking at circa RM4k as the overall cost. Some of his artworks included the following :

Over the years, I had been purchasing quite a few pieces of micro brand watches as I wanted to study on the reverse engineering and works involved. A goal that I had at the back of my mind, was to  some day tinker about and come out with a watch design based on the Seiko NH35A / ETA 2824-2 / Sellita SW200, that could serve as a common base for easy modding works with lots of available parts in the current market.

And earlier the week, I met a fellow watch enthusiast whom had a similar dream and he in turn had a few friends whom wanted to pool resources together towards such a project; so there could be some synergy working towards this end.

One of the design that I had always been intrigued with was the Tuna, specifically along the dimensions of the SBBN015 given its wearability (compared to the more massive SBDX014 Emperor Tuna); but instead of a quartz movement like that of the SBBN015, I wanted the Tuna to have an automatic movement like that of the NH35A.

As I researched about this matter, I found references towards Sharkey and Merkur, both of which produced homage watches including that of the Tuna. I contacted the promoter; and while Sharkey's version 2.0 design was purely based on what the factory had in mind, Merkur's version 2.0 was still under the pre-production stage so certain tweaks could be done. I ordered both the version 2.0 designs to gauge the end products.

This blog entry would review Sharkey's Bronze Tuna 2.0 ("BT2.0"), while a subsequent entry would review Merkur's. For starters, both watches were in the sub-RM1k price range and for that affordable price, one would be getting a lot of watch for that price. Do note that there would be another 5% SST charge on the inward parcels as documented @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/international-parcel-hub-lcct-5-sst-on.html.

I was a fan of LCBI lumed ceramic bezels and while Sharkey did not give the option of ceramic bezel insert on the bronze piece, they were able to lume the insert compared to the initial offerings. And the  Swiss C3 lume was generously applied such that the end result did give Seiko Lumibrite a run for its monies.

As could be seen from the above pictures, the CNC bronze parts were of good quality with good finishing and fittings. The sapphire crystal was an appreciated upgrade over Seiko's hardlex and coupled with the robust NH35A work horse, time-keeping as observed over the 24 hours that I had the BT2.0 proved to be convincing, which was not surprising actually given Seiko's reputation. 

All in all, this had been a great purchase towards the study on the design and I had taken the necessary measurements of the parts in order to assist me towards the proposed goal. At this point in time, I'm still unsure if I would keep this homage piece stock or mod it further into the Seiko Tuna that I envisioned.

In the meantime, do enjoy more pictures of the piece :