FedEx : In & Out

FedEx swung by for a visit this afternoon. On one hand, they had a parcel for delivery from Steinhart Germany. On the other hand, they wanted to take my parcel containing the Ocean Vintage Military to Steinhart Germany. All in a day's work...

Go for Gold : Steinhart Nav B-UHR 44 Handwinding Bronze

I have yet to have a bronze piece of timepiece in my collection. A quick peek in my watch winder and cases revealed that the timepieces were mainly in titanium, gold, stainless steel, DLC casings; but not bronze. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before I were to add a piece of bronze timepiece into the collection. A bronze piece would tend to form its unique patina over time, so you won't have 2 exact same pieces after some time.

And along came Steinhart. The Nav Bronze came in 44mm and 47mm casing, and I believed that 44mm would be a good size for my wrist. Most of the pilot navigator watches do come in the larger 47mm, but I want to wear a watch, not to have the watch wearing me instead. Hence, 44mm would seem to be a good fit.

I have yet to have the watch with me, but since the good Gunter is looking into my acquisition, I have no doubts that I would receive a good example in the post. You could say that I am a die-hard fan of the nice timepieces from Steinhart.

There were many e-mails that came through from fellow readers asking about the progress on the faulty Ocean Vintage Military, and I am happy to update that Gunter has got in touch with me and is assisting to set things right. I have confidence that the Steinhart customer services would ultimately prevail, or so I am hoping.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to a new Nav Bronze gracing my wrist soon. As I have no access to the new watch at this time, please enjoy the pictures from the Net in the interim period.

Thinking of Seiko Watches

I've been thinking of getting 2 Seiko watches to add to my collection as per the following :

1) Seiko 5 50th Anniversary model no. SRP435K1;

2) Seiko Prospex Kinetic model no. SUN023P1.

Pending these 2 beauties' arrival into my collection, let's play a game of "What watch is it?" from the Seiko museum...

Did you get them correct? Scroll below for the answers.

Watch 1 : Seiko James Bond

Watch 2 : Seiko Alien

Watch 3 : Seiko Ghostbusters

Seiko watches are generally fun, affordable and dependable. Have you any Seiko watches that you like to add in the near future?

For Sale : Watch Leather/Rubber Straps and Titanium/Stainless Steel Bracelet

I just got back from overseas this evening; and for some reason or the other, I decided to do some watch-polishing. Which was a fortunate thing as I started with my spouse' watches and in the process, fount the diamond ring that she had apparently misplaced.

I normally prefer my watches with Nato/Zulu straps so I have some original straps and bracelets sitting pretty in one of the drawers where I kept the watch stuff and more, so feel free to drop me an offer if any of them tickles your fancy :

1) RM30 for 18mm genuine reptile leather strap with signed stainless steel buckle : Good condition and still looks new, only used for placement of watch in the winder;

2) RM80 for 22mm Seiko Z22 rubber strap from Japan-made Seiko diver watch : Good as new, as original strap was replaced with a Nato/Zulu soon after its purchase;

3) RM250 for 21mm original, unpolished Ball titanium and stainless steel bracelet (incomplete set as shown from second picture onwards - missing clasp lock) : Useful for anyone needing the solid end links or additional bracelet links to fit to their Ball bracelet. Removed from Ball Hydrocarbon Mad Cow.

Thanks for reading and feel free to send me a PM or e-mail if you have a need for these. Cheers.

Straps : NATO/Zulu Purchases

I've just came back from an overseas business trip and was feeling a tad itchy, so it's time to stock up on more Nato straps. Let's then stock up on the following :

18mm nylon black
18mm dark brown leather
20mm dark brown leather
22mm dark brown leather

The ones that I currently have included the following :

Nato 20mm light brown leather
Zulu 22mm nylon black
Zulu 22mm olive green
Zulu 22mm orange

More straps equals more combinations for the watches in my collection. And that could only translate to more F-U-N :)

Review : 2x 7 days with SevenFriday P3-01

First and foremost, pardon the poor pictures from my mobile phone. Having spent the monies on watches, I couldn't afford a good camera  

I received the SevenFriday P3-01 coincidentally, on 7/7/2014. This was a direct order from Switzerland; came with a letter signed by its founder, Mr Daniel Niederer (the ones sold through Red Army don't have the letter, or so I was informed vide a friend whom bought locally); and by way of luck, had a serial no. of 0001.

I had read lots of positive reviews of the said watch online, and therefore jumped on the bandwagon with my interest and curiosity piqued. RRP at circa RM3,850 was an affordable one for a Swiss brand, albeit a new one. It made its entrance vide a large "wine" case (that was what my mum-in-law thought I was holding on the night I brought it back). Very industrial-like, suiting its theme. 

The watch case was supposedly made by Corum (as written in other blog/forum online) although I have my doubts given its RRP. The details and workmanship were quite impressive for its price, with PVD protected by rubber to prevent scratches. The dial was supposedly made by Tag Heuer, again this represented unverified information from the aforementioned sources; and at first look, it seemed rather busy and complicated. The sub-dial at 4 o'clock were running seconds and the sub-dial at 9 o'clock was a 24-hour indicator (most people assumed that it was a GMT, which it was not). 

Movement was vide a dependable Citizen Miyota, although I would have much more preferred an ETA or Selitta to qualify the watch (as opposed to the brand) as a real Swiss watch. Power reserve was rated at 46 hours and time-keeping was alright during my possession of the said watch.

The rear case had lots of information with regards to the watch, and the serial no was duly engraved there. The crown incorporated the design elements of a wheel. Looks-wise, there was not much to fault the piece.

The rounded-square-edges ensured that the watch wore well on one's wrist despite it's 47mm x 47mm behemoth size. In fact, compared to the 42mm Steinhart GMT-Ocean, it didn't really looked that big, ain't it?

The 28mm handmade leather strap was quite soft to the touch and instilled quality. I paired it with Nato/Zulu for the wristshot- starting with 20mm (too puny!) before finding the right fit at 22mm.

Generally, the watch picked up a fair bit of attention from on-lookers although most shrugged their heads when I mentioned SevenFriday. But most people appreciated the funky looks, with a few making references that having the watch on one's wrist was akin to having a small TV thereabouts. I liked the watch better looking at the pictures on blogs and forums; but it didn't really sing to me when I had it on.

So 2 weeks on after getting the SevenFriday and it hardly getting any wrist time (which was rare as I almost always wear the new watches all the time for the first week or so), it was time to bid it goodbye as it needed to find a funkier owner whom would looked good having a funky watch on his/her wrist.

To get over the said watch, I now have a Ball Hydrocarbon "Mad Cow" on my wrist even as I am typing this; and I can feel the horology love returning to me once more