A Special Bond : Man & Watch, Again

Today is the last working day of the year. Oh 2018, what a year it has been! With a rollercoaster of a ride with highs and lows across the political, economic, and social landscapes, we have made it to the last chapter of 2018; and ready to start a new chapter tomorrow.

Indeed, reflect upon yourselves which watch in your collection was there to accompany you on that historical moment in time. There's a special bond between man and his watch(es), and here are some of mine :

NB : Click here for Man & His Rolex

A Special Bond : Man & Watch

Today is the last working day of the year. Oh 2018, what a year it has been! With a rollercoaster of a ride with highs and lows across the political, economic, and social landscapes, we have made it to the last chapter of 2018; and ready to start a new chapter tomorrow.

Indeed, reflect upon yourselves which watch in your collection was there to accompany you on that historical moment in time. There's a special bond between man and his watch(es), and here are some of mine :

NB : Click here for Man & His Toys

Rangeman In Action

So my Boys decided that we could do a spot of hiking today, so we drove to a forest with enchanting waterfalls; and off we hiked to the peak. Or at least, we tried to hike to the top but the route was rather slippery so we decided to stop mid-way through. The next round, we would don hiking shoes with spikes.

I took the Rangeman for the hike and it performed marvellously, giving useful A-B-C info along the way. Not the least surprising really.

But the real surprise was when a group of foreigners made it to our spot sometime when we were enjoying the waterfall. They were probably not thinking of dipping in the waters, but couldn't resist the charm of the pool. So the guys stripped down to their boxers and jumped into the waters.

And the only girl in the group went in with her bikini; only after a while, I noticed that her bikini was kind of un-bikini-like. It soon donned on me that she was simply dressed in her undergarments.

What a sight (the waterfall, I meant) and my quiet side of the pool soon attracted a group of chaps, whom were probably nature lovers too, just like me!

Imagine a scene along these lines :)

Seiko Sunday : Golden Tuna vs Bronze Tuna 2.0

It's Seiko Sunday, and the 2 Tuna SBBN015 homage pieces would be exiting the collection today. Readers might remember the quiz @ http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-fun-santas-quiz.html, and another collector subsequently contacted me for the other homage piece. So on this Seiko Sunday, both of them would be coming here to collect their respective watches.

The first collector was a real pleasant chap, and he was mighty pleased with his Bronze Tuna 2.0. Here was the Tudor North Flag that he came with. Off it went and he exited with BT 2.0 on his wrist, and a big smile from ear to ear.

I wore the Golden Tuna to send off its homage siblings from the collection, and here were their pictures side-by-side. Note the many similarities between both these watches :

It'd be interesting if he could send us updates on the patina built up on the bronze piece over time; but in the meantime, hope you could enjoy the piece through and through, mate...

Seiko Saturday : Darth Tuna

It's a Seiko Saturday, so let's pick a piece to wear for today. Readers would know that it would be a Tuna for sure, since we were still on the honeymoon period.

Note the similar thickness between 'em Tunas, genuine or homage pieces irregardless.

After a brief consideration, I decided to go with the Darth Tuna for Seiko Saturday. Here it was in all its marvel.

Still can't get enough of the Tuna duo. Will most probably go with the Golden Tuna tomorrow then :)

1978 Golden Tuna Re-issue : My Precious

I guess it should not come as a surprise to see this Kryptonite-glow tonite. I received the 1978 Golden Tuna Re-issue this afternoon, and only had it prepped up after dinner tonite. Just 4 hours of exposure to warm lights in the house, and the MarineMaster LumiBrite was ready to have a party all night long. I really ought to be sleeping now; but hey, it's a Friday night and I just received the Golden Tuna today, so I'm all excited really.

Known by its JDM model no. SBBN040J1 or international model no. S23626J1, the Golden Tuna was a sight to behold. I loved it that Seiko had followed closely to the original design of the 1978 piece, and you could see that its dial was a blast from the past compared to the modern Tuna's reiteration. That gold colour was matt, and I liked it very much in comparison to the polished rose gold of the SBDX016's. The Golden Tuna was limited to 1,978 pieces worldwide.

As per my norm, I changed the Seiko strap for an Isofrane strap. This time, I chose an orange Isofrane to match to the watch. I thought that the results looked quite interesting really.

The full package was rather simple, and looked as per the following :

The more I looked at it, the more attractive it looked to me. In fact, I felt that I had made the right choice to flip off the Yellow Tuna and Rose Gold Tuna, and kept this Golden Tuna and Darth Tuna in my collection. Both of them looked as different as chalk and cheese, despite sharing some of the hardware and software.

I knew that I would have this piece adorning my wrist over Seiko Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled for the real-world review. What a handsome, handsome piece indeed- I'm just simply so smitten by it!

Old Is Gold

Look what the courier brought in. Old is gold indeed!

1978 Golden Tuna Re-issue Made A Reality

Paid for this 1978 Golden Tuna Re-issue SBBN040 this morning, and awaiting for the arrival of the shipment. This would be a good companion to my Darth Tuna SBBN025, Yellow Tuna SBBN027, and Rose Gold Tuna SBDX014. Acquired 4 + 2 Tunas in a month, oh wow!

In fact, if you are interested in the SBBN027 and SBDX014, I am thinking of flipping these new watches; as I only want to keep the SBBN025 and SBBN040 in my collection. 

I will further do a give-away for the Sharkmaster (http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-fun-santas-quiz.html) and Oceanmaster (in another quiz).

Seiko Spring Drive Tuna SBDB009 : Possibility

I wrote about my Seiko Tuna craze in the earlier entry @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/seiko-tuna-sbbn040-1978-golden-tuna-re.html, and just a few hours later, I have had 2 offers from fellow collectors towards the catch and release of their Tuna watches. Granted, the behemoth sizes of these pieces could make wearing them a bit of a challenge to the uninitiated.

One of the pieces offered to me was a limited edition piece, and I was still waiting for additional information towards the said Tuna.

Another piece was this Spring Drive Tuna. Truth be told, this was not in my initial list of Tuna to be collected; but at the right price, I could take it under my wing.

Current price for this piece was circa RM10k new, and I was waiting for additional information and the intended price from the collector. If I did add this piece into my collection, I would update further with a review in due course.

Update : Turned out that the Spring Drive Tuna piece was 3.5 years old, and the seller was willing to negotiate from his initial pricing of RM10.9k to RM9.5k, then to RM8k. Since I could get a new piece at circa RM10k and this was not a hot model like that of the Darth Tuna or Golden Tuna Re-issue, I would pass on the deal. So there would be no upcoming review on this piece. Sorry all.

Seiko Tuna SBBN040 : 1978 Golden Tuna Re-issue

Readers would know that I was on a bit of a Seiko Tuna craze at the moment. The last time  the Seiko craze happened was during the Seiko Turtle Re-issue, whereby I bought so many Turtles in various reiterations and modded some of them like nobody's business.

Then equilibrium was restored and I happily went back to the world of Rolex, Tudor, Omega, and the likes. Until now, it would seemed.

It started with the 2 pieces of Tuna homage with NH35A movements. Then the Darth Tuna SBBN025. Then the Yellow Tuna SBBN027 and Rose Gold Tuna SBDX014. And now, I am considering of I should add on the Golden Tuna Re-issue SBBN040.

This was how the original Golden Tuna 7549 looked like, and a lesser known fact was that it was worn by Roger Moore's James Bond in For Your Eyes Only.

Now that we knew how the original 1978 Golden Tuna looked like, let's take a look at some pictures of the 2018 Golden Tuna Re-issue as per the following :

Both watches might be 40 years apart, but Seiko had followed closely to the initial designs of the 1978 Golden Tuna, with improvements made towards the modern caliber, ceramic shroud, and coating. Since the quartz Tuna would wear better than the automatic Tuna, I must admit that I am very tempted to add this to the newly-acquired Darth Tuna.

Below were some pics of Tunas as lifted from the net, and you could gauge the differences in sizes between the quartz Tuna and automatic Tuna. With both the Darth Tuna and Golden Tuna Re-issue, I figured that I could then flip off the rest of the Tunas in my collection and would be happy with these 2 Emperor Tunas.