Seikoholic : Save-The-Ocean 63MAS Is Here!

To say that I'm pretty over-the-moon tonight, just doesn't quite cut it!

I have been tracking the post-production courier bearing our Seikoholic : Save-The-Ocean-63MAS pieces to Malaysia. This had been a project that readers had been talking about for years, and it started to gain momentum this year when I thought, "What the heck! Let's just finalise the drawing board and finance this production and see where it takes from here!". Along the way, there had been much feedback from readers of Andywristwatches.blogspot.com and Andywristwatches.com.

The design process ain't exactly a piece of cake. If you still remember, the first draft was rather different from the piece that was produced today; and it was through input from readers in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Russia, Austria, Germany, UK, France, USA, and Switzerland that we came to the final design today.

This piece pays homage to the the evergreen classic diver designs from my fave modding brand i.e. Seiko. There are lots of us Seikoholics all over the world, and we could now wear our badge of honour proudly on our very wrists!

And just like Seiko, I want to keep the pricing affordable so that the masses (well, at least to the 30 of us anyway) could enjoy having the watch without breaking our bank. Or inviting dagger glances from our better halves. I'm a married man too, so I understand and live just like you guys. Collecting watches and having healthy bank balances seemed to be at odds with each other many a time, no?

Speaking of our better halves, mine decided to sponsor me a watch case from her fave handbag brand; so we went shopping for this watch case (or rather trunk!) this afternoon. At a cool RM25k, I would rather have another few Seiko pieces added into my collection but you don't argue with a passionate LV supporter, do you?

And by the time we returned home, the courier had swung by and there were 3 big boxes that my son had enthusiastically piled up in his electric truck. Talk about having great help around.

I was very eager to examine the contents of the boxes but I knew that I needed time to slowly savour the moment. The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur- dinner, followed by a visit to our fave spa for a couple's massage, tucked the kids to bed, missus joined her friends for drinks; and I could finally have some ME-time in my watch room.

And I opened the first watch and saw how handsome this piece really was. 

The production process had been a humbling and learning experience. Coordinating various teams towards a limited production custom watch was no joking matter. I couldn't have done it without the support and kind words from you fine and dedicated readers of Andywristwatches.blogspot.com and Andywristwatches.com.

Do swing by @ Andywristwatches' Seikoholic if you are interested to add this piece into your personal collection. And I could share that the post-production Seikoholic Save-The-Ocean-63MAS is even better than the earlier prototypes months back! 

I am very proud of this dedicated team whom assisted me despite the challenges faced during the design and production process. You know who you are, and let's put our hearts and minds together for the more projects to come.

It had been a climb; but in the end, it's all worth it.

Seikoholic : Dreams Come True

What a journey it has been!

Sorry if fellow readers had been coming over for new updates and found that our watch blog has been a bit quiet over the last 2+ weeks. As you know, I have been maintaining our Andywristwatches.blogspot.com for the fun of it over the last few years. And fellow readers had been asking for a project watch of our own over the years. Well, once Project Hommage was in motion, I was like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. 

Between the day job that pays for it all, flying to and fro various countries, coordinating with the watch manufacturer and design team, checking on the quality control, answering queries from Seikoholic backers, and lots more tasks that I had not quite anticipated upon, I found the Project evolving bigger and bigger.

It started off as a small lil' homage project with STO63MAS, but it has certainly snowballed into quite an avalanche by this time. So, how is the progress for Project Hommage : STO63MAS?

Well, the production and QC works have finished, and the final products in 3 big parcels are en-route to Malaysia even as we speak. And soon, I shall be contacting you guys on the tracking IDs for your respective Seikoholic watches. Congratulations to you guys- you certainly earned the badge of honour as a Seikoholic!

Many overseas backers requested a site to process credit card payments. My style as per the norm? Ask and you shall get. 

We are now at the stage whereby the sales site i.e. Andywristwatches.com is active, and the trademark applications are in place for Class 14. Monies have been pouring out like crazy. So much to do, so little time. 

Much like Project Mayhem in Fight Club. All of you backers are part of the revolutionists!

In fact, Project Hommage 2 was currently on the drawing board, paying homage to Apollo 11's 50th anniversary of moon-landing. A couple of dials were going to and fro the manufacturing and design team to check on the feasibility- and if it takes off, that will be another low volume production with priority given to backers of Project Hommage : STO63MAS.

Stay tuned for the progress in due course!

Franken Mod : 2019 Edomondo Honda 300

From a quick glimpse, the above watch would seemed to be the discontinued Seiko Sumo G2. Sumo G3 (below) had just started hitting the Malaysian marketplace although price remained high as the current ones were among the first batches. 

There were some slight differences between the G2 and G3, and one of the more notable ones to me was the inclusion of the sapphire crystal. I have always had to upgrade the sapphire crystal in my Sumo G2; and now that it arrived direct from factory with the upgraded crystal, that would make life easier, right?

The differences between a Sumo with Hardlex mineral crystal (left), and another Sumo with double-domed sapphire crystal (right), could be very evident when placed together. The above showed both of my Sumo G2 side-by-side and you could clearly see the differences there.

Thanks to the G3, the G2's status was suddenly elevated. Parts from the G2 such as the dial and handset, saw some increase in prices from online sellers. Given that G2 had now been discontinued, it would only be a matter of time before G2 parts that we modders had been using, would be depleted from the market. Thank goodness I had stocked up on some of these SBDC031 and SBDC033 dials and handsets, along with SBDX017 dials and handsets when stock was still relatively easy to purchase back then.

Coming back to the mod, I wanted to create an improved version of Sumo G2 some time back; and thus the above SuMMo G2.5 came to fruition. It was essentially a G2 armed with SBDX017 dial, and handset, ceramic lumed bezel insert, and double dome sapphire crystal. This was one of my Franken Mod that had seen the most requests from readers to replicate; but I was reluctant to do so.

Now that Sumo G3 was out, I wanted to do yet another version- and of course, it had to be an improved version too. 

That was why I decided to utilise the CNC-machined MM300 homage mono block case which was good for 300m WR, coupled with SBDC031 dial and handset. Further details of the build would be as per the following :

Case : Mono block

Movement : Seiko Caliber NH35

Dial : SBDC031

Handset : SBDC031
Chapter Ring : Modified

Bezel insert : Lumed ceramic bezel insert

Crystal : Sapphire
Strap : Kain Heritage vintage thick leather

Put all the above together, and we would have the following :

In fact, it looked so well integrated together that a non-Seikoholic might thought that the Franken Mod was an original production. 

So there you have it, folks- another one-of-a-kind Franken Mod in the Edomondo Honda 300. 

The Yokozuna Sumo in new attire! E-Honda would no doubt be proud of this!

Project Hommage : Save-The-Ocean 63MAS (Part 5)

Alright, Seikoholics, many of you backers would have received my WhatsApp messages and/or e-mails with regards on the preference of 200m or 300m reflected on the dial; as the manufacturer had confirmed back that re-using an existing micro-brand's caseback design would keep the cost manageable compared to my request for a sterile caseback. And since the micro-brand's caseback had displayed 200m there, the consideration at hand was whether to have the dial remain at 300m (the improved case and gaskets could accommodate the higher WR rating anyway) or synchronise with the caseback to be 200m.

Sample of vintage 6105 case.

And you Seikoholics had put your thoughts into the matter and the majority came back to have the dial at 200m. Simple enough a change, and thank goodness the engineers could accommodate the change given our quick re-confirmation and the dials would be reprinted soon.

In fact, with the change, some of you remarked that the next Seikoholic project should be a MM300 case with a discontinued Seiko-type dial like the Sumo G2. The Sumo G3 is hitting the market now, and prices are on the higher side.

I hear you; and I'd probably do a trial first with a simple mod these few days and see how would the look come together as a package. There are quite a few manufacturers of MM300 homage cases, and I myself had sampled some rather good ones and shown one of the best of the lot i.e. my CuSn MM300 during the watch meets that we had held. 

So I would get a stainless steel case sent over vide express parcel, and attempt this Franken Mod first prior to further decision. One of you even suggested the Seikoholic piece be called Edomondo Honda 300. I had to do a double-take and figured that this was probably in reference to Street Fighter's E.Honda character as a Sumo Yokozuna. But that's food for thought for another day.

And of course, all backers of Project Hommage 1 would have preferential order priority over the next project.

The journey so far :

Part 1 @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/06/project-hommage-save-ocean-63mas.html;

Part 2 @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/06/project-hommage-save-ocean-63mas-part-2.html;

Part 3 @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/06/project-hommage-save-ocean-63mas-part-3.html;

Part 4 @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/06/project-hommage-save-ocean-63mas-part-4.html;

Part 5 @ https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/07/project-hommage-save-ocean-63mas-part-5.html.