Franken Mod : Mon5ter Wave #1 (Challenge Completed)

Cooking up a storm over the infamous Seiko Mon5ter Wave

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa was a well-known picture amongst us Seiko enthusiasts. After all, it was featured on the caseback of our preferred Prospex and MarineMaster series. In fact, starting from this month, Japan was issuing JPY1,000 with this picture on the new note. However, I have yet to come across this new more during my week there.

Most of my mod parts came from established brands in the modding community e.g. Dagaz, DLW, Crystaltimes, One Second Closer, and the likes. When a micro-brand i.e. Lucius Artelier that was based in Singapore, made an enamel dial of the Great Wave, I knew that I had to make an order and gauge for myself on the quality of the dial. I placed an order and in just a few days, the dials were soon on a sold-out status.

If you were interested, you could still make a pre-order as they were running a batch of 36 dials in hand-painted format. Priced at USD147, it ain't cheap but in return, you would have a watch that would not be repetitive across the wrists of many passerby. At the time of writing, there were still 20 dials available.

With such a limited edition dial, I knew that I had to get a suitable watch that could pull this off. Initially, I wanted to go with my normal route with SKX007, Turtle Re-issue, or Sumo; but on second thought, I decided to go with the Seiko Ice Monster model no. SRP481. This was a rarer watch in the wild, befitting of a rare dial of this caliber and workmanship.

It had the perfect bezel and chapter ring that would pull off the design of the dial; and priced at USD188, it would also not break the bank. An order was placed and I soon have the watch from Japan.

As usual, I sent the watch and parts to my panel watchsmiths; and waited for them to ship back the finished article back to me. It would soon be shipped back with the Great Wave dial, Dagaz hands, and Isofrane straps. 

Note that I have utilised the hands in similar design as Longines Hydroconquest LE, as these really fit well with the metal indices on the special dial.

I call this Franken Mod the Seiko Mon5ter Wave.

Check out the Dagaz hands that matched the dial indices down to the tee. These were discontinued hands and no longer available; and I regularly stocked up on parts from these mod brands as one can't be sure when the parts could be very suitable for a certain mod concept yet no longer available. 

Check out how cool the Mon5ter Wave looked placed in the Seiko collection Pelican!

This was truly a beautiful piece and I'm glad that I modded this to be a special piece in my collection. I have another Great Wave dial in Day-Date format, and would be modding it into another Mon5ter soon. 

Look out for the power duo in these Mon5ter Wave5!

A modder's Land Mon5ter Wave as found on the Net

NEXT : Franken Mod @ Underwater Demolition Team Timer

Modification-related Blog Entries :

1) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2016/07/flieger-type-modifications-plan.html

2) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-fun-begins-seiko-turtle-padi.html

3) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/seiko-turtle-emerald-le-change-of-plans.html

4) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/seiko-turtle-planet-ocean-bezel-insert.html

5) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/seiko-turtle-emerald-le-extra-special.html

6) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/turtle-blue-lagoon-le-shark-edition.html

7) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/turtle-blue-lagoon-le-sharkone-page-02.html

8) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/04/turtle-emerald-le-blueone.html

9) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/12/painted-dials.html

10) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/01/customised-with-diamonds.html

11) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/06/experimentation-custom-made-quality.html

12) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/09/mod-and-micro-brand-bug.html

13) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/11/psycho-about-seiko.html

14) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/11/psycho-about-seiko-part-deux.html

15) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/mod-works-seiko-planet-ocean-skx007.html

16) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/mission-2-mars-mm003.html

17) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/mars-attacks.html

18) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-summo.html

19) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-skx007j1-planet-ocean.html

20) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-skx009j1-sumo.html

21) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-blumo-great-wave.html

22) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-apocalypse-sumo.html

23) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-seiko-sea-dweller.html

24) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-baby-ice-monster.html

25) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/03/beware-franken-mod-bug.html

26) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/03/next-franken-mod-seiko-apocalypse-sumo.html

27) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/seiko-franken-mods-end-game.html

28) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/seiko-franken-mods-came-home.html

29) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/franken-mod-seiko-skx007j1-planet-ocean.html

30) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/franken-mon-great-wave-off-kanagawa.html

Franken Mod : Seiko SKX007J1 Planet Ocean (Challenge Completed)

This has been a Franken Mod that took some 4 months in the making. I first wrote about this SKX007J1 Planet Ocean in December 2018, when the first part of the mod works had taken place and the piece was beginning to look like a PO, albeit incomplete as yet. 

Read more about the earlier adventures @ http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/mod-works-seiko-planet-ocean-skx007.html http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-skx007j1-planet-ocean.html.

Note that in the above pictures, the watch was still utilising the 7s26 movement and the original small crown. I preferred a hacking and hand-winding movement, so it was essential to further modify it with the NH36A movement.

Given that the design of the original crown and stem was such that they were undetachable from the 7s26 movement, I had to further source for Dragonshroud's Jumbo crown and stem. All the parts arrived by March 2019, afterwhich my watchsmith could then continue on the mod works to be done. 

Fast-track forward to April 2019, and the final product had just arrived and it was looking fine indeed!

I placed some of these pictures on FB yesterday and there were queries from interested modders to undertake a similar project. The queries ranged from where to get the parts and the cost involved. Well, sharing is caring so here goes :

From the above parts, the total cost of the project (inclusive of base watch and parts) amounted to circa RM2,300, with an additional RM300 being watch mod and time adjustment works. One could probably spend lesser than RM2,600 on such a mod project; but I wanted good parts and these came at a price. Still, I thought that the final product would not looked out of place when it was compared to the Planet Ocean pieces in my collection.

Good luck on your own mod projects, fellas!

NEXT : Franken Mod @ Mon5ter Wave #1

Modification-related Blog Entries :

1) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2016/07/flieger-type-modifications-plan.html

2) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-fun-begins-seiko-turtle-padi.html

3) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/seiko-turtle-emerald-le-change-of-plans.html

4) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/02/seiko-turtle-planet-ocean-bezel-insert.html

5) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/seiko-turtle-emerald-le-extra-special.html

6) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/turtle-blue-lagoon-le-shark-edition.html

7) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/03/turtle-blue-lagoon-le-sharkone-page-02.html

8) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/04/turtle-emerald-le-blueone.html

9) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2017/12/painted-dials.html

10) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/01/customised-with-diamonds.html

11) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/06/experimentation-custom-made-quality.html

12) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/09/mod-and-micro-brand-bug.html

13) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/11/psycho-about-seiko.html

14) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/11/psycho-about-seiko-part-deux.html

15) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/mod-works-seiko-planet-ocean-skx007.html

16) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/mission-2-mars-mm003.html

17) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/mars-attacks.html

18) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-summo.html

19) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-skx007j1-planet-ocean.html

20) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/01/franken-mod-seiko-skx009j1-sumo.html

21) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-blumo-great-wave.html

22) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-apocalypse-sumo.html

23) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-seiko-sea-dweller.html

24) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/next-franken-mod-seiko-baby-ice-monster.html

25) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/03/beware-franken-mod-bug.html

26) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/03/next-franken-mod-seiko-apocalypse-sumo.html

27) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/seiko-franken-mods-end-game.html

28) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/seiko-franken-mods-came-home.html

29) https://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/franken-mod-seiko-skx007j1-planet-ocean.html

Citizen Fugu Blows Again

I received some messages asking for more pictures of the Citizen Fugu that I owned. These made great pieces for collection alright; and my preferred ones were the All-Lume (limited to 999 pieces worldwide) and SG/MY (limited to 500 pieces, sold at SG and MY only). Both of these were reportedly on sold-out status at the interim period.

I have previously wrote about the Fugu at these entries :

- http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/02/happy-valentines-day-new-york-double-o.html

- http://andywristwatches.blogspot.com/2019/04/citizen-fugu-blows.html

Well, ask and you shall receive. Do enjoy the eye-candy in these additional pictures :

Rolex GMT-Master ii "Sprite"

Haha, just for laughs, looked at this "Sprite" as designed by an 8-year old kid, whose Dad worked at Hodinkee. Don't think that Rolex might be putting it into production in a jiffy; but hey, it's a fun piece :)

Read on the full article here @ https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/eight-year-old-dreams-rolex-sprite-gmt-master.