I'm Blue (da ba dee da ba daa)

  Blue-dialed Seiko 5 SNK793K1 on a blue canvas strap. With my blue jeans. With my blue shirt. Been wearing the SNK793K1 a whole lot these days. Yes I did squeeze a 20mm strap into the 18mm watch, but, I'm kinda lazy that way. But fit it does. And blue it is.

  Nevertheless it matches everything on my outfit (it's accidental, I swear) but I'm not too thrilled with the outcome honestly, I had imagined it to look better, but it probably needed some other color combo to pop.

  There are several reasons why I keep going back to the SNK793 - besides the calming blue it gives me - the small size of the watch (36mm) meant it doesn't get in the way of anything - such as when I have to open gates or reach into drawers etc, it gets out of the way more readily than a big watch on my wrist.

  It's also light. For an automatic, it's lightweight again due to its size. The

  Sizing - my wrist isn't exactly big, at slightly bigger than 6 3/4 inches (depending on time of day and what I ate I think), the watch case fit just fine on my wrist. Any watch that is within 46mm to 36mm would look OK on my wrist I think and I'm fine with it.

You can read my previous review about it here.

Bund Straps RM61.65 8% Discount

Orient Wingman ER2D001B on a new Dark Burgundy(?) Leather Strap

Continuing with my extremely poor potato phone cam photos. Yeah, I should go back to macro photography.. but the laziness!

  My Orient Wingman ER2D001B on a new leather strap - very dark, almost deep dark burgundy even. It's almost as if it's returned to its original style, with the leather strap and white stitching, but instead of black leather. I'm just experimenting with straps at this point, but ultimately I think this should go with a leather Nato / Zulu style strap due to its military looks instead. It would also be much easier to swap out.

  Before anyone points out that I got the strap the 'wrong way around', yes that is intentional. Because why not. I just want to change things up a bit, and it's not like anyone else is ever gonna notice it when it's on my wrist. :)

  The this PVD Wingman is one of my favorites - there is so much great about it. It's large, making it very 'aviator'ish looking, it also has this miltary look about it. Even though the lume isn't the best, it's still extremely legible in the dark due to the size of the arabic markers on its black dial. In fact, legibility is its strength - you can tell the time on this watch from space! (Well OK, a good 20-25 feet away - if you have good eyesight in good conditions). At least, no other watch in my collection is this legible. You simply cannot do this with any other watch that isn't made to this style, even considering its below average lume for low light - imagine if they put good lume on it like on the Flight. See my review comparing it to the Flight and Ray Raven.

  The watch is also very affordable, it's great for the person who is looking at his first military/aviator big dial automatic that isn't going to break the bank. It would be awesome if it has hand-winding, but I am nitpicking at this point. I hope Orient updates it to the handwinding movements just like they did with the Ray, Bambinos, and the rest of the lineup. This watch tends to get sidelined in favor of Orient's other models like the Bambino or Ray or Flight, but I think this is one of the best deals from Orient if you are into military/aviator styled watches and don't worry about a 50m water rating or below lume (which is offset by how large the numerals are on the dial in the dark anyway).

If you can find it that is, I think they have discontinued this model (I'm not sure - don't quote me on that!)

  You can buy your own similar leather strap here. Or here. Or here.

The Beautiful Seiko Solar Chronograph SSC717P1 is on my Wish List

 I came across this and it just has to go on the 'To keep an eye on' list. Such beautiful combination of colors. The SSC717P1 uses the Seiko Calibre V716, which is a solar charging quartz movement. Featuring Lumibrite on the hand and indexes.

 Apparently the SSC717P1 also comes with Hard Coating applied to its stainless steel case. I saw this watch in person, it is a gorgeous watch - the photos don't do it justice.

 If you would like to buy this watch you can click here.

Movement
Calibre - Number V176
Movement - Type Solar
Accuracy - ±15 seconds per month
Duration - Operating for approx. 6 months (when fully charged)
Exterior - Case Material Stainless steel (hard coating)
Crystal - Hardlex LumiBrite Lumibrite on hands and indexes
Clasp - Three-fold clasp with push button release

Other Details
Water Resistance - 10 bar

Case Size
Thickness - 12.2 ㎜
Diameter - 43.2 ㎜

Other Specifications
Screw case back
Other Features Chronograph up to 60 minutes in 1/20 second increments
Date display
Overcharge prevention function
Stop seconds hand function

Casio Edifice EFR-303

My friend's Casio Edifice EFR-303 DY. I'm can't find the exact model on the web (PVD coated), perhaps it is region-specific.  Most of what I found are stainless steel without PVD coating.

Nevertheless, pictures: -

Dual Dial World Time
• 100-meter water resistance
• Date display
• World map dial
• Alarm

Specifications

• Case / bezel material: Stainless steel
• One-touch 3-fold Clasp
• Stainless Steel Band
• Mineral Glass
• Screw Lock Back
• 100-meter water resistance
  
  World time

  24 time zones (24 cities)

  Alarm (one-time)

  Low battery warning

  Date display

  Regular timekeeping
  Analog: 3 hands (hour, minute, city),
  3 dials (world time hour and minute, second, alarm hour and minute)

  Accuracy: ±20 seconds per month

  Approx. battery life: 3 years on SR927W
  The Casio Edifice EFR-303 in PVD can be found here.
  
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

My Son's First "Real" Watch

 One day walking about with my 7 year old son in town, we stopped by a watch shop as we usually do just to browse.

 My son surprised me: he went ahead and spoke with the boss, "I'd like to see these watches please."

 Not that he's shy (he isn't) but usually with talking with adults and transactions such as this he usually lets me do the talking. This time, he took charge of the situation, and totally caught me off guard.

After trying on several, he chose one that he liked, a yellow/white "Xinjie" digital watch with "30m" water resistance, a chronograph function, alarm, and day/date. I had no intention of buying it in the beginning, but the fact that he spoke up and talked in such a mature manner I just had to agree to his purchase.

And he paid for it. I bought it with cash, but he paid for the watch. Upon reaching home he took out the amount (MYR18) from his pocket money and gave it to me.

And so now he has his own watch, totally bought for himself, initiated the transaction himself, with his own allowance money, one that he wears proudly every day since, which has the added value of fully being his, the first whichout Dad's intervention (aside from being a temporary lender).

 He had several watches before, from the MYR1 vending machine cheapie that I got for him (he seldom wears it) and to him wearing my watch and smartwatch on some occasions, but this is the first watch that he can proudly say that is fully his own watch, from the get go.
 

This is my favorite watch so far this few months..

The Wingman with the tan leather strap is my favorite watch these months so far. I'm not kidding - the dial is easy to read from 5 miles away, the military-style PVD looks business, and it works. It's not the most expensive watch of the bunch, but it just works. Even with the poor lume, in low light conditions it was still easy to tell time from the big, contrast numbers. imagine this watch if Orient had actually put some decent lume in it! The leather strap is tan on the outside, but dark brown, almost black on the inside - which compliments the watch itself really well. This saw the most wrist time among the rest.

Blue-dialed Seiko 5 SNK793K1 Review

It's time for a review of my Seiko 5 SNK793. If you love blue dials, this model has a very nice dark-blue dial with a sunburst effect in the middle section. Being a Seiko 5, this has the following features standard;

- Automatic 7s26 movement, 21 Jewels
- Day/Date
- Some lume
- Hardlex crystal
- Display caseback
- Basic water resistance


Having a width of 36mm in diameter, the case has a big polished bezel around the extremely nice blue dial. For those with 7inch wrists and smaller it would look OK provided the straps are the same width or you could get a wider strap but with notched ends and it would not look out of place. The sides of the case and its lugs is brushed metal.

The hour and minute hands are a sword-style, in polished metal with lume. The seconds hand is a very thin and painted white, and along with the white day/date wheel, and this white goes very well with the blue dial.

The crown is located on the 4 o'clock of the dial. Pulling out once changes the day and date by turning it clockwise or counter-clockwise. Being a Seiko5, the crown is unsigned, and far too small. I also find that because it is so recessed into the case, even pulling it out to change the time while the watch is on the wrist is hard to do. It would be easier to take off the watch and set the date and time from there.

I put a dark brownish-purple croc leather strap on it with a deployant clasp, and this made the blue dial watch look so much more casual. I think it would also look great with a tan strap as well. In fact - this would look great with almost any kind of strap.

It's very easy to see why this model is so popular. Did I mention the nice soothing blue dial?

You can buy yours here.

Leather Strap & Deployant Buckle here.

Casio Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2 Wrist Shot

I've been neglecting this one for quite a while. I've put it on a brown leather strap I have lying around and it does look pretty good like this.

It's a Seiko 5 Kinda Day

Lovely blue dialed Seiko 5 SNK793K1

You can buy yours here.

Leather Strap & Deployant Buckle here.

Orient Flight ER2A001B0 PVD Review

So, I went ahead and bought it. Orients were going for crazy discounts. I just went ahead and bought the Orient Flight PVD. This makes my third PVD Orient, this one is by accident, mainly because it was the only stock available left. Or.. maybe it was my subconsciousness urging me all along *twilight zone music* and I have a real thing for PVD black watches.
Either way, I now have THREE black cased, black dialed pilot watches from Orient.

My Initial Impressions
On to my thoughts - firstly when holding up the watch in my hands, it had the quality feel to it, compared to the Orient Wingman, it feels much better built somehow.

Dial
So the dial - I can see why some people are nitpicking about the dial. While the dial follows the traditional pilot's watch format - large minute marking on the outside and small hour marking on the inside ring, this is one Orient that I feel could be better without that logo. I like the logo, but I don't think it fits here. Similarly the italics "Automatic" and "Water Resist" don't need to be on the dial. I feel that if they had the word Orient and just 100m on the dial, but the logo on the crown would've made for a much more visually uncluttered look. I don't mind the date window though.

The dial takes some getting used to: perhaps it is as designed, I am able to read down to the exact minutes (e.g. 48minutes and half), but am unable to get the hour at a glance and have to stare at it longer. Usually on a 'normal' watch, I usually read like "3:45ish" when the minute sits between 45 and 50. In the case where this is totally intended, this works VERY WELL.

Hands
The hands are white and reach the arabic markers exactly, like a pilot's watch should. (The Wingman fell short in this area). The lume isn't as bright as on the Ray Raven's, but it works well enough given that its white lume instead of the green stuff. (The Wingman also fell short in this area, in fact lume was extremely poor.)


Case
The case is PVD coated, and it seems the PVD coating is nicely applied here. Surprisingly it wears quite a bit smaller than the Wingman. The Wingman had a more traditional case style, with crown guard, so that could give it the illusion of it being larger, but the Flight actually wears very, very well on my 6.5inch wrist - much better than the Wingman did. The caseback is solid compared to the Wingman's and therefore gives it the better-quality impression, which it is. Water resistance is up to 100M.

The crown isn't signed. As I've mentioned above, I felt that the logo could be better used on the crown and left off the dial for less dial clutter.

Leather Strap
 The leather strap on the other hand.... while less squeaky than the Wingman's - for whatever reason it feels and bends (and squeaks) like compressed foam... I actually preferred the squeaky Wingman's leather strap to this one. It's a very odd texture to it. But maybe it's just me. Anyway, not a big deal, fixable with a new strap. The buckle is signed, and also brushed PVD black.


Summary
This is a nice watch. And quite I'm happy with it. Obviously I have a few things I want to nitpick about it, but for this price? No contest. And with the discount I get for it at sale price? No brainer. Orient continues to make very nice watches with their own in-house movements for such incredible prices.

I am toying with the idea to swap the Wingman's dial onto this case and make use of these hands, as I quite prefer the Wingman-style dial, but it's just an idea. I am not going to take these watches apart unless I come across parts somehow so it's just a dream for now.

(I also posted this review on WatchUSeek.com)

Seiko 5 SNK793K1 - on crocodile strap with deployant buckle

Beautiful.

Gorgeous.

Seiko 5 SNK793K1 - on crocodile strap with deployant buckle.

  Yup, I went out and bought another Seiko 5. The SNK793K1 Blue Dial. I also got a deployant buckle for it, because why not. Well it turns out how wrong I was.

  I've discovered that a deployant buckle for a strap isn't exactly advantageous in any way AT ALL. Firstly, there's the cost of getting the thing in the first place. Then, the darn thing, when folded up, takes up at least 4-5 milimeters inside of your wrist, so an OK fitting strap becomes terribly tight fitting, or, if you use a looser slot, it ended up still too loose. Lastly, you'd still have to slot the end of the strap to the loop in the end. So you've just saved ZERO steps, while adding another (when clipping them together, gotta do one side before the other) so therefore in my honest opinon - deployant buckles are a complete waste of time and money. They do look cool though. So style points for that..

You can buy your Seiko SNK793 here.

Leather Strap & Deployant Buckle here.

New Leather Strap for my Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B

Got a new tan leather strap for my Orient 'Wingman' today.

The 'Wingman' gives a very clear and very readable dial, this version with the PVD so it remains readable in bright conditions. You could read the time from a mile away. And many times I have found people trying to read the time off my wrist as a result. Either that, or they are admiraing the Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B.

The stealthily designed date window lines up with the white line at the 3 O'Clock, so it is not apparent at first glance but is there when you look closer, which is a nice touch.

Is there more nice touches? Yeah. Many in fact, but one stood out that I just found out : when you adjust the time, as you push the crown back after setting the time, the minute falls back to EXACTLY where it is supposed to be accordingly to the seconds hand! E.g. if the seconds hand is at the 30 position, the minute hands falls to halfway between the minute markers!

How about that for nice touches?



Specifications

*Self-winding movement
*21600/hour vibrations
*Date indicator
*Stainless steel case
*Mineral crystal glass
*Water resistant
*Diameter 41mm  (by my own measurements: 43mm)
*Lug width 22mm

Cheap Fashion Watch - Curren

Another day, another watch. Today's Quartz fashion watch : Curren

Features a gigantic 8 on the dial and a smaller hand showing date.

Not bad, if viewed from far away.

Orient 'Wingman' CER2D001B

Added another Orient to my collection - the 'Wingman' CER2D001B . This Orient, again - like my wife's Orient - looks better in person than it does in photos found on the Internet (especially my crappy cellphone photos). The watch came with a very squeaky leather strap. Since I got the PVD look I put the PVD bracelete from my Orient 'Ray Raven' CEM65007B and put it on for a perfect fit! And I'm especially happy with this swap because I was finally able to use the PVD buckle on my Orient Ray CEM65007B. Personally, I would prefer if I got a brown leather strap for my CER2D001B, but this is pretty good for the time being.

Orient 'Charlene' CNR1Q004W

Orient 'Charlene' CNR1Q004W Women's watch for my wife.

The surprising thing is, this feels like it has manual winding! Well it wasn't listed in the specs, but it does have the tactile feel of a winding watch when you turn the crown! I'm unable to verify this as the watch was already wound up and ticking. Will have to wait till it winds down and try out the winding to see if it is real; I would be really surprised if this is true.


*EDIT* Just used this thing called internet search engine, found that it does indeed have manual winding. See here.

Dial window material type	Mineral Crystal
Display Type	Analog
Case diameter	31 millimeters
Band Material	Stainless Steel
Band width	16 millimeters
Band Color	Silver
Dial color	MOP
Special features	Luminous
Movement	Automatic
Water resistant depth	30

You can buy one here.

Rossi Valentino Ladies' Rolex-style Watch

Rossi Valentino Rolex-style ladies' watch.

I've heard of this name before but it was in the form of a professional motorcycle racer (it was actually flipped around - Valentino Rossi)... but this is the first time I heard of this name as a watch brand. Regardless, it features a Quartz, 3 ATM water resistance, with a Rolex-styled stainless steel case, and has a sapphire crystal with magnifying bubble over the date.

Quite nice, for its price.

Pictures:

The watch itself in the box

Box cover brand

Close up on the dial

Rolex-style design.

3ATM Water Resistance

Sunday Orient Ray Raven CEM65007B

Random photo

Alba Quartz for the Missus ( VX82-X406)

Just bought an Alba Quartz for the missus. She wanted a new watch, with bracelet "this time". I got her the Alba with black dial with gems, solid-link bracelet(!). Overall fairly high quality piece for the price.

I originally wanted to get her an automatic Orient. But I was not able to get any within a limited time, but on top of that, after some thought there's this issue with her not wearing the automatic watch all the time, which might cause it to wind down and stop, and she might think it's a hassle to set it after that. So a quartz it is.

Black dial, very elegant

Solid-link bracelet

Display

Box

So My EF-125 10 Year Batteries Finally Needed Replacement (Updated)

 Alas, it had to happen sooner or later. The 10 year batteries in my EF-125 finally has weakened enough that it stops intermittently at random. I bought this watch in 2009, and it's been 5 years (2014 as I write this), so give or take heat, wear, and some time sitting in shops, it's time to replace the batteries in it soon.

 Meanwhile I'll just wear my other watches.

UPDATE: Actually, it works fine now for the past 24 hours. And first thing I did was to check that the crown is pulle out, it's not. So it's a sign that there is some battery low voltage, or some dust has gotten inside and stopped the gears. I will not replace the batts for now.