G-Shock G-Lide DW-004 from Japan

My friend's DW-400 which he won from an auction Japan. Meticulate condition, in a very tasteful white and gold. According to him the price wasn't too bad either. There's a reason why G-Shocks are popular.

Photos will now do the talking:

Seiko SNJ025 'Arnie' - the H558-5009 Reissue!

My friend Bryan's Seiko SNJ025 'Arnie' Reissue, with modern upgrades. Quite a substantial presence of a watch especially its crowns, and very old-school ana-digi style design. I dig it very much. A brand new version of the old 1982 H558-5009 worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 80s action movies, appearing on the several films from “The Running Man” to “Commando” and “Predator,” it’s one of the most iconic timepieces of the silver screen, with it's black 47.8mm case, polished lugs and black uni-directional bezel, the SNJ025 is the most faithful tribute to Arnie's watch.

Get your own 'Arnie' Seiko SNJ025 here.

Banggood Special: Hyper-Affordable Beauty! Hannah Martin 2011 Chronograph Military-Style Men Wristwatch

Hannah Martin 2011 Chronograph Military Style Men Wrist 

This is a such an affordable beauty. This can be gotten off of Banggood for only RM53. For those who are on a really tight budget, this chronograph with a Japanese movement, leather strap, 'vintage' aviation looks offers quite a lot of bang for the buck.

Specification
Brand	HANNAH MARTIN
Model	2011
Style	Fashion,Casual,Outdoor
Gender	Male
Movement	Quartz
Water Resistance	Basic Water resistance (Sweat, raindrops)
Special Features
Functions	Time Display
Appearance & Details
Dial Display	Analog
Dial Window Material	Glass
Band Material	Leather
Clasp Type	Needle Buckle
Dimensions	Dial Diameter: about 45mm  Band Width: about 22mm  Case Thickness: about 12mm  Band Length: about 250mm

Brown sunburst dial version

Blue sunburst dial version

Black dial version

Click images above to buy your own hyper-affordable beauty

Leather Zulu on Black & Gold Casio G-Shock GA-300

Looks rugged, doesn't it? A friend's leather Zulu on a Black & Gold G-Shock GA-300 with a 24mm strap converter.

This leather Zulu strap makes the G-shock GA-300 look so much more rugged and outdoor-sy. According to him it also makes the watch so much more comfortable.

This makes a nice upgrade for anyone thinking about changing the strap on their G-Shock, but bear in mind that there needs to be a strap converter that connects the watch case itself to the strap.

You can check out the G-Shock GA-300 here.

You can get the Zulu Strap here.

The strap adapters for the G-Shock can be gotten here.

An obvious fake

An obvious fake "Maurice Lacroix" watch.

  

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.
  
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

B.U.M Equipment USA Watch

A very, very well used, scratched up stainless steel B.U.M Equipment watch on bracelet that I saw at a friend's place. It was night, and hence poor lighting conditions and poor cellphone photographs.

Reflecting on Quartz Watches

I've had some time on my hands recently and reflected on my Quartz watches - Both Casios and both Edifices.

See, even if the mechanical watches have 'soul', or a heart beat, and needs attention to wind it up, set time, etc.. the quartz just ticks on and on and on. In the case of both of my Edifices, they last almost a lifetime of the watch themselves. (There was one instance where my EF-125 stopped which I thought was the battery running out, but a bit of tapping and adjusting the hands it has gone on working since.)

This is because the EF-125 has a 10-year battery, on which it is still ticking on, and the EQS-500DB is solar.

It's easy to see why quartz watches are so popular with the general populace - especially with long life batteries or solar watches - they are basically set once and forget. In the case of my EQS-500DB, it is also perpetual.

So, with the EQS-500DB, you get:

- Water resistance up to 100m
- Reliable and toughness to abuse
- world time, 1/100 chronograph, alarm, 24 hour indicator
- solar, never needing a battery change so often
- being a quartz, the time is always spot on
- perpetual calendar so you never need to set for months that skip the 31st or leap years
- essentially almost needing no service

...and all for about the same price as my Orient automatics that only just tell the time.

In essence, these two are essential to my time keeping for all my other watches - I set all my automatics to the Quartz watches (and sometimes my phone, if I could even be bothered to turn its screen on).

So if you're rational, all you need is just this one watch.


But, and this is irrational, because I like my automatics. It's like a little engine ticking away on my wrist. It's like jewellery and fine machinery combined into one. It's precision engineering. And it's a joy to watch the movement do its thing in a transparent caseback. Quartz itself is an engineering marvel in its own right when it first came out.. it's too good for its own good.

Oh well. Quartz is important - but don't let the mechanicals become obsolete (or become high-end curiosities only for the rich). I hope the likes of Seiko and Orient keep producing affordable, reliable, mechanical little spring driven engines for our wrists and I hope people keep buying them.

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.

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.

Fake "Baby-G"

Fake G-Shock / Baby-G

  

Doukou - another day another watch.

Doukou - another day another inexpensive watch, "Doukou" to show. Not much features, a quartz time keeping device for the wrist, fake leather and snap-on caseback.

Simple dial

No water resistance rating. Simply stainless steel snap-on caseback.

Found more cheap watches - Wilon

 ...to be given as gifts to friends & family without watches.. Here's another Wilon.

 There's really nothing much to say about this really. It's a cheap Quartz watch, rectangular case, with clip-on caseback, folded links.

 But it's nice enough as a dress watch and simple enough to tell the time. Happy to report that the person who received this is very happy with the gift and a proud wearer.

Cheap Watches on Clearance

I bought some watches from a shop near my office that is going on clearance. How cheap you ask? Well, dirt cheap.. like, for the price of a battery. So I bought 4.


These are "Stainless Steel" watches, with "Water Resistant" rating (and no more than that), with folded metal links (that threatened to go out of alignment when I tried to adjust it) and I suspect it is painted-on chrome, though I can't be sure.

Construction
As mentioned, construction on the bracelets are very poor, which is expected. But who cares if you swap them out to straps, right? The watches themselves have (apparently) Japanese Quartz movements, they - well - they work. Being quartz watches. And at first glance, they actually look quite decent. This works well for people who just want decent watches.

The amazing thing about it is that a very low clearance price, it makes it totally worthwhile to get them as gifts to be given away.

And here they are, in its generic-brand-name-cheap glory! (Sorry for the crappy smartphone photos.)

Wilon. This actually looks nice. This is a women's version.

MK, or Mike Ladies with "gems". Weird brand name, but looks good for a cheap fashion item.

Full pic of the Wilon

....and MK

These are matching pairs found. Mike brand.

Victorinox Swiss Army (Prudential)

A long overdue post. I had this picture of this watch from my friend's collection but simply never gotten around to post it. This is a Victorinox Swiss Army quartz with black leather strap:

Unfortunately ruined by the Prudential logo, this watch otherwise has very nice aesthetics.

100M Water Resistance, Prudential logo on the caseback.

"Hegner" Watch 30M Water Resist

  Here's a "Hegner" Quartz 30M Water Resist watch I happened to come across and took this with my cellphone. Unfortunately the case back pictures are too blur (this was taken with indoor flourescent lighting at night) so we only have the front shots unfortunately. Never heard of "Hegner", but I suspect it's just one of those generic Chinese watches.

On a Cloudy Day..

Casio EF-125D-7AV

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.