My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in...)

[Neil]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

Those NATO straps - are they available in 16mm to fit my Traser?

I'm pretty sure you can get NATO straps in 16mm, personally, I prefer the Zulu diver type straps that look practically the same - it's just the normal NATO straps are about 1mm thick, and I find that feels (although they're probably as robust as you'd ever need in reality) a little thin and weedy, especially when used on certain watches. Whereas the Zulu divers straps are thicker at about 1.6mm - which isn't overly thick, it just seems that bit more suitable, and I prefer how they are made and the strap rings.

Is your watch really that narrow at the lugs (although I've heard of them, I'm not really familiar with them) - 'cos G-Shocks tend to have narrow 16mm lugs, too, but ideally when you put NATO style straps on them, the case adapters you get for G-Shocks, actually suit 24mm (I think) width straps. Technically you could probably put a 16mm NATO strap on a G-Shock, by just using the spring bars and no adapters, but a 16mm strap looks rather narrow and delicate on a G-Shock.

 

[PurpleFrog]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

Some of those Kinetic's are a bit funky . They remind me of some of the Oakley watches which I believe are powered by the same movements... I have a soft spot for Casio's as well and I could do with a G-Shock in the collection. Thanks for sharing

Just to be clear, the Casio isn't technically a G-Shock, it's solar powered and radio controlled though. It's my scruffy watch, in that it's the watch I care least about getting scuffed. It's weakness is it can only use the UK and German time signal - which I've found is largely OK for a fair amount of europe, but it gets nothing in the far east. I think I may well splurge, at some point, for a true G-Shock, multiband 6 solar - there's just something about the idea of something that gets energy from light, and syncs time via radio waves, that seems kind of ideal to me.

Multiband 6's tend to be special import collectibles: 5 bands are more affordable and you'll almost certainly never need the extra atomic clock.

The one big tip on buying G-Shocks: the resins yellow and go dirty quite quickly with UV! So avoid the white, pale and translucent models unless you are willing to put up with this. Solid blacks, reds, yellows, or the rare all-metal models are the ones to do for - the greys can do well too. But that $1000 translucent "ice" Frogman should probably ne kept in its box except for special occasions...

Have to say, I quite like some of the Edifice models, too - that one was a gift, something of a suprise, they do feel different to other Casios, somehow - very nicely made and finished, almost remind me of Seikos - I guess they were doing that whole Toyota / Lexus thing with the branding.

The nicest Casio I've seen was an early Oceanus. It was styled a classic cushion case Heuer, didn't do anything fancy, but the build quality was amazing - it looked completely at home put next to an Omega. In fact it looked better - the what used all sorts of texture tricks (like polished and brushed metal, carbon fibre face) in a very subtle way:

I've got several Rotary quartz watches, too - that are fairly classy looking - but at the end of the day, they're just quartz watches in reasonably nice cases. Don't know why, but I've always been drawn to Seikos. Were I spending a wedge on a watch, whether I'd go for the Mulder-special Omega DeVille (would have to be an auto) or a Grand Seiko, I'm not sure...

The classic mechanical chronos are super-cool, but parts and servicing are wince-making.

 

[PurpleFrog]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

My (largely) Seiko watches...

Given the other thread about Seiko divers, I thought I'd post up pics of mine - heavily dominated by Kinetics, truth be told...

My SKA373P1 (5m62 movement):-

Very cool!

..me Kinetic induction winder..

Dude! Get a cat! And some string!

Actually, scratch that: my cat is allowed to plat with G-Shock, but he'd trash anything else.

 

[Neil]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

Some of those Kinetic's are a bit funky . They remind me of some of the Oakley watches which I believe are powered by the same movements... I have a soft spot for Casio's as well and I could do with a G-Shock in the collection. Thanks for sharing

Just to be clear, the Casio isn't technically a G-Shock, it's solar powered and radio controlled though. It's my scruffy watch, in that it's the watch I care least about getting scuffed. It's weakness is it can only use the UK and German time signal - which I've found is largely OK for a fair amount of europe, but it gets nothing in the far east. I think I may well splurge, at some point, for a true G-Shock, multiband 6 solar - there's just something about the idea of something that gets energy from light, and syncs time via radio waves, that seems kind of ideal to me.

Multiband 6's tend to be special import collectibles: 5 bands are more affordable and you'll almost certainly never need the extra atomic clock.

Scroll up a bit, I bought the above blue G-Shock, recently, it's a solar Multiband 6.

Black case and strap, only things that could be better - the negative displays, the lack of a second hand, and the lume isn't that great. On the plus side, you can press a button to move the hands out of the way of the displays when you're using them.

 

[PurpleFrog]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

Scroll up a bit, I bought the above blue G-Shock, recently, it's a solar Multiband 6.

Black case and strap, only things that could be better - the negative displays, the lack of a second hand, and the lume isn't that great. On the plus side, you can press a button to move the hands out of the way of the displays when you're using them.

Oh - totally safe model. That one blue part is metal or coated, so it won't Do The Fade. Negative displays - yes, they look cool, but they can be a pain to see in bright light. And Casio lume is never great, especially if you are used to Seiko.

I was going to suggest the an atomic 5600 (the square "Speed" series) or the standard 5-button (the most popular model with the US military because of the big lume button on the front) with a composite bracelet to drive up the cool factor - the composite bracelets aren't officially available in the UK, but you can get them, and they're great to wear.

 

[Neil]

Re: My Seiko watches (largely, plus a few others thrown in..

Scroll up a bit, I bought the above blue G-Shock, recently, it's a solar Multiband 6.

Black case and strap, only things that could be better - the negative displays, the lack of a second hand, and the lume isn't that great. On the plus side, you can press a button to move the hands out of the way of the displays when you're using them.

Oh - totally safe model. That one blue part is metal or coated, so it won't Do The Fade. Negative displays - yes, they look cool, but they can be a pain to see in bright light. And Casio lume is never great, especially if you are used to Seiko.

I was going to suggest the an atomic 5600 (the square "Speed" series) or the standard 5-button (the most popular model with the US military because of the big lume button on the front) with a composite bracelet to drive up the cool factor - the composite bracelets aren't officially available in the UK, but you can get them, and they're great to wear.

The reason I was keen for the 6 band over the 5 band, being having spent some time in China and Hong Kong last year, when I just had the 2 band solar Casio, and at some point aiming to go back, it didn't make sense to me not get one that wouldn't sync time out there.

And although I like Gs, I do prefer analogue over digital, generally.

 

[SeikoKid]

great watches