The Checkered Turtle

The black checkered Turtle arrived this morning and of course I couldn't help myself but to have a closer look. And by closer look I mean internally. Two things grabbed my attention straight away. First was the smooth operation of the ceramic bezel. Not only did it have a firm click but the luminous 0 minute triangle was perfectly aligned with the 12 o'clock hour marker. The knurled bezel edge reminded me of Swiss dive watches from the 1970s, but the ceramic insert gives this classic watch a contemporary look. I removed the bezel to check the click spring underneath and was pleasantly surprised. Again, a very similar style to the one frequently used in Tag and Omega watches. Naturally I had to check the availability and price of the complete ceramic bezel in Seiko's stock and to my surprise the price was only $110. This is just a fraction of what one would pay for a Swiss ceramic bezel.  The second detail was the unusual sapphire crystal which comes with a large cyclops - a magnifier which sits over both the day and date display. I have not seen anything like it before and the magnification is simply remarkable. The sapphire crystal is 3mm thick, cyclops not included. Removing the crystal from its seal and pressing it back in was easy. The matte black checkered dial is quite attractive and provides the perfect background for the large luminous hour markers. The mechanism is the trustworthy calibre 4R36 with a 41 hour power reserve. Checked on the timing machine, it exhibited a strong amplitude as you would expect from a brand new watch and was factory adjusted to +9 seconds a day.  The caseback features a stylised swordfish.  Overall the checkered Turtle is much more than an economy divers piece. It is a robust watch, built to last and will cost you less than the service cost of a Swiss day-date. The Turtle comes with a bracelet ($999) or fitted with a rubber strap ($950). However, Seiko enthusiasts will have a lot of fun fitting either a NATO or rugged military style distressed leather strap.  Should you buy one to add to your collection, no - you should buy one to wear! I took a few photos of the checkered Turtle with two of our Rebelde straps. Our straps sell for $88 (the strap price has not changed since 2014) but if you buy a new Seiko Turtle, I will throw in a free leather strap.  Again, replacing the straps on a Seiko is super easy.

Seiko Prospex Checkered Turtle Divers Ref. SRPE03K 45mm case size. Sapphire crystal. Automatic movement - 4R36. Water resistance 200M. Comes with bracelet and free Rebelde brown leather strap.  Price: $999

The Seiko Flyback Machine - Back to 1977

 

(Seiko Superior)

On this day... In 1977 there was only one name on every Japanese lips: Seiko Superior. The Superior line was launched in 1974 with the 3883 calibre. In 1997 it was updated to calibre 4883. The very last Superior were fitted with calibre 9980 with accuracy rating of 5 seconds per year! The price of a solid gold model was equivalent to the cost of a small apartment and only 100 pieces were made. In 1977, the more affordable stainless steel version was on offer - QNL010 retailing at 180,000 yen. This was still almost twice the price of a Rolex Datejust. The quartz era was unstoppable and the entire catalogue was filled with battery powered, super cool, super accurate, super modern Seiko's.  In the sports range, the story was different. The catalogue lists only two divers models: 600m monster YAQ028 know today as the 'Grandfather Tuna' (Y89,000) and just one Turtle: YCS018 (Y25,000).

(Grandfather Tuna, 1977 Seiko Catalogue)

The story goes like this: in 1975, a saturation diver from Kure City in the Hiroshima prefecture of Japan sent Seiko a complaint regarding the reliability of it’s existing line of professional dive watches. The complaint exposed some notable flaws in it’s existing design, most notably their "susceptibility to the absorption of helium gas, a component of the air mixture that saturation divers were enveloped in". In response, Seiko’s engineers led by Ikuo Tokunaga, set out to make the perfect dive watch for professional saturation divers. Tokunaga spent five years developing the world’s most advanced diving watch, built for the tiny target market of offshore commercial divers. Nicknamed the “Tuna” because of it’s cylindrical slab of lugless casing, the resulting product was a marvel of modern engineering. It’s monocoque titanium case, L-shaped gasket, and unique shrouded design were all firsts in the industry. Case size: 50.5 mm! The result was a watch that was impervious to helium gas penetration, and one that could withstand the pressure of massive depths up to 600m. It instantly became a modern classic for Seiko, and has been in continuous production for the last 42 years.

Image source unknown (web) Current Seiko ‘top of the range’ Tuna is SLA041J which is also the 55th anniversary model.

Price: $6950 limited to 1100 watches worldwide.

The second best Tuna is SLA042J with retails at $6,100. This one is even larger than the Grandfather Tuna being 52.4mm! Both watches are fitted with an automatic movement Cal 8L35.

We have none in stock right now, however we should have one soon - your order is welcome. The current ‘standard’ Tuna comes in two flavours:  S23631J 49.4mm case, ceramic case, sapphire crystal and quartz 7C46. ($3750)

The second one is S23629J in a titanium case, 47.7mm ($2200)

Turtle: Here is the photo of 1977 Turtle from Seiko catalogue:

The turtle was originally rated at 150m and was almost a quarter of the price of Tuna. We have three models in stock:

SRPE07K1 45mm case size. Water resistance 200M. Special edition.  $950

SRPD21K1  45mm case size. Water resistance 200M. $799

SRPF15K1 45mm case size. Water resistance 200M. $795

All three in stock, available for immediate delivery.

The original James Cameron

 

The Seiko turtle is considered to be one of the most iconic Seiko’s of all time. It more than just a cheap ‘beater’ automatic tool watch, it symbolises the basis of a perfect dive watch. There has been no-one more iconically obsessed with ocean exploration in the past few decades than multi award winning director James Cameron. So much so that Rolex named their star watch in their dive watch line up; the deep sea, with blue and black gradient dial, after him. James Cameron’s first film about his great passion, the ocean, was his 1989 hit film ‘The Abyss’. ‘The Abyss’ is a story about a team of daring engineers and military personnel sent to the deepest parts of the ocean on a recovery mission to a nuclear submarine that had sunk under mysterious circumstances. One of the main characters ‘Bud’, an engineer, played by Ed Harris, is seen throughout the film wearing the iconic Seiko turtle with a black dial and rubber strap. Whether it was James Cameron personally or a just a costume designer that chose that watch, the Seiko made a starring role in this iconic James Cameron film, his first solo directorial on the ocean, making this the original James Cameron. This Seiko turtle SRPE93K1 is a modern incarnation of the Seiko 6309 originally featured in this film. Watch code: S8. Price: $725