Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[WRXtranceformed]

My next project watch is on the horizon!  The base arrived last week before I left for VA for the holidays, I got a great deal on a BNIB one from the WUS forums.  This may or may not get a lot of love here because it isn't everyone's taste, but I am obsessed with the style and it's an itch I had to scratch.  Meet the start of Project Two Tone:

Seiko SRP775 "Turtle"


The SRP775 is the modern remake of the vintage 6309 that I picked up a while back.  It's a great base for a project watch because parts are reasonably plentiful, I'm familiar with the 4R movement in it as I had one swapped into my SKX project and it runs amazingly, and although there are all stainless versions of the SRP, the 775 has a lot of gold tone touches that make it perfect for a two tone build.  I also think it will be cool to have a "new and old" Seiko Turtle. 

My curiosity for two tone watches (gold / stainless) goes back a long way actually.  The two tone GMT Master II was actually the first Rolex to come on my radar a while back after seeing a few of them in the wild and on a relative at my grandfather's wake at the Chevy Chase Club in DC.  I decided against it though for my recent purchase because a) it was way more expensive) and b) I was worried it wouldn't be as versatile.  But I got the inspiration for a cheaper, high quality Seiko two tone build after seeing these two mod projects:

(technically this is a bronze watch)



More on my mod choices in a minute.  My initial impressions of the SRP are:

- Dial is awesome, love the gold accents
- Bezel action is flawless
- Lume is like a torch, like most Seikos
- The movement winds nicely but the crown is a little jiggly and cheap feeling when unscrewed.  My SKX crown and stem don't do this.
- The bracelet feels fine and the clasp is the same good OEM with diver's extension, but the pin and collar link sizing system is the stupidest ever conceived

I have sized a LOT of bracelets at this point and I have to say whoever thought this system was a good idea is a complete moron.  Basically you have a thin pin and you have to put a TINY collar around the end to secure it.  I didn't realize this when I was removing the pins when sizing it and nearly lost the collars (they are smaller than a grain of rice) but found them instead stuck around the end of my punch.  Here is what they look like:


Stupid collars stuck at the bottom of my punch:



I gave up trying to size it after the link pins kept giving out because I couldn't secure the collars.  Good thing I planned on losing the bracelet anyway! More pics of the watch:






So my plans for this one are to clean up the overall style and give it more premium parts.  I've already got a bunch of parts coming from all over the world from a few vendors I've bought from during the last Seiko project:

From Yobokies (Hong Kong):
- the gold seconds hand from my two inspiration pics (same style as the one I chose on the SKX project)
- a black Kanji date and black day wheel (pricey and fairly hard to source but a super stealth choice touch)

From LCBI (US):
- Seiko-style lumed ceramic bezel insert seen in the second inspiration pic

From One Second Closer (Poland):
- Gold "coin edge" bezel seen in both inspiration pics
- Gold chapter ring seen in both inspiration pics

From DLW (Singapore or something?):
- Double domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective (thicker than Yobokies, it should fill the gap between the crystal and bezel insert better than my SKX project)

From Strapcode (somewhere in Asia):
- the coup de grace:  a completely outlandish, old-manish two tone super jubilee bracelet with upgraded two tone submariner style clasp:



I also picked up a leather strap with gold bracelet and matching stitching on Amazon:


So a lot of moving parts here but I've been down this road before...Joey and I have been talking about it and it would be a great business idea to consolidate all of these vendors into one reseller here in the states so you don't have to wait months at a time for parts or go to like 6 different vendors to build the watch you envision in your head.  But it should be fun to wear in the meantime when I want to flash it up a bit