The pre-cursor

So here’s the confession. Along the way I did succumb to buying the classic Seiko divers watch — the SKX007. It was a bargain and I hadn’t yet convinced myself I could even attempt to modify a watch of my own.

It’s known for it’s highly legible display with super bright indices and hands that glow far into the night.

And I love it — but… it’s after owning the SKX I realised I didn’t want to always look like I had a big, flash watch on my wrist. I also often felt quite aware that I had a heavy chunk of steel which was somewhat awkward under a shirt sleeve, as well as quite the accidental weapon when tumbling around with the kids.

But more than that, something never quite sat right with me about the design. The indices are so geometric, so simple. They seem at odds with the elaborate chromed arrow hands, and the visual clutter of the chapter ring and bezel. Also, the centre area seemed fussy with the simple black disc of the second hand on top of a mess of different chrome shapes. Hmm…

The sweep of a mechanical watch is rather nice compared to the ticking seconds of a quartz.

The watch

The bill of parts:

Seiko SNK809K2 from Amazon

Dial from a Seiko SKX009 from eBay

Hour and minute hands from Dagaz watches with C3 lume

Second hand from a Seiko SKX009 (came with the dial)

Cheap grey NATO-style nylon strap from eBay

An original Seiko SNK809K2

The SNK809 is a smallish (37mm) “Fleiger” aviator style watch with a nasty-ish fabric strap and a self-winding automatic 7S26C movement. It’s ridiculously cheap and yet still quite well regarded among watch people. Personally, I don’t like the face, the hands or the strap. But the case is a different matter, it’s a clean, simple design with a nice matt finish and a windowed “display back” so you can see the mechanism moving.

The dial I chose is a direct swap from an SKX diver like mine. Well, actually it was from an SKX009, not a 007, hence the very slight blueish colour. This diver’s face looks bigger in the smaller SNK body, and the design is even more minimal without the minute markings on the chapter ring of the dive watch. Incidentally, I chose the SNK809 as the donor because it’s the only SNK that has a black day/date rotor. It’s actually harder to read than the more normal (and cheaper) white day/date model, but to hell with it, it looks great under the black dial.

Some people get annoyed by issues like this dial having “Divers 200m” printed on it, when it’s actually more like 5m in this watch. I can’t say I care too much about what it says here, any more than when it was on a real diver’s watch. I’ve never seen 5m deep, let alone 200m.

The hour and minute hands are from Dagaz, who make a bewildering array of modding items for watches like this. I wanted hands that were geometrically clean and easy to tell-apart with an orange-red minute hand to match the text on the dial. I also wanted to them to have close to the same type of luminescent paint as used on the Seiko dial. This was just a detail tick of mine, not only would the glow of the dial and hands match, but in sunlight they’d have the same very slightly pale green appearance. It's not a big deal, but having bright white hands and off-white indices would just remind me that this was a mish-mash. No thanks.

It’s the second hand that brings it all together. The one that came with the custom hands from Dagaz was rejected for it’s fussy design. The original one from the SNK had a red tip that just added too much colour when partnered with the minute hand. But the SKX second hand was perfect. It has a simple tapered black and white design and a lumed “lollipop” that almost appears to hover in the middle of no-where. Also, the second hand’s centre disc seemed made for this combination, just hiding the conjunction, but highlighting the shape of the brighter coloured hands below it.

The crystal is unchanged Seiko mineral glass. I like the look of the slightly domed SNK mods, but it seemed like one job too many for this first attempt. Besides, it failed the cost vs worth test, as well as requiring me to buy more tools.

The current strap is a cheap NATO-style nylon strap. It’s comfortable, secure, waterproof (or at least quick-dry) and so cheap it’s practically disposable.