Seiko Landmaster AGS One Piece Titanium

A valuable piece in my 'modest' collection of watches is this one I got from an Ebay auction. The first time it went on auction, the seller had to cancel all the bids since people seemed to be deliberately bidding low for this piece. I actually didn't know how it could be low since didn't even bother bidding for it because the price was already beyond my limit when I saw this online. Not surprisingly, it was again put up for auction a week later but this time, it seemed that the watch was not in many people's radars. I pounced at the chance and voila! I got a Seiko AGS that was something like a dreamwatch for me when I was a student in Yokohama and Tokyo in the 1990s. I couldn't afford this watch on my scholar's allowance back then and could only look at the watch on Akihabara displays not really hoping to get one some day.

This is my 5M45 or SBCW001

The watch face says it all...

The watch looks bulky but it is actually very light, thanks to its titanium body and bracelet.

Side view showing the  power reserve button at 2 o'clock

I had to get good lighting to have a good photo of the back where you can have some details etched on the titanium

Here's another shot of the back in better (day) light

The original watch had a 7-day power reserve based on the original capacitor. I haven't used the watch for more than a week now and its still running and the indicator goes to the maximum 7 days. My conclusion was that the seller already had the capacitor changed on the watch now has the more advanced 14-day capacitor. Unlike my other Kinetic watch, this one doesn't stop to hibernate so I wanted to continue to observe its charge limit until I checked the specs provided by the seller. It confirmed my suspicion that the capacitor had been changed and the watch now has  6-month power reserve. I am very happy with this watch that keeps good time and something I can wear rain or shine, in storms or in the water (20 bar or 200m water resistance and a screw crown), in hot or cold weather. It kind of reminded me of my marriage as we celebrated our 15 years last week. :)

[Note:  The movement caliber and case code on this watch is 5M45-6A01 with a serial number 760054. Based on the Seiko Production Date Calculator, this watch is likely to have been manufactured in June of 1997, my first summer in Japan. - 7/18/2018]

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