Wednesday, December 1, 2021

The Seiko Tubbataha diver watch

Seiko released a Philippine market exclusive divers watch under its Prospex line. This one is a limited release of 1,000 units. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of purchases for investment and resell purposes (Watches now are being sold at upwards of 32,000 pesos for the 'brand new in box' or BNIB. That's a profit of at least 8,000 pesos per watch for those who are basically scalping them.). Fortunately, I was able to reserve one upon the prodding of the wife who got me the watch for my 48th birthday. She picked it up and selected the number.

The watch got its name from the Tubbataha reefs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Philippines. It is a popular dive spot and has a very rich marine life inspiring the colors for this watch.

Side view showing the gold screw down crown

The other side view showing how big the watch is.

The bracelet is stainless steel with the gold details. Personally, I thought they could have spared the watch the gold links, hands and crown.

Close-up of the dial showing also the gold hands.

The back shows the model number and the number of this watch among the 1,000 units produced. This is # 0183/1000.

Recent wrist shot

Wrist shot the first time I brought the watch to the beach. I got the watch as a birthday gift from the wife last year and was supposed to take it on our annual trip to the beach. Unfortunately, the pandemic got in the way and changed a lot of our plans.

An underwater shot of sorts taken as we enjoyed the pool at a nice resort in Laiya, Batangas last June.

Another wrist shot as we took an evening walk along the beach.

This watch is big at 42mm. It is also heavy compared to my other divers including several Seikos that were also released for the Philippine market more a couple of decades ago - the SKX399 and the SKX401. The watch is powered by a Cal. 4R36 movement that runs at 21,600 A/h with a power reserve of about 40 hours. The watch has a hacking feature meaning the second hand also stops when you adjust the time.

-


No comments: