Time Less - Seiko SKX009 "Planet Seiko"

As a child i was crazy about cars, and i would pore over every car magazine my dad would buy. I would re-read decade old issues, and ended up with a collection of a few hundred issues of CAR and Evo.

I also relished the fancy watches, advertised alongside all of that hot metal. One of the few really sunk its hooks into me was the orange-bezzled Omega Planet Ocean. It screamed sporty, overt masculinity; to me it was the Lamborghini of watches. I would later go on to incorporate this theme of orange and steel blue alongside metallic neutrals into my industrial design degree theory as "man colours".

Even into adulthood i pined for that watch, but i was also becoming fussier about some of the design aspects. I wanted the orange bezel, but i wanted it with a blue dial, and without the numbered hours. Unfortunately Omega couldn't accommodate my need to fiddle, and i couldn't accommodate their desire to make me part with several thousand dollars. Luckily Seiko swooped in and saved us both, with the SKX-009. It's a beautifully designed, very accurate, and remarkably priced ISO-rated diving watch. It just needs a couple of things changed...

I was never much of a fan of either the "Pepsi" bezel or the jubilee bracelet, but this was the easiest starting point for my ultimate goal. The bezel insert would be traded for one from Seiko modding uber-site Dagaz Watch, and a solid-link oyster bracelet would take care of that old-man jubilee.

But waiting for the parts to arrive gave me time to appreciate the stock look. That "floppy" jubilee, with its many points of articulation, is the most remarkably comfortable steel bracelet i've ever worn. Its alternating polished/brushed finish is of a superbly high quality, to the point where it looks like a mix of chrome and titanium. Due to my SNZH57 already being on an oyster, i decided to keep this one as-is.

And even the fairly modestly finished Pepsi bezel has it's functional charm. Without touching a thing, this watch is seriously good looking! Maybe i'll just proudly wear this as Seiko had made it! It couldn't get much better, right?

Wrong.

So Wrong.

This is my my very favourite watch. It has been worn for over a hundred hours of actual diving, it's with me every time i hit the beach, and it dresses up for work when a statement must be made. I never get bored of the way the light bounces off that bezel insert, and how the colour perfectly matches the text on the dial. If i didn't already have other watches, i wouldn't need any more.

Ok, that last part's a lie... I could always have more watches.

Like this? See more of my Time Less series!