stew77
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Joined: | Thu Mar 26th, 2009 |
Location: | Colorado USA |
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Well...As you guys know that have been watching the daily deals by some of the watch discounters, new Seiko Monsters (SKX779 aka "Black Monster" & SKX781 aka "Orange Monster") have been offered on the very nice monster stainless steel bracelet in the range of $144-159 shipped lately!!!
I have read about these watches, looked at the pictures, and finally decided to bite...so this past week a Black and Orange Monster arrived!!! Needless to say, I will be keeping both as adds to my small collection!!!
I don't think I'm offering a whole lot of new information here, as the standard saying by the great crew here at 3T seems to be, "You can't go wrong with a Monster"...and I agree 100% after receiving these two. I'll offer my impressions anyway in the hopes that it may be helpful to any that are thinking about taking the plunge.
My impressions:
These are simply fantastically built watches for the money $$$ (I own a Seiko Sumo that is a fantastic piece and also highly recommended, but these Monster are selling for much less $$)...in fact, there are many more expensive watches out there by various makers that have a whole lot to learn from what Seiko is able to build here...I'm shocked at what you are getting for what these discounters are selling them for.:shock:
Great bezel action (with a little gentle wiggle room - not slop...but gentle wiggle between the 120 click indices)...one of the smoothest bezels you will spin around a watch dial...nothing cheap feeling about it.
The Monster is 42mm in diameter excluding crown and 12mm thick. Lug width is 20mm, but the ss bracelet flares to 23mm at the lugs and tapers to 18mm were it attaches to the nice Seiko double-locking clasp with diver extension. This bracelet is really nice and looks great on the Monster IMO (I would recommend buying the bracelet version at these prices as the bracelet on it's own seems to be selling for about $50 bucks and you can always pic up the venerable Seiko rubber strap for pretty cheap). Oh...an extra note for those that have never owned a Seiko ss bracelet...most of Seiko's bracelets (including the Monster bracelet) use a pin/collar system to lock the links in place. This system is fine and easily executed for sizing the bracelet if you know that it uses the pin/collar system...just go slow, use the right tools, and don't loose those tiny collars.;)
I have been reading people describe the monster as a "large" watch, but I was somewhat surprised by the rather non-imposing size...I'm definitely used to wearing some larger pieces, and so the monster seems easily wearable, and very, very comfortable while still having good wrist presence. A monster looks like a monster looks like a monster, and I don't think it can be mistaken for anything else (one of the big reasons I'm very happy to be adding these two to the collection!!!).
Screw down crown is very smooth and has great action (high quality feel better than the price of entry). Bezel slopes down from outside diameter to dial providing very nice protection for the standard Seiko Hardlex (a Seiko special hardened mineral crystal if you will). Would I rather have Sapphire?...well yes, but at the price of entry...hey, it's all good.
Powered by Seiko's 7s26 21 jewel automatic movement which is supposed to be very dependable and durable...my Black Monster is running ~ +8 seconds per day out of the box over the past few days. The 7s26 in neither hand windable or hackable. Would I like it to be?...well yes, but at the price of entry...hey, it's all good. You can easily "back-wind" the seconds hand when setting the time if you really want to nail the seconds exactly...don't know if this would be bad for this particular engine over time or not. It doesn't take much effort to bring this movement to life...a few shakes and it is up and running, and appears to wind easily with wrist movement.
That great Seiko Monster Lume is fantastic and lives up to it's "torch like" reputation.
Well...not much more to say...if you like the Monster styling, I would say just go for it and pick one (or two) up...these Monsters are really a no brainer and easily offer more quality than the price of entry by alot!!
As many at 3T like to say..."You can't go wrong with a Monster".
A few quick pics:

The Orange Monster is my first Orange dialed watch and it looks way sweet!!!...just a fantastic looking orange.



Last edited on Sun Dec 6th, 2009 02:53 pm by stew77
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