Vintage "Sei-gold" elegance

SEIKO Automatic Full gold Vintage (NOS)
Caliber 6309 - model 8070 Seventeen jewels


This NOS was purchased at Nanking Watch Co. Nanking Watch Co. is one old watch shop in Singapore where I had purchased many Seiko and Oris. This piece was mint except for some crystal imperfections along the circumference. Other than that, the solid stainless bracelet (plated in gold) shouts elegance. She also has vertical day-date window similar to the Bullhead.


Japan stamped caseback found on the older NOS to display the full Japan origin of this watch.

Retro Tank Orient

ORIENT 3-star Retro Tank
Caliber 46E Twenty-one jewels
Unique "check-box" day indicator
Skeleton hands and watch has zero lume material


Of all my Orient collection, this piece surprisingly hand winds! A unique collection piece except for the filmsy folded bracelet. This watch has no lume at all and so is a classic piece. The skeleton hands are a nice touch too.

An old Fabre-Leuba "Daymatic"

Recently I brought my Aunt's old broken Fabre-Leuba for repair at K2 Watch Co. The hands had came off, the crystal badly scratched and water has entered the movement. After a week of "spa", this old watch regained her former glory with a new tanned lizard strap.

There are the words "Sun & Sand" above 6 o'clock position. However, this watch is not meant to take a beating in the surf! The watchmaker cautioned me on the water resistance of this watch due to her age.



The watchmaker pointed out something odd about this watch - it had a Titoni signed crown?! I checked with my Aunt and she was somewhat sure she had not serviced the watch before. So how did a Titoni crown land on a Fabre-Leuba watch?

The SUPERIOR Seiko5

SEIKO5 Superior Automatic - Steel
Caliber 7S55-0020 Twenty-three jewels
Water 50M Resist

I purchased two of the Seiko5 Superior - Full steel and Two-tone. Both have the same jewel count and solid stainless steel bracelet. However, take note that the Water Resistance states one as "50M" (S.I. units) and the other as "5BAR" (Imperial units) yet both means the same thing.

The current "Superior" line has the word "SUPERIOR" in caps. The earlier version has the word "Superior" in normal case. I am particularly drawn to the fixed jagged bezel of this full steel version. A simple design touch is the black date wheel.


This is the only 7S55A in my collection. The most noticeable cosmetic difference is the "machined" stripes and the red movement markings on the rotor wheel.

SEIKO5 Superior Automatic - Steel
Caliber 7S36-0030 Twenty-three jewels
Water 5BAR Resist

This two-tone version has the 7S36 movement. The unique touches on her are the bezel detailing at 3 0'clock and 9 o'clock positions. On closer inspection, you will notice the textured white dial somewhat similar to a golf ball's surface!


Note the Seiko5 Superior "Lion" emblem on the steel caseback unlike the current Seikos with clear caseback. Seiko uses many animals for her earlier casebacks. I have come across the "Sea lion" and the "Dolphin". Another common pictorial representation is the "Tsunami wave" found behind the 200M Divers.

Here is another Superior similar to the two-tone. Notice the brown color on the outer circumference of the dial. Is this beautiful "fading" due to ageing or done for design reasons? I bought this used watch from an old watchmaker and sold it after I bought the above two Superiors. So that is enough Superior presence for my collection!

Horological Encounters during my Honeymoon

I had my wedding on 2nd Oct 2008 and was away from my blog for sometime. My honeymoon was spent in colourful Italy (7 days) and picturesque Switzerland (7 days). Throughout the journey, I was ocassionally (more often than not) distracted by the intermittent encounters with watches. It may be a simple watch shop tucked away in old Geneva or medieval watch towers in Venice. Now I share some pictures of my horological encounters - the Italia & Suisse way!

Wrist shot in Venice, Italy. In the background is an astronomical clock tower. I wore my Casio Surf Timer Slide rule digital watch throughout the trip. Easy to read (except in darkness due to lack of night light function) and also easy to set alarm and synchronize with railway clocks.

An astronomical clock built in the 15th century at San Marco Square, Venice.

Railway clock at Venezia Mestre Station. Note the "club" hour hand and arabic numerals. Italian railway clocks differ from the Swiss railway clocks.

A Rolex showcase in Florence. Some Tudors are seen below. I am puzzled that branded watches are left in their glass showcases even after the shop is closed for the day.

A Rolex Fathometer. I guessed it is used to test pressure rating of the watches relative to water depth. 1 Fathom = 6 feet = 1.8288 meters.

A clock tower tucked in an old street leading to the Tower of Pisa.

Another clock tower in a castle setup of medievel architecture.

A Rolex shop in Rome, along the street heading towards Republicca.

A shop in Rome that also sells vintage watches. We have to walk past this shop everytime we return to our hotel from Roma Termini.

A wet Geneva greeted us upon our arrival. This gloomy shot taken at old Geneva town. Nearly every building carries a watch name in bright neon lights at the rooftop.

Jardine Anglais featured this large clock. As it was the start of winter, there were no brightly coloured flowers so the clock actually lokked a bit dull and uninteresting.

All watch shops will have a clock at their doors facing street traffic. Here is an F.P. Journe clock. The scale on the left seemed like a power reserve indicator (?).

The same shop featured a Rolex showcase. I noticed that the watches founded in Geneva actually cost more as if we were to buy in Singapore. VAT is only 5% so the savings are not really fantastic.

A Rolex clock.

This street is behind my hotel in Geneve. In Switzerland, we saw many Bucherer watch boutiques selling high-end Swiss watches.

Another watch shop along the same street.

An old watchmaker in Geneve. We peeked into the window and saw an old man with his loupe on and busy at some watch repair stuff.

I bought the book "An Unusual Story of the Omega Speedmaster" in a watch shop ran by an old woman well into her 70s. She allowed me to snap pictures of some of her shop's Speedmaster items.

This is the shop where I bought my Oris Small Seconds Pointer Date. Throughout my travel in Switzerland, Oris is relatively rare compared to Omega, Tissot, Longines and Rolex. And in this shop, I am particularly excited to find 5 pieces of NOS Oris bearing the trademark gold rotor! Due to limited funds, I can only purchase one piece. The shop owner told me these are really old models (so very rare for him to find a keen buyer!) and people nowadays look for the newer range like the BC4 and Williams series.

My prized catch!

Waiting in the cold weather for our train to Zermatt. Here is a shot of a Swiss Railway clock against the autumn mountains of brown and yellow. Swiss rail lives up to her legendary punctuality! Trains arrive and depart at 1 to 2 minutes deviation!

At 1,000+ metres above sea-level, we can still find MacDonald's restaurant alongside A.Lange & Sohne boutique!

Clock tower in Zermatt.

In a cable car heading up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, I noticed this Swatch Altimeter.

A Rolex Explorer poster at the cable car waiting area.

A quick wrist shot at 3,663m above sea-level!

Clock tower at Chur.

The "Meeting Point" at Zurich train station. Many shops sell the Mondaine quartz watches with the Swiss SBB CFF dial, officially certified. I pondered for a week but finally did not buy the watch even at the final moments before boarding our home-ward flight back to Singapore at Zurich Airport!

Watch shop along the famous Zurich Bahnhofstrasse. This busy high-end shopping street is littered with watch boutiques! I had an eyeful just by looking at the display windows.

Clock tower in Zurich.

The Zeitglockenturm clock tower. Every hour, the clock chimes and the figures swing into action! Minutes before the hour, people will gather in front of the clock tower to witness the fun.