My WIS Dream come true.... (tunas and pics+++)
I am really happy that my Tuna collection have grown significantly this year. So much so I managed to achieve a WIS dream that I had – a caseful of Tunas!! Thanks to fellow bros and Seiko fans here I am able to achieve my dream. So now I would like to share my case of Tunas with Sg Seiko Club.
Here it is..
From different angles…
As you can see they are arranged is some sort of theme (with some overlap inevitably).
Lets take a look at the different groups.
1) First up are the classics – the 1st Generation Shrouded divers.
From left to right : 6159-7010 600m (May 1976), 7549-7010 300m (May 1982), 7549-7009 600m (Feb 1978)
Since the 6159 and 7549-7009 have been featured previously ( here : http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/18461-pictorial-review-my-shrouded-divers-pt-1-70s-updated.html"http://s79.photobucket.com/user/badern/media/tuna/IMG_6700_zps072f920e.jpg.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">
The dial and hands are ultra clean and the crystal is new SBBN007 crystal. The bezel and insert are original and in good condition. The shroud however does show its age and have plenty of scuffs – but I am happy to leave the shroud as is for now.
So what happened to the ‘other’ 7549-7010 that was ‘sacrificed’ to come up with this beauty? You will see it in the Mod section! LOL!
2) The Golden Tunas
Next are my favourite tunas – the Golden Beauties! I really think Seiko scored a home run aesthetically and functionally with the beautiful Titanium nitride finish. The ‘gold’ metal parts contrasts very well against the black parts (shroud, insert, dial etc)
From left to right : 7549-7009 600m (Feb 1978), 7C46-7009 (also known as SBDS018 or S23157J) 1000m (Mar 1986), 7C46-7008 (SSBS018) 1000m (Mar 2004), 7C46-0AB0 (also known as reissued SSBS018) 1000m (April 2009).
I don’t have any close up of these beauties currently – I just realised that I have not featured both the SSBS018 previously. Maybe I will do another post just on them.
But I do like to focus some attention on a less well known golden tuna, though a smaller one. Here it is :
The 5M23-6A19 200m Kinetic tuna. This little golden beauty has a kinetic movt and likely dates back to August 1992. It has a gold coating (not sure if pvd or others but definitely not Ti nitride) on the case, screws, pusher, crown and bezel. Really treasure this rare baby tuna.
3) Recently discontinued tunas.
The 2 tunas in this category for many years were the only tunas available new and via retail. Collectors were limited to these 2 models if they wanted a current (non-vintage) and non-LE shrouded diver.
Left to right : SBBN011 (7C46-0AA0) 1000m (May 2008) (Darth Tuna) and SBBN007 (7C46-7011), 300m (June 2007)
These 2 tunas have been covered previously (see link below), so I will not go into detail again.
http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/18567-pictorial-review-my-shrouded-divers-pt-2-80s-recently-discontinued.html#post105087"http://s79.photobucket.com/user/badern/media/tuna/IMG_6715_zps9a8bd005.jpg.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">
Let’s have a quick look at the SBDX005 – a long time grail of mine
With the 6159 original auto tuna.
Have covered the SBDX 005 recently so let’s move on the current LEs….
SBBN019, 021 and 023
The 019 or White Dolphin was the first current LE to really catch my eye. The white ceramic shroud is just amazing and unique to see in real life. It has a pearlescent quality to it.
Both the SBBN19 and 021 are similar to the SBBN013 except for the minor differences in dial, hands, shrouds.
The blue shroud of the 021 has a more shiny and glossy finish compared to the 019.
But both are good looking variants to the classic 1000m Darth Tuna
The Golgo is the only 300m LE that I have.
I really like how the red accents of this LE works with the PVD finish .
However after having the Golgo for almost a year, a small patch of PVD coating on the underside of the case has come off.
I have read about this issue but I though those were isolated incidents. But alas it has happened to my Golgo too! Even though I really take care of it. Bummer!
5) Current tunas
I only have 2 of the current non-LE tunas.
Left to right : SBDX011 1000m ( 8L35-00C0) and SBBN015 300m (7C46- 0AC0)
These 2 have been reviewed previously :
http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/18623-pictorial-review-my-shrouded-divers-pt-3-current-tunas.html"http://s79.photobucket.com/user/badern/media/tuna/IMG_6708_zpsd4e523c4.jpg.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">
The SBBN007 went from this sorry state…
To this …
Golden tuna dial and hands, SKX011 insert, new screws, shroud refinished and polished. Love this bling tuna mod!
The 7549-7009 mod has a weird tale as well. A fellow former (El Padre) here found a 7549-7009 tuna with a mint case and shroud but with a unique James Bond (007 indeed) dial on it. That got my attention! So El Padre was kind enough to sell the watch to me. I used the mint case and shroud for my 7549-7009. While I swapped in the James Bond dial into a worn 7549-7009 case, threw on a bling shroud (ceramic layer removed) and Wa lah! We have the James Bond Tuna mod! LOL!
The final tuna in my case is the Citrus Tuna mod. I have always wanted a yellow tuna and a 300m auto tuna. So I used the left over case from my 7549-7010 hunt and swapped in a 6309 movt (direct swap in as most of you know) , got a yellow dial and matching hands, new shroud from Oliver (Black Oyster) , black shroud screws. And ta dah…..!!!
A nice sail cloth strap completes the look.
Next to the original 7549
Thanks for reading and sharing my joy.