Got myself a bargain (with pics)

[Bill Carr]

Having heard all the good things posted here about Seiko Orange Monster's, and being rather taken by the rubber-strap models, I'd been intending to buy one as my next watch, and had been trawling ebay over the past few weeks to get a feelfor prices and who was selling them.

As luck would have it I found what appeared to be a very clean watch in a listing that was slightly mis-named and hadn't appeared in my regular searches. I stuck in a cheeky bid and this morning received an email telling me I'd won it! Happily it was local so I picked it up at lunch today.

So here it is, in all it's glory. My apologies for the quality of pics, the first one was taken on my mobile and the others are from the ebay auction.








And why is it a bargain? Because I got it for the cheapity-cheap price of £56. It's got quite a few scratches on the case back (which doesn't bother me) and a 2mm scratch on the face by the 57th minute marker, which can only be seen if it catches the light.

Whaddaya reckon?

[CmdrBond]

Very nice, I have one incoming (should be here tomorrow) from a guy selling it on TZ-UK, but mine is going to be on the steel bracelet and got mine for £65.

IMHO, they are a lot of watch (in demand as well) for not a lot of money. Think we both got a bit of a bargain

[205lad]

I got a brand new Monster on metal bracelet for the princely sum of £68. Great watches.

[PH5121]

Mine came today (orange face with rubber strap), £105 off a seller on E bay.
Not a bargain like some of you guys but I'm happy and it came next day.

[GregE240]

I own the exact same watch. I bought it from ebay from a seller in Wales I think? About £100.

Great value for money, and built like the proverbial brick outhouse.

[Bill Carr]

Cheers for the kind words guys. Am wearing the beast as I type. Well pleased with it.

A quick question for you - when you unscrew the crown, does it wobble/feel a little flimsy to you? Mine does, and was just wondering "if they all do that" or if the crown is likely to fall off in the near future...

[GregE240]

Yeah, mine does too, it seems to come out a long way as well, compared to the other auto watches I own.

My lad has one too (I bought it as a reward for a good school report) and his is exactly the same.

[CommanderJameson]

Bill Carr said:

Cheers for the kind words guys. Am wearing the beast as I type. Well pleased with it.

A quick question for you - when you unscrew the crown, does it wobble/feel a little flimsy to you? Mine does, and was just wondering "if they all do that" or if the crown is likely to fall off in the near future...

No. I have a black monster and the crown and bezel are very solid indeed.

The bezel of yours appears to be missing the lume dot at 12.

Edited by CommanderJameson on Wednesday 3rd September 12:37

[Civpilot]

CommanderJameson said:

Bill Carr said:

Cheers for the kind words guys. Am wearing the beast as I type. Well pleased with it.

A quick question for you - when you unscrew the crown, does it wobble/feel a little flimsy to you? Mine does, and was just wondering "if they all do that" or if the crown is likely to fall off in the near future...

No. I have a black monster and the crown and bezel are very solid indeed.

+1 Black Monster here too and the Crown is very solid when pulled out and doesn't wobble in the slightest. The bezzle is also nice and tight with a lovely ratchet action when you turn it.

[Bill Carr]

Interesting, mixed responses. TBH I'm not concerned about a wobbly-crown, although the lack of 12 o'clock dot is intriguing. The black triangle is slightly recessed and it doesn't look like a dot was ever there. Maybe an obscure model variation?

[A - W]

Congrats on the purchase from a Black Monster owner.

It had to go back inside of three weeks as it was gaining time very quickly. 5mins over every 15.
Sent it back to Seiko, back inside of a week all done and working ever since. *touches wood*

Great watch!

[CmdrBond]

And here is a picture of mine -



Going to get its first outing tomorrow as back to work, but this is the next one I am going to get. It is a modified Monster done by a guy on TZ-UK based in Hong Kong. This one has the casing and bracelet treated with something called Ti blasting. You can have any combination of different faces, hands, straps and bracelets, can really make it individual.

Any thoughts???

[warren182]

Contact details for the guy that can customize them? OT, but what are peoples opinions on the franken-monster?

[CmdrBond]

Here is a link to his current catalogue -

yobokies photobucket "catalogue": http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t208/yobokies/ (PM yobokies on this site)

Like I said he is based in Hong Kong, here is his email address -

[e-mail]

His name is Harold and his work is highly regarded on tz-uk

[Bill Carr]

CmdrBond said:

It is a modified Monster done by a guy on TZ-UK based in Hong Kong. This one has the casing and bracelet treated with something called Ti blasting. You can have any combination of different faces, hands, straps and bracelets, can really make it individual.

Any thoughts???

That looks pimp-as. You should buy it. NOW!

[CmdrBond]

Watch fund for this month is empty now, but will be getting one of the modded ones. Harold (the guy in Hong Kong) has just announced that he now does a black dial (date and non date versions) with orange hands and orange second hand like this one. Place that in the Ti blasted case and original Monster bracelet and I will be a happy boy. Have asked Harold how much it would be to achieve that, and I am awaiting his reply

[cyberface]

And here's mine...



So the OP's is definitely different from both mine and CmdrBond's - perhaps it's an older design since it looks bashed about a bit. Both the lume dot and the hands are different.

Also the movement in the open-back pic on the OP's watch is different to the 7s26 in the Monster... which has 21 jewels and doesn't look like the picture shown (which states 23 jewels) - check this article out for details on the Monster.

So what actually *is* the watch you've bought? It's not an Orange Monster - certainly not a 'normal' one at any rate.

As to the sturdiness of the watch - every Monster I've seen feels solid as a rock, no loose crowns or bezels - they feel they could survive a nuclear explosion. So I'm really not sure what yours actually is??? Sadly there are fake Monsters out there...

[anonymous-user]

Bill Carr said:

CmdrBond said:

It is a modified Monster done by a guy on TZ-UK based in Hong Kong. This one has the casing and bracelet treated with something called Ti blasting. You can have any combination of different faces, hands, straps and bracelets, can really make it individual.

Any thoughts???

That looks pimp-as. You should buy it. NOW!

I like it. It's very sinn-esque isn't it? Is it one of Bill Yao's creations? He's done some brilliant military style watches.

Buy it now and get me one too.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 4th September 07:13

[Bill Carr]

cyberface said:

So the OP's is definitely different from both mine and CmdrBond's - perhaps it's an older design since it looks bashed about a bit. Both the lume dot and the hands are different.

Also the movement in the open-back pic on the OP's watch is different to the 7s26 in the Monster... which has 21 jewels and doesn't look like the picture shown (which states 23 jewels) - check this article out for details on the Monster.

So what actually *is* the watch you've bought? It's not an Orange Monster - certainly not a 'normal' one at any rate.

As to the sturdiness of the watch - every Monster I've seen feels solid as a rock, no loose crowns or bezels - they feel they could survive a nuclear explosion. So I'm really not sure what yours actually is??? Sadly there are fake Monsters out there...

The thick plottens.

If it *is* a fake, I'm not much concerned - the watch seems very well made (save for the slightly-wobbly crown!) and as far as I'm concerned it's a keeper.

Just to clarify, the bezel on mine is as sturdy as a very sturdy thing and the rest of the watch does not feel flimsy. It feels like you could bludgeon someone to death with it, should you be so minded. Not that this is particularly indicative, but it doesn't *feel* fake (possibly a testament to the abilities of modern forgers?!).

It is *possible* that it's an early design. The ebay auction mentioned it was from the 1980s but I ignored this as I believed Monsters were only available post 2001-ish. Regardless, there is still a possibility that it could be one of the earliest models as it is well-used - was there a "facelift" model perhaps?!

Another thought that occurs is that it could be a franken-hybrid. The hands on mine appear to be the same as on CommanderJameson's black Monster posted here. And as Cyberface points out, it's a 23 jewel movement rather than the 21 jewel more usually found in the Monster. Perhaps taken from a different model (e.g. the '5)?

All very intriguing! Can anyone shed any more light on it? I'm going to contact Seiko to see if they can prove (or disprove) the provenance of my watch.

Watch (hehe) this space.

[GregE240]

Bill, is there a reference to the movement? Is it a Seiko movement inside it?