Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Seiko Blue Monster Limited Edition (500 Pieces) 100th Aniversary Automatic Divers Watch.

The seiko monsters were always one of seiko's most iconic dive watches well known for is bold design, robustness and of course the radioactive like Lume!!! I have owned an orange monster before (1st Generation 7s26) and really liked it. I sold it off about two years ago mainly because almost everyone had a monster it wasn't very unique anymore. (I have an obsession with being unique :P)

Fabulous Blue Dial
 
Ever since I sold it, I missed it! and I had contemplated getting one of the 2nd generation monsters (4r36) but of course I knew that I might eventually sell it off aswell (unique factor) and thus dissmissed the notion again until I saw the Seiko SRP455K1 Limited Edition Blue Monster. Immediately I fell in love with and felt that the metallic blue dial was stunning and well complemented with gold hands, blue bezel and gold crown.

But again I dissmissed it thinking that with it being a limited edition, shops are going to ask wayyyy more than the standard monsters and the Blue rubber strap was not to my liking and eventually I would fork out even more to get a stainless steel bracelet and thus tearing a big hole in my very thin pocket :(

Gold lined hands
 
And then it happened, recently in the month of Ramadhan in 2013, as I was browsing at one of my favourite malls in downtown and I caught a glimpse of the Blue monster in the flesh but only this time...it was on a Stainless Steel Bracelet!!! "Oh yeah!!!"  as I handled the watch and flipped it over to see the case back I was very surprised to etched in place of the serial number is a limited serial number..."XXX/500" and I went hmmm the SRP455's only had the standard 6 digit seiko serial number... why was this one different? Then the shop owner explained that this is a different model called the SRP461K1 and its production is limited to only 500 pieces.

Oh no.. a "Truely Limited" Limited Edition Seiko monster?? I just had to have it!!! I thought to myself... "Whats not to like??? its probrably one of the best and perfect monster for me...

* Nice Blue Metallic Face
* Stainless Steel Case and Bracelet. Not all the way PVD (only the Bezel was Blue PVD)
* 4r36 hack and Manual wind (which I have yet to try out)
* Truly Limited!!! 500 Piece edition... (Unique Factor!!!)
* The serial number was 00X/500

So it all came down to the Moolah.. how big of a hole was it going to burn??? and when I asked the shop uncle for the price he gave me absolutley no reason NOT to BUY IT!!! Damn he knows me well. I usually haggle but this time he gave me no room to bargain as it was already bloody good deal.

Unboxing
 
I love this watch!!! and would definitely recommend anyone to grab one while you can. If I had more moolah I would grab two but I guess I should let some other bloke enjoy it aswell :)

Not much point as doing a full review coz its basically the same as the SRP455K1 but with SS bracelet and the same as other 4r36 monsters out there except for the different colours

Happy 100th Aniversary Seiko!!! you have really made my 3Xth birthday a great one :)



 
Case back and Limited Serial Number

 
Agent 006



 
Wrist Shot!!!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Boarding a plane at SZB...the unconventional way.



0730 HRS. Waiting for the Boss at a Bistro having breakfast with a fellow colleague. The boss arrived, finished the drinks and off we went to board our aircraft. We had no tickets, no boarding pass, just a general declaration form with all the passengers IC numbers. After scanning our bags, off we went to the GA boarding area on the apron. GA stands for General Aviation which usually means small and private propeller or jet planes.

0830 HRS. There she stood on the apron ready for us to board. The Twin Engined Piper Seneca IV, what a beauty. After the control tower has approved of the flight plan, we Taxied off, waited for a diamond twin engined and a Firefly ATR-72 to clear, begun our take-off run and lifted off heading north towards Alor Setar.

If you haven't tried flying in a small propeller aircraft before, the experience is in no way the same as flying in a large 737 jet. This plane was unpressurized which means that it cannot go higher than 10000 feet. Any higher and you might pass out due to thin air. Small planes are more affected by turbulence and you would often be swaying, and rocking at certain altitudes. The plane cruised steadily at 3000 feet but experienced turbulence at 5000 feet.

Flying at a cruising speed of 130 knots, (thats about 240 km/h)we finally reached Kepala Batas at around 1030 HRS. On the way we passed over Sabak Bernam, Lumut, Penang Island. One thing about flying in a GA aircraft is that you cant go to the toilet. So if you felt like you had to go, just hold it in until you touch down or find a bottle :)

It was very windy in Kepala Batas. It was very rocky as we made our decent, the aircraft would sway and you could see the runway up ahead but it was always moving to the left or right. A red master caution alarm buzzed and a red light came on but I wasn't that worried. My eyes were fixated on three green lights indicating that all three landing wheels were down and locked. There was some gust and the pilot landed sideways which was cool.

After a meeting and Lunch in Sg Petani, we headed back to Subang and took off at about 1730 HRS. A beautiful sunset greeted us over Sabak Bernam and we finally touched down at SZB at 1900 HRS.

The experience of boarding a private aircraft was great. In fact I actually felt like I was going on a plane with a columbian drug lord or a weapons tycoon hehehe :P or perhaps maybe its because the Seneca is quite the favourite for smuggling stuffs.

Monday, February 18, 2013

First for 2013...

Well I am still here, alive and kicking, armageddon apparantly is POSTPONED!!! Yayyy! But truth be told I cant blame the apocalypse for being lazy to update my blog.

As tech savvy as I think I am...I only just recently discovered the "Blogger" App for iOS device (shame on me). So now that I am currently writing this entry using the app I have no reason not to update the blog more frequently.

Relax... Its only the second month of the year. So what has happened in the past 3 months... well I have transitioned to a new workplace and of course have collected a few more watches (I'll review them in upcoming posts)

My Son has started Kindergarten (see updates on http://littlemonstarz.blogspot.com )

Liverpool is still a club that has much to be desired of and its getting really hard to face the "other" rival supporters :(

What ever it is... my blood will always be red... You'll Never Walk Alone.

( the picture below is just a test of the app capability )