Strapalooza 2007

The yellow-dial 7S26 Seiko diver (SKXA35) is a relatively recent addition to my collection. I quite like the dial. It is the very yellowest thing in the history of the world. Nothing before or since has been this yellow. I sold my last yellow watch more than five years ago, and I’m pleased to bring this one into the fold.

The only thing I wasn’t altogether enamored with was the standard Seiko rubber strap. It’s an excellent utility strap, but as these watches generally see grueling technical writing duty as their most hostile environment, shouldn’t we dress them up a bit? Check out this Panerai-style strap with yellow stitching that I found at The Watch Prince:

Cool, huh? It’s touched off “new watchband mania” in my collection. The carbon-fiber strap with gray stitching should be here for my Thayer-customized Seiko monster this week (shown here on its current Seiko diver strap):


I’ve also gotten excited about replacing the poor-quality leather strap that came on my Poljot Arctic, as well as a Citizen Eco-Drive chronograph that I bought two years ago but have hardly worn at all, because the strap and I didn’t get along.

This is a lot of the fun of getting new watches, for only a little of the money!

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3 thoughts on “Strapalooza 2007”

  1. Wowie. That’s yellow, alright!

    I, too, own several watches. None of them works at the moment; I’ve not worn any of them in so long that the batteries have all died. I get my time off my cell phone now. Maybe I’ll ask for watch batteries in my Christmas stocking…

    Reply
  2. If you’re still checking your comments on this, I’ve got one of these and am having a heck of a time changing out the strap, I’ve got a springbar tool but can’t seem to get the springbar to budge, what’s your trick?

    Reply
  3. Paul, I’ve not ever had any trouble with the spring bars that come on Seiko watches. When you say you have a spring bar tool, I assume you mean something pronged on the end, correct? You would definitely need to use that for the style of the yellow watch. However, for the “Monster,” note that its lugs are drilled all the way through, and it’s easier to deal with pushing from the outside. (The other end of my spring bar tool has a slender probe for this purpose, but I’ve also had success with a push pin.) Be careful, either way; the finishes aren’t forgiving of slipped tools. 🙂

    If the spring bars have been in there a while, they may be gummed up. If so, you might try a tiny drop of WD-40, and work it into the mechanism with gentle back-forth with your spring bar tool. Other than that, I’m not sure what to tell you. Good luck.

    Reply

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