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Last week, No.30 of WATCH magazine came out, including my column on vintage Rolex watches. WATCH is a Dutch lifestyle magazine,yachtmaster replica, covering topics on travelling, photography, cars, HiFi, fashion and watches. WATCH also releases a watch annual, like the Armband Uhren Katalog, covering most watch brands and their collections. One of the other authors on watch topics is watchelebrity Elizabeth Doerr. She writes about haute horlogerie for approximately 20 titles (world wide), including the web portal WorldTempus.
The column I wrote for this edition,rolex watch replica, is mainly about the popularity of vintage Rolex watches and the things you should pay attention to when buying them. My former two articles for WATCH magazine were about being spoiled (or neglected) by the big watch brands and about the watch industry and e-commerce.
Last year I posted an item about a discontinued analog-digital watch from Omega, the X-33. Today I am finally posting the actual review of the watch, obtained from ebay shortly after that posting. Why the long delay? Well, read on and see!
On the negative side, the alarm volume (which was a NASA requirement, so it could be heard in a loud environment) reduced the versatility of the watch – to get that loud, Omega used a dual-layer caseback with vents, meaning that it's really, really not very waterproof at all. It's rated to 30m (100ft), but having disassembled mine, I wouldn't recommend showering or swimming with it. The gasket is held in place by vertical pressure from the screwed caseback,
I've also worn it to fly in a Piper Lance. As expected, the watch is unmatched for aviation: I used mission time for flight time, the timer for switching fuel tanks, the UTC time for weather and flight plan, and stopwatch for time since engine start. It was easy to hear the alarm, even in a very noisy plane with headphones on, and the display was super readable. I should also note that, when flying, I really prefer watches without reflective surfaces, as the glints and flashes of light are annoying and distracting; the X-33 is superb in this regard. I also quite like how the combination of domed AR-coated crystal and hands makes the watch readable from a wider range of angles than anything else I've ever seen. It's readable at very oblique angles, which is also nice for sneaking the time in long meetings.
Mine came on Omega's leather-backed kevlar strap, which is cool but impractical. (At least in the Air Force, synthetic straps are forbidden in aircraft, as they will fuse to your skin in a fire. Ouch.) I put it on a plain leather strap with white stitching, which works well for a watch that should never be wet anyway. There is a version on a titanium bracelet as well.
Prices have gone up and down on the used market, I (over)paid $1,300 for this one without box or papers. That's an 
The Seiko SBCM023 is a deceptive watch. At first glance, if you look at the bezel, case, bracelet and dial, it appears to hail from their line of SKX mechanical divers. The guarded crown at four o'clock position, the SKX hands, and thick lume all conspire to deceive. A closer look at the dial with its "perpetual calendar" text tells the informed observer that this is, in fact, an unusual quartz movement.
Pictured here next to the 44mm SBDX001, the differences from the SKX series are more apparent. It's 5mm narrower, has a thinner bezel, and is quite a bit thinner to boot. The rest of the SKX series are 44mm, making the SBCM023 a very unusual Seiko indeed. You can also see from this picture that the dial is actually a dark grey, not black, but the difference is quite subtle.
The really interesting thing about this watch is the movement. Normal quartz runs a 32kHz, and is accurate within 15 seconds per month, or 180 seconds per year. The 8F35 in this watch runs at a faster 192kHz, and is nine times as accurate at 20 seconds per year, or less than two seconds per month! By way of comparison, the most accurate quartz you can buy is the Citizen Chronomaster, at 5 seconds per year. This Seiko is within shouting distance of that, and costs a tenth of the price. Seiko didn't stop there, though — it's also a perpetual calendar, so the date is always correct, and the battery is rated to an extraordinary ten years. That's quite an achievement.
If you go looking for super-accurate quartz movements, you'll notice that many of them are put into semi-formal watches like the Citizen. The SBCM023 is a full-on diver's watch with a unidirectional 120-click bezel, screwdown crown, diver's bracelet extension, 200m rating, and super bright lume. Combined with the lower height and an excellent bracelet, you have one of Seiko's most versatile watches ever made. This watch can go from the dive boat to the blue suit with effortless ease as though it were a more accurate Submariner. It won't demonstrate your income like a Rolex might, but for the man (or woman, actually) wanting a single watch that does it all, the SBCM023 is a very good choice.
The bracelet is excellent: solid links, double pushbuttons with fliplock, fixed-length diver's extension, nicely and evenly brushed with polished sides and bevelled clasp. The links are held with the usual pin-and-collars, and the clasp has a generous four micro-adjustments. The end links are hollow,
In the profile picture, you can see how the lines of the lugs curve down around the wrist while the back-to-side curve similarly ensures comfort.
