Z199 for SKX011 Review

Faricazy

1 year ago

Just before summer I found my old SKX011 which was the first proper watch I bought. The winding mechanism wasn't working for some reason, finally got it serviced, and rediscovered what a great watch it is. Really glad I got the 011 and not an 007 or 009 back then - so fun to wear now that I'm less afraid of colors. 🥳 For summer vacation I put a fitted Islander FKM strap on it, which is EXCELLENT.

But for winter, I wanted a bracelet. Couldn't find the one it came on (despite finding the extra links...), so when Uncle had a sale last week, I jumped on it.

Overall, very nice. I got the cheap version with the bent end links and the stamped clasp. It feels a lot like the fishbone bracelet on my 6138, but of course more solid.

Negatives:

It came with shoulderless fat seiko springbars. I didn't even bother trying to use them, memories rushed back of struggling with the damn things back in the day. The Islander strap came on fat bars WITH notches (thanks Marc!) so I just reused those.

The clasp is super stiff initially, took a ton of force to open. Not really a problem, as it'll loosen and you can always take pliers to the retaining hook and dial in the amount of hold you want, but I was surprised it's so stiff out of the box.

And finally, again not really a problem, but resizing is a touch finicky because the tolerances are so tight in the links. Getting the screws through all five links takes a bit of patience.

Positives:

It's solid and loose at the same time. Perfect feeling of a vintage bracelet. I like mine very much on the loose side, and this works beautifully. Exactly what I wanted for the watch.