My newly modded 5KX

I love my orange 5KX. But way back in April, I scratched my bezel insert in a tragic dual wristing accident.

Could I have sucked it up and dealt with this small amount of damage? Yes... I mean, maybe... but the SKX/SRPD family is the most modded watch on earth, so it only took about 5 minutes of Googling to find an insane diversity of aftermarket parts. And if you show me 300 slightly different versions of the same thing, I'm hooked.

A stock aluminum bezel insert can be had for about $20, but I wanted a material that I wouldn't ruin in another month of wear, so for $40 I got this gorgeous ceramic piece (with lume pip!) from DLW Watches in Singapore.

The insert arrived, and after just a few minutes of fidgeting, I was able to ruin a $2 Amazon case opener and permanently scratch the case. The bezel, of course, remained stubbornly attached. The project went on hold until a slightly better ($6) case opener arrived in the mail.

Unlike what YouTube would have you believe, removing a 5KX bezel should be a gradual process, not a single forceful twist of the knife. The forceful twist worked, but it bent the stock bezel permanently out of shape. Oops. At least the SRPD looks surprisingly handsome with no bezel.

So the project went on hold again until a new bezel arrived from Namoki Mods. (I also ordered some spare click springs and gaskets that I ended up not needing.)

The third package of this one-package project just arrived today, and for the first time in my modding journey, everything came together on the first attempt!!!

I still haven't come down from the high of not breaking yet another expensive part, but I'm really happy with the more casual streetwear-ish look. My collection has grown in the last couple months to include some smarter formal pieces, so it makes sense to turn my 5KX into something louder and more fun.

There were a lot of hiccups and unforeseen expenses in this project, but ultimately I think it looks like a special edition watch for less than a special edition price.

It would look even better with a gold crown, but I'm absolutely not touching that for now!!

Product Ratings

★★★★★ Seiko 5 SRPD - Quintessential. Don't care about hardlex, love the hacking movement. If I had bought a different first automatic, I wouldn't have been able to take this project on.

★★★★★ DLW Ceramic Bezel Insert - Feels premium and was surprisingly easy to install. The brown colour unexpectedly becomes quite reddish in sunlight.

★★☆☆☆ Monstraps Jubilee Bracelet - Designed for the SKX, it does fit the SRPD series, but not perfectly. Kind of defeats the purpose of paying for solid endlinks. Still serviceable but I would try Uncle if I was buying this again.

★★★☆☆ Namoki LX Bezel - Works fine, but I find it hard to believe that paying $40 got me a better product than $20 on AliExpress would have. If I take on a Seiko project that doesn't have any sentimental value attached, I'll try looking a bit further afield for parts.