Yobokies (yoB okieS)

Despite never wearing any jewelry, I would always appreciate a nice watch. I’m a lot like my father that way. He has a few really nice timepieces but never wears them. Some of them are still in the box from the 70’s (deadstock). I think I found watches to be a general nuisance on my wrist and I thought I would always worry about wearing (and breaking) something of value – something I could easily get along without.

A few months ago, I was walking around at lunch with my friend Justin and came across a small jewelry shop near my office. They sell cheap $10-$200 type watches, they do a lot of repair work and also sell small pieces of jewelry. While browsing the shop, I saw a 50% off sign hovering over the Seiko watch section and noticed this piece for about $75CAD.

I didn’t particularly like the band, but I liked the simple steel case. It reminded me of some of one of my Dad’s higher end pieces. The dial (face) was okay but also nothing special. What stood out for me was the price and that this was an automatic movement piece (no batteries). Since I didn’t wear a watch and wasn’t particularly thrilled about this piece, I moved on and never thought about it for a while. Then randomly one day, I came across this “Wired” article that opened my eyes to the world of watch “moding” and customizing the “Seiko 5” in particular.

You can read the article, but it goes through the culture of folks who modify their watches, changing everything. From simple updates like the band, to more involved changes like the dial, hands and bezel. What was interesting was that the “Seiko 5” was one of the main pieces people would use as their canvas. The watch of choice for modifiers.

Here’s a snipit from the article that will give you a sense of what the 5 is all about:

“The SEIKO MODEL 5 probably is the best watch you’ve never heard of. Seiko sold more than 5 million of them in the four years after its introduction in 1963. Never had so many paid so little for a high quality watch. Critical parts were machined to within 2 microns (1/25,000th inch) of spec, a tolerance not typically seen in a $20 watch. Here, at last, was the poor man’s Rolex.

Like its luxury-oriented Swiss counterpart, the Model 5 had a metal band and an automatic movement that eliminated the daily winding ritual. It was also water resistant and ridiculously over-engineered: The mainspring was made from a nearly unbreakable alloy called Diaflex; an ingenious shock absorption system protected the movement from violent impact; and the patented Hardlex crystal was virtually shatterproof. More than just being rugged, the Seiko 5 had style. The stainless steel lugs were brushed, the day and date were displayed in the same window (a novel idea in those days), and the crown, recessed behind the 4 o’clock position, gave the case a clean look.”

After reading the article, I was hooked and let my wife know. She thought I was crazy, but after hearing about it from me, she worked with my friend Justin to track down our lunchtime jewelry store and my parents and her bought it for me for my birthday. After endless hours looking at various mods, I narrowed down a look and tracked down the parts. I was looking for something non branded and simple with a military/field watch type look. In terms of parts, there’s only a few places to source this stuff. I settled on Yobokies from Hong Kong. If you’re wondering about the name, it’s actually Seiko Boy spelled backwards. The parts were not cheap. Including the band, it came out to more than the watch itself. I took the parts to the jeweler where I bought the watch and he put it together for me for a few bucks. I would be interested in doing it myself, but for a one (or two) time job, it just wasn’t worth buying the tools. I should note the jeweler noted that the original Seiko parts, particularly the hands, were of higher quality than the pieces I bought.

Here’s the finalized mod. It’s debadged with a lume 3 face. I had matching lume 3 hands in bright orange. The band is a simple 18mm blue coloured Navy band.