Post by dasher on Jan 26, 2016 14:55:40 GMT -8
In my opinion, one of the most widely-used movements by Seiko is the 7Sxx. There have been TONS of watches made by Seiko powered by the 7Sxx movement. In the field of Seiko Monster watches, the 7Sxx put Seiko firmly in the lead of rugged tool/diver watch producers. Among the Seiko Monster watches, one variation that I've always been fond of is the Seiko Frankenmonster.
The Seiko Frankenmonster is the 7S36-02S0. The Frankenmonster gets its nickname from the fact that the shroud screws look a bit like the bolts sticking out of Dr. Frankenstein's ("It's Frankensteen") Monster's neck. It is a shrouded Seiko 5 diver. It is a thing of beauty and comfort and hopefully a few readers of this review will take a chance on the Frankenmonster after reading this.
The Seiko Frankenmonster looks like these four watches:
Now that we know what they look like, let's get to the details of the Frankenmonster.
The Seiko Frankenmonster was produced, to the best of my knowledge, from August 2007 until December 2009. There aren't a lot of examples on the internet and this date range is the best I can come up with.
The Frankenmonster came with the designation of "SKZ_ _ _" with the three spaces being numbers.
The Blue Frankenmonster is the SKZ245:
The Orange Frankenmonster is the SKZ249:
The Yellow Frankenmonster is the SKZ251:
And the Black Frankenmonster is the SKZ255:
However, these four examples are not the entire Frankenmonster catalogue, but they represent my best efforts over the past few years to get the Frankenmonster Collection.
Among all these SKZ_ _ _ designations is the addendum of either "J1" or "K2". The "J1" signifies the watch was manufactured in Japan and has text on the dial to prove it (between the 7:00 and 8:00 hour markers). The "K2" signifies the watch was manufactured outside of Japan (my guesses: Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia). Nowhere on these watches is the word "Japan" found. All my examples are "K2". You will also notice that two of the watches have the seconds hand tipped in red, two in black. Also, two of them have the hour and minute hands with black edges, two with white.
Furthermore, there are a few other SKZ_ _ _ designations that I either do not have or have not seen. There is the SKZ247 which is some combination of Black and Steel, the SKZ253, which is a PVD coated case with black bezel and PVD bracelet - sort of the "all black SKZ". Lastly, in my research I have read a mention of a white dialed SKZ but do not know of the designation nor do I have a photo. This watch is mentioned as being available in Singapore only.
The Frankenmonster watches came either on a bracelet or a rubber strap. Most all of the bracelets look like one of these two:
A sort of textured center link with alternating smooth links on the edge and middle.
Another great feature of the Seiko Frankenmonster is the fold-over push button clasp with diver extension on the bracelet:
The rubber strap that came on the Orange Monster looks like this:
Continuing the discussion of the physical attributes of the Frankenmonster, I can briefly summarize up several things:
* 7s36 23 Jewel Automatic Movement
* Flat Hardlex Crystal
* VERY Bright Lumibrite Lume on the dial, hands, and bezel pip
* 200m Water Proof
* 22mm drilled lugs
* Part of the Seiko 5 Series - the Seiko 5 Series boasts 5 attributes of a Seiko 5 watch:
Diaflex (unbreakable mainspring) / Automatic Winding / Water Resistant / Diashock (Shock Resistant) / Date & Day
The Seiko Frankenmonster has a plastic resin shroud protecting it that, from my research, can only be removed after the crown is removed. There are two kinds of screws holding the shroud in place:
The crown is also stamped/etched/cast with the Seiko 5 logo.
Finishing out this review of the Seiko Frankenmonster, I found a variety of measurements for the case. I will stick with these for the purpose of this review:
the outside diameter of the bezel is approximately 39mm
not including the crown area, the case (including shroud) is approximately 47mm
the watch is approximately 14mm thick
The watch sits very flat on my 7 3/8" wrist, comfortably resting under my shirt sleeve. The rotating bezel is uni-directional with firm, smooth action.
The Frankenmonster does come up for sale from time to time, the prices seem to vary between $350 and $125. It is now time for me to get back to the hunt for that elusive white-dialed Frankenmonster - I hope you enjoy your own Frankenmonster!
Thanks for reading!
Dan
