Nov 30, 2010 Digital Watch Week Watch #2 Vintage 1970's Seiko A134-5000T

Today's watch is this vintage Seiko Digital. This is the first watch that I can remember my father ever wearing.
I believe the watch dates to 1978. The watch measures about 35mm across and features day/date and alarm and hourly beep. Amazingly, this 30+ year old digital still functions as it should and keeps good time. Other than the smallish size compared to modern watches,it still looks fantastic and is an execelent dressy digital watch. I enjoy wearing it!

Nov 29, 2010 Digital Watch Week Watch #1 Casio G-Shock GW-5600J

Today's watch is the Casio G-Shock 5600J. This watch is the modern version of the classic DW-5600. This awesome watch features wave ceptor atomic time sync, tough solar charging, stainless steel caseback, 12 and 24 hour time display, auto calendar pre programed until 2099,alarms, stop watch, countdown timer, EL backlight, battery power indicator, power saving function and water resistance to 200m/660ft. The case diameter is 43mm and is 13mm thick.

I plan on putting this watch on a NATO strap and when I do I will post more pictures.

To see how to put a NATO Strap on a G Shock without adapters, check out the link below.

How to put a NATO Strap on a G Shock

Nov 28, 2010 Paul Frank PF1001 Julius Watch on Red Bund Strap

Today's watch is another fun watch. The Paul Frank PF1001 Julius Watch. This is another watch I borrowed from my sister to review. She will be getting this one back.

It's a funny watch featuring Julius the Monkey on the face. The watch is quite large measuring 44mm across to the crown and it is 10mm deep and is on a Red Bund Strap. That's funny to me since Bunds are Military pilot straps.

The watch is cool in an odd way. I am not sure if I would wear it in public but hey you never know!

Paul Frank is a cartoonist, artist and fashion designer. His most well known character is Julius the monkey. My sister has a few more Paul Frank watches so I will be posting more of them in the near future.

Nov 27, 2010 Fossil PR-5187

Today's watch is really cool because it belongs to my good friend Ed Diaz. Ed is a world famous musician and is a keyboard product specialist for Roland.

Check out his you tube channel!

Ed Diaz Roland Keyboards

This fossil features a mineral crystal, a fold over clasp with safety, 38mm stainless steel case, stainless steel strap, Japanese Quartz movement, and is water resistant to 330 Feet.

Nov 26, 2010 Brown Leather Strap Week Watch #5 Paul Frank PF1071 RV Watch

Today's watch is a fun piece! It's a Paul Frank PL 1071 with an old school looking RV on the face. Very Cool! It belongs to my sister but I doubt she is going to get it back! It's just to awesome! A watch with an old RV on the dial. Looking around the internet I saw a few different watches with RV's on the dial. I may start collecting them.

Paul Frank is a cartoonist, artist and fashion designer. His most well known character is Julius the monkey. My sister has a few more Paul Frank watches so I will be posting them in the near future.

A watch with an old school RV on the face! Awesome!

Nov 25, 2010 Thanksgiving Day! Brown Leather Strap Week Watch #4 1950 Jaeger-LeCoultre with a Turler Branded Dial

Today's watch is my most prized possession. It's a 1950 Jaeger-LeCoultre with a Turler Branded Dial.

My grandfather bought this JLC from the Turler jewelry store in Switzerland in 1950. He told me it was the thinnest watch in the world when he bought it. He gave it to me 26 years ago when I was 12. Not having a clue about it, I wore daily for 10 years until the crown broke off. I really beat the crap out of it.I finally had the crown replaced a few months ago (not gen) and had the crystal polished and the dial cleaned.

This watch is powered by the JLC Cal. P480 Movement. This movement has also been used by another legendary Swiss watch maker, Vacheron Constantin.

The watch features seconds at 6 and rose gold markers on a champagne dial.

I love this watch! Hope to pass it on to my grandkid one day.

11/25/10 - Turkey Trot 5k time

Happy Thanksgiving!




Shockey participated in the The Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot! It is the largest Thanksgiving Day event of its kind in the country. Starting from humble beginnings 42 years ago at White Rock Lake, it has grown into the undisputed "Way to Begin Thanksgiving Day" for thousands of locals as well as those who travel to share in this great event. The Trot tradition has now extended through generations of participants who celebrate the holiday with grandparents, relatives, friends and their youngest who we look to see with their own families in the years ahead. The Dallas YMCA supports strong kids, strong families and strong communities.

Way to go Shockey!

Nov 24, 2010 Brown Leather Strap Week Watch #3 Diesel DZ-2015

This is a very cool quartz movement watch that features a world map on a green face with orange dot markers. It has analog day and date and is water resistant to 100 meters. It wears a dark brown wide strap with a big stainless buckle.

A very cool watch!Search Amazon.com for diesel watch

Nov 23, 2010 Brown Leather Strap Week Watch #2 Hamilton Masterpiece.

Today's watch is another special watch. It's my fathers gold retirement watch! There used to be a tradition in the United States that when you retired, your company would give you a gold watch for your years of service. Since Hamilton was the greatest of the American watch makers, most retirees were given Hamiltons. Sadly this tradition is gone. This particular watch was given to my father by a company called Badger Engineers, it is engraved with the date and his name on the case back. My pop was never very fond of this watch. He kept it in its box in his closet for 20 years until I asked if I could have it. I cleaned it up and changed the battery and put it on a brown leather strap. I think it looks fantastic!

The watch is quartz, powered by a Swiss ETA movement. It is 10k gold filled. Gold filled is a process where a base metal such as brass is sandwiched between 2 pieces of solid gold and then rolled out to a desired thickness. It's not a durable as solid gold but better than gold plating. That's ok since I don't wear this watch very often.

Hamilton was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892. They were made in the US until 1969 when they moved to Switzerland.

Hamilton! Great watches!

11/23/10 - Ironman

Can't wait to post my 5k time after the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.

Nov 22, 2010 Brown Leather Strap Week Watch #1 Swatch Croccante SCK401

Todays watch is my vintage 1994 Swatch Croccante. A very cool clear cased chronograph powered by an ETA quartz movement as are all swatches. This was was part of swatches 1994 Fall Winter Collection and was designed in 1993. That can be confusing to collectors as it has 1993 on the dial. This watch has a very cool aged patina and has held up very well for a 16 year old plastic watch! I still wear it regularly.

Cool watch by an iconic swiss watchmaker!

Nov 21, 2010 Fossil Blue digital for a round at Hancock

11/21/10 - gw6900 Zulu!

To see how to put a NATO Strap on a G Shock without adapters, check out the link below.

How to put a NATO Strap on a G Shock

Nov 20, 2010 Timex Ironman on a NATO strap at the driving range

My father in law gave me this watch. It needed a strap. As usual, I put it on a NATO. NATO straps rule!

Nov 19, 2010 Nato Strap Week Watch #5 Casio G Shock GL-7500HD-1 Milshock on DYI NATO/ZULU Strap

Today's watch is my G Shock 7500 that I fitted with a modified heavy duty 4 ring Zulu Strap. I had wanted to put one of my G Shocks on a NATO but after Shockeys struggles with the adapters I wanted to find another way. I came up with this. Instead of modifying the watch or using adapters, why not modify the strap itself. I chose a heavy duty 22mm ZULU and cut notches at the points it needed to fit the lugs. I then melted the cuts with a lighter. It worked great!

Besides being fitted with a NATO, this is a really cool watch. It is a limited edition 2005 model that was designed by legendary Hawaiian Surfer Donald Takayama. It's a G-Lide model that features a tide graph, moon phase indicator and a vibrating alarm that is perfect for swimmers, surfers, water skiers and anybody else who needs an alarm they can feel instead of hear.

It's a fantastic watch that I am very proud to own!

Casio makes a great watch!

Nov 18, 2010 Nato Strap Week Watch #4 5513 Homage Milsub

Today's watch is another watch that I put together. It is a homage to the Rolex 5513 No Date Submariner Milsub. I bought a cheap 16610 copy on the bay from a guy in China and the dial on the bay from a guy in Hong Kong. Origiainaly I had sword hands on it since I wanted it to be a milsub. The 5513 is my favorite example of the submariner. The watch was in production from 1962 until 1990. The 5513 has no date complication so the dial has a much cleaner look and no ugly cyclops on the crystal. I prefer the 5513 to its modern counterpart the 14060 due to the matte finish of the dial and the lack of steel rings around the hour markers. I also like the acrylic domed crystals of the 70's and early 80's versions. I am in the process of sourcing a acrylic crystal for this watch. As usual, I hope to own a genuine 5513 someday.

I am wearing this watch on a "Bond NATO" strap. It's not exactaly like the NATO 007 wore but it's close. I will write more about that later.

The 5513. A fantastic underated and overlooked submariner!