G
Guest
·Authored by gojira
Some of you may remember my initial post on deciding on my first Japanese watch purchase here http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=279331
In the end, I went with neither of my 3 original choices and settled on the new so-called "Mini" Monster with the white face. I was offered an irresistible price by a local AD and after visiting the same store several times, finally gave in and purchased it yesterday. So here's my first attempt at a quick review to be followed by photos at a later stage...
![]()
Case: Solid, well-finished case with brushed and polished surfaces. Dimensions can be found all over the 'Net but I do feel that calling it a "Mini" Monster is a bit of a misnomer since it feels larger on the wrist, well, at least to me, than the actual Monster. So for the purpose of this review, I'll stick to calling it a Neo Monster. It wears well even on my tiny wrist although the height of the watch may make it difficult to wear with tight long sleeves.
Bezel: Counter-clockwise, 120 clicks, smooth and sturdy. The numerals are painted on, no lume pip at the 12 o'clock position. I do prefer the look of this bezel over the Monster's but the Monster's scalloped bezel does make it significantly easier to grip. A bit of a shame about the lack of lume pip but this is not an ISO-certified diver anyway.
Dial and crystal: Seiko's Hardlex crystal, flat, not domed like the Monster. Love the overall look of the dial but I did notice that the colour of the lume for the hour, minute and second hands appear to be more of a cream colour incomparison to the greenish-blue white of the hour indices.
Bracelet: Nice solid stainless steel bracelet using split-pin links. Slightly noisy around the clasp area. Styling is similar to the Monster.
Crown: Unsigned and does not screw down. All my other watches have screw-down crowns so I'm a little apprehensive on water-resistance.
Movement: The mass-produced 23-jewels 7S36B. So far so good but I do not really care if the watch is off by 5 or 25 seconds per day.
Lume: Dare I say it? Almost as good, if not as good as the Monster. The colour is slightly different to my eyes as the Monster's is a blue-green or intense green colour while the Neo Monster's is a whitish, light green. Still long-lasting and intense....I still get a kick out of it whenever I enter someplace dark.
Price: Around USD115. The prices here have gone up but not all the stores are using the new pricing so lucky me!
All in all, I'm very satisfied with my first Seiko....now all I need is a nice leather band to go with it...hahaha!
![]()
![]()
stock pictures
Some of you may remember my initial post on deciding on my first Japanese watch purchase here http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=279331
In the end, I went with neither of my 3 original choices and settled on the new so-called "Mini" Monster with the white face. I was offered an irresistible price by a local AD and after visiting the same store several times, finally gave in and purchased it yesterday. So here's my first attempt at a quick review to be followed by photos at a later stage...
Case: Solid, well-finished case with brushed and polished surfaces. Dimensions can be found all over the 'Net but I do feel that calling it a "Mini" Monster is a bit of a misnomer since it feels larger on the wrist, well, at least to me, than the actual Monster. So for the purpose of this review, I'll stick to calling it a Neo Monster. It wears well even on my tiny wrist although the height of the watch may make it difficult to wear with tight long sleeves.
Bezel: Counter-clockwise, 120 clicks, smooth and sturdy. The numerals are painted on, no lume pip at the 12 o'clock position. I do prefer the look of this bezel over the Monster's but the Monster's scalloped bezel does make it significantly easier to grip. A bit of a shame about the lack of lume pip but this is not an ISO-certified diver anyway.
Dial and crystal: Seiko's Hardlex crystal, flat, not domed like the Monster. Love the overall look of the dial but I did notice that the colour of the lume for the hour, minute and second hands appear to be more of a cream colour incomparison to the greenish-blue white of the hour indices.
Bracelet: Nice solid stainless steel bracelet using split-pin links. Slightly noisy around the clasp area. Styling is similar to the Monster.
Crown: Unsigned and does not screw down. All my other watches have screw-down crowns so I'm a little apprehensive on water-resistance.
Movement: The mass-produced 23-jewels 7S36B. So far so good but I do not really care if the watch is off by 5 or 25 seconds per day.
Lume: Dare I say it? Almost as good, if not as good as the Monster. The colour is slightly different to my eyes as the Monster's is a blue-green or intense green colour while the Neo Monster's is a whitish, light green. Still long-lasting and intense....I still get a kick out of it whenever I enter someplace dark.
Price: Around USD115. The prices here have gone up but not all the stores are using the new pricing so lucky me!
All in all, I'm very satisfied with my first Seiko....now all I need is a nice leather band to go with it...hahaha!
