Budong The Collector

 My enthusiasm for mechanical watches started a long time ago, but never really gained momentum until recently. While I pride myself for owning mechanical watches since I was young, I have never really put much effort in researching about them not wanting to know more about the specific models and how they came about. All I knew was mechanical watches were cool because you did not need any battery changes every now and then. Little did I know that mechanical watches needed maintenance as well. The recent events that limited our movement outside of our homes gave rise to a lot of free time and it gave me an opportunity to try watch making for myself. This was something I wanted to try for quite some time, but did not know where to begin. I first considered going through some sort of formal training, but there are limited options for formal training where I am from. And while online options were available, fees were quite steep for me. Of course there are a ton of content on the inte...

 It was 1989 when the Nintendo Gameboy first came out. One would be the envy of everyone else if you had one of these. It was cutting edge for its day, but compared to more recent tech, this is ancient. It had  no built in memory or games - you had to buy game cartridges. It had a mono speaker. The screen was monochrome and had no backlight. Over the years, mods have been introduced and fairly recently were new mods introduced to this handheld that revitalized it's status as the granddaddy of all hand held gaming consoles. Here we have the backlit, IPS screen. A modded original Gameboy with IPS display. Though the original DMG Gameboy has had this revolution in the past few years, it's still largely relegated as a collectors item. I myself have modded several Gameboys yet I find myself only playing with these a few hours each week. It is no longer the addicting handheld game console it once was, but that doesn't stop a handful of enthusiasts, mostly my age, who still love a...

When people say Japanese watches, I immediately think Citizen and Seiko. Of course Seiko was established first and had it's foot through the door before Citizen could walk. However, Citizen also has a very interesting history and in my opinion it has made watches that rivals Seiko in form and function. Here in the Philippines, both Seiko and Citizen are popular watch brands. However, of the two, Seiko is more popular. It is probably because of the unlimited options the Seiko 5 line offers and the reasonably affordable diver's watches that have now become very iconic. Citizen is not very far behind with their Citizen Eagle 7 line that rivals the Seiko 5, but I think the Citizen 7 is not as extensive. In general, most people here who like automatic watches go for Seiko. It is probably an unfair comparison if you compared the brands in terms of their history and popularity since Seiko would take the cake. Citizen has mostly been an alternative to Seiko in terms of how its watc...

My Father bought identical Seiko 5 Watches in Australia back in 1997. Only difference is the dial color. He gave the black dial one to me and eventually he gave the white dial one as well. Both watches are still working. Dimensions Case Diameter: 38mm Thickness: 11mm Lug tip to Lug tip: 42mm Lug Width: 19mm Specifications Crystal: Hardlex Water resistance: 30m Case Material: Stainless Steel; Solid case back. Movement: 7s26 (Automatic 21Jewels; 21,600bph) Complications: Day/Date Case Code:  7S26-8760 Power reserve: 43 Hours Applied gold indexes and gold hands. Day and date nicely framed at 3 o'clock. Seiko and Seiko 5 shield applied below 12 o'clock. Printed "AUTOMATIC" and "21 JEWELS" above the 6 o'clock. Broad sword style hands are lumed and there are also lume dots above each hour marker except at the day and date.Second hand is plain and thin. Case style is from the 70's if I'm not...

Chinese watches are getting better. With the advent of social media, more and more people are being informed and convinced that Chinese watches are not at all as bad as we think. Of course in buying anything, one must take some risk and I would say much more so for these relatively new and sometimes very generic Chinese watches. One Chinese brand that caught my attention is Guanqin. I first saw this brand on Aliexpress and I got a bit curious about it. Thanks to Youtubers who have reviewed watches from this brand, I have also pulled the trigger and bought myself a Guanqin watch. Here it is! The Gaunqin GQ008815 Automatic Watch. Specifications Case diameter: 39 mm Case thickness: 12 mm Lug width: 19 mm Lug tip to lug tip: 48 mm Crystal: Sapphire Movement: Unknown Chinese movement Hacking: Yes Manual Wind: Yes Complications: Date only Price: Php 2,300 (Approx USD 44) Purchased Online:  https://www.lazada.com.ph/-i135106104-s151282258.html?urlFlag=true&mp=...

My father gave me this watch sometime in 1993. I was in grade school and back then all of my classmates had those really colorful digital watches. I didn't mind though. I reveled in the thought that my watch didn't need any batteries. My classmates would look at me in confusion as I tried to explain that my watch didn't need batteries because it was an automatic. Of course back then, I didn't care about brands or movements or what "jewels" meant for a watch. It was just cool to brag about a watch with no batteries. I don't know where my father got this watch. He also couldn't remember how this came into his possession. It was obviously pre-owned since there was some name engraved on the clasp. By the time I was given this watch, it was already pretty scuffed. Of course in the years that followed, I also added to those dings and scratches. I've tried searching the internet for a similar one, but so far I have not found any. There is also no spec...

While Seiko has the "5", Citizen has the "7". Also called the Eagle 7, this must be Citizen's answer to the popular Seiko 5 line. Though, I'm uncertain if the Eagle 7 lineup is as extensive as the Seiko 5's, the watches I have seen are quite good looking. And like the Seiko 5's, it has a myriad of different flavors and styles. I got this one from the used market earlier this year (2018). It was an accidental purchase because I was not counting on it being gold. The posted photos looked silver to me and there was no mention of it being gold. I was uncomfortably surprised when I saw the watch in person and by then it was too late to cancel the deal. Here it is, my Citizen Eagle 7. It came with a metal bracelet, but it was missing the end link. I scrapped the bracelet and got a black leather strap for this. It has a black dial with stripes, a day & date complication. It has that iconic eagle badge with a red shield. In the middle of the shiel...