Seiko Sumo rep first impressions.

[judas9r 913]

So. Way back in March, right at the beginning of UK lockdown. I took a gamble on a fake Seiko SPB101j1 Sumo from Wish. It was my first and only order from Wish and, I hoped. That by punting out a little extra cash, I'd maybe step up on the quality of the Turtle watches on offer there. So I forked out the £90 and sat down to enjoy my wait.

In the first month of waiting, naturally, i bought two other watches from China both of which arrived within the usual time frame, but still no Sumo. Another month of waiting and I began to get odd messages from Wish. On investigation it seemed that some lovely person in Russia had jacked my account. Long story short, when I got my account back it had all sales history wiped and there was no record of my purchase to chase up. By this time I already suspected that I had fallen foul of some scam, wrote it off and bad mouthed Wish to anyone who would listen.

August the 4th. Mystery package arrives? It's only the blooming Sumo! Five months! It was black and I had ordered green, but hey! It was like a free watch.

So here it is, fresh out the box.

Seems pretty good, bezel has a little play and bracelet has a little more lateral flex than I would expect but overall not too bad. Appears to have applied indesies rather than the give away pressed dial of the fake turtles. Printing on the dial may be a little faint and the crystal and bezel insert both feel pretty jank. Standard nh35a movement marled Seiko. Lume is impressive and lasts all night.

Functional divers extension also.

First job to resize the bracelet. Spring bars caused some aggrevation as lug's were too deep for spring bar tool, went second opinion and found that one of the spring bars seemed to be seized? Improvised a tool and removed it. The strap adjustment went without issue (friction pins), will refit the bracelet when new gen spring bars arrive tomorrow. In hindsight I should have done an oil bath. As you see from pics, currently residing on black leather nato.

Edited August 4, 2020 by judas9r
Extra info.

[judas9r 913]

Took this watch snorkel diving four times last week and it was fine until the last dip, after which, some condensation formed on the inside. Cleaned out and all good again but noticed chapter ring slightly misaligned after re-assembly.