I have come around on the quality of these bracelets. While I still wish they were better, they're just fine considering the overall price of the watch.
It had to happen. That jingly jangly feeling you complained about is what makes it fit in a comfortable manner. IMHO when a bracelet has zero flex, the wearing experience becomes tiresome after just 1 or 2 hours. For the price this bracelet is very decent. Cheers
I just appreciate your overall enthusiasm, and genuine love for the hobby. Like yourself, Steve, at times I lose my patience, especially when working w/ small, "uncooperative" parts. So I cuss, and I swear at things, and sometimes I screw things up......but I keep at it. All self-taught, like yourself. Prior to finding your videos, I thought it impossible for me to have enough patience, to work w/ such miniscule parts. Seeing you, and your trials and tribulations, gave me the incentive, that maybe I could work on my own watches as well. I've seen every one of your videos (some multiple times), and I've told you before, how good I think your work is. Just know that what you do, is appreciated, and well received. The rapid growth of your channel is evidence of this. Here's to a prosperous 2023. Cheers...
Love the video. I’ve always been into watches but new to the world of modding and your videos have inspired me to have a go myself. So thank you very much and look forward to watching your videos!
Another great video Dan ! I’ve got the Sd1970 and was initially reluctant to mod it as I thought it was pretty good as standard . It’s now slightly modded , but after watching yours I’m feeling another mod coming on 👍
Thank you for another great video. Thanks to yourself, and a select few others, I have now lost myself down the rabbit hole of wanting to mod watches, for myself and others. So far I have picked up the new GMT Seiko SSK005, a Joker sub modded Seiko, a couple cheap donor watches to play with, and a proper tool kit to get me started. Thanks again for introducing me to yet another form of modding, that will eventually leave me eating beans and toast for months at a time LOL. I look forward to watching your next videos.
Love the video! I find the multiple do-overs, improvising, expletives, and random tools flying into camera-view comforting as that seems to be exactly how MY projects go…😂 Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the review. I have a Steel dive Milsub. What I did was buy a miltat bracelet and just swap it with the Chinese watch I want to wear. I'm happy for the money to go in the watch head...
I opted for the rubber waffle strap and I’m so glad that I did! Looks more vintage and quality is excellent! I have the 1975 Tuna Limited coming in a few weeks. Great review cheers!
this is the best channel if you think everything will go smoothly, and if you think you will wreck the whole thing... if you need a confidence boost or a reality check, it still works the same
That exact NO LOGO Willard is the first watch I got in my watch obsession, about 2 years ago & it is still my favorite beater ($88; just below $100, all costs included). On a black waffle strap, there is nothing better. Never leaving my collection!
If you havent already, get yourself a really nice hepa air filter. It will essentially turn your room into a clean room and you are less likely to end up with dust on the dial. The key is to get one that moves alot of air, and never ever let pets into the room that you use to mod watches. I love your videos. You have inspired me to start this as a hobby and now I am a full blown addict.
I want to thank you for giving me the outage to literally swap an 4 o'clock NH36 into my skx009 that's hairspring was ruined my magnetism (thanks dad). It was easier than I thought with stem cutting taking forever w/o callipers. What I don't get is the whole swap the movt ring and day wheel thing when all one has to do one needs to do is but a 4 (3.8) o'clock nh36. Anyway thanks man!
Nice mod, changing the bezel insert to a domed one a skx insert fits perfectly with the bezel and the crystal. Looks great, wish I had that dial on mine.
Love it mate. I'm learning so much. I' so like you, when something goes wrong, talking to myself in disbelieve. Watch looks stunning! I put a purple mother of pearl dial (slightly lighter colour than yours), in a subby, with a black ceramic bezel insert with purple numering, mercedes hands, with a light blue yachtmaster style second hand. In low light the dial just looks purple, but in natural light it just picks up the purple of the numering , the blue of the second hand, but even some greens! It's wild mate. I'm like you, I can't stop looking at it. Anyway, It was my first build, and it's just a shame that the balance side of the second hand bent and then broke off, 'cause I didn't have a clue what I was doing. But it' working now, and I'm leaving it as is, as a reminder of my first build.
Great video. I've put mine an a rubber waffle strap, it works well. I actually like the green tinge to the indices and hands, think it makws it look more retro.
I have owned two of these watches, one that I gave to my brother and the other is my favorite beater. Both of them have perfectly fine bracelets. Are they luxury watch quality? Of course not. But they are far better than any Seiko bracelet I have ever owned.
I've had this Steeldive for over a year and on top of being comfortable, I haven't had any issues with the bracelet. In addition I think the square indecies give a more robust look than the round ones. The quality and build really feel premium. The only issue is its weight being on the heavy side.
Heey! Haven't seen you in a while. I love your channel mate. Always do find it very relaxing. Very enjoyable to watch. As for the watch, i got exactly the same model without logos, like it very much. Don't wana do anything with it in terms of modding, cos lume on this thing its just crazy! And yes, the only thing i would change its the bracelet. I'd like to put it on a president style bracelet, or even a jubilee, but the only option rn for me would be straight end link. Or maybe i could find some bracelet which will fit those end links. If you know any options, i would be very grateful. As for now i wear it with Seiko's nato from my srpe.
Happy Xmas! Maybe for a future vid you could attempt a relume on the Willard-alike hands just to keep them as an option. Thanks for the vid, talk about bang for your buck!
Hello Dan. I enjoy your videos very much. I think I have seen most of them several times now. In most cases I like your taste in style very much. Aside from the nice watche you build, I think you do it in a very entertaining way. As a matter of fact at the moment you are my favorite content creator. I think you should (re-)set up a patreon account or anything like that so it is possible to support you. If that helps you to make more videos this would be a win-win situation for all. I hope you continue the great work and anxiously wating for your next video. 👍👍👍
Awesome mod! The bracelets on an expensive Casio Edifice suck but everybody likes them for the price. This bracelet is at least 10 times better. Heck, even my Kamasu doesn't have solid endlinks and a milled clasp. Okay, I admit, it is jingly....but not extremely bad.... I bought mine for 59 euro on the summersale.....Talking bang for buck! I love your vids!
I just ordered this watch on Amazon, if it lives up to all hype my Seiko ssk 007 may go on Ebay. By way his fellows voice sounds like the Geico geckol.
I'm think if you made 2 videos a month you'd pick up more subs. And some shorts showing off your completed builds would help as well. Your channel is so underrated. Good luck to you!
I know this is old, but in case you check back. What is your thoughts on Steeldives crown not having any seals (O rings) and the crystal being void of any gasket? How are they suppose to be water resistant? I love the watch but the above mentioned is keeping me from doing any mods on it. I always look forward to your next videos. Thanks for the great content.
thank you for the video! For the bezel lume, do you think it will hold up with water/sea and general rough handling/scratch? Does it have much protective coating for the lume? I swim with my watch every now and then and am hesitate to get a bezel insert with lume markings as I wonder how they would hold up with swimming pool chlorine or sea water
I ordered one and it says it is going to be at the house today. I got the original looking silicone waffle strap on it, yes, that was my preference. Looking forward to getting home and checking it out, thanks for the video.
i want one of these with the branded crown and caseback but with a sterile dial on a black zulu strap but i cant get myself to ask them if they can make me one. also, usualy the jangly bracelets are confortable because they are more flexible.
Nice build, I really like the dial :) I just got mine, and I like it, but I feel like I can't wear it in good conscience until I do something to make it not a FULL clone. My idea is to paint the existing dial or order a new one to paint into a galaxy, and then I'd like to do some samurai hands because I always wanted a turtle with that samurai hour hand. This would be my first mod, but I feel like an $80 CAD watch would be the move for a first one, could always order another!
Yeah, that's the great thing about these budget AliExpress watches, they're good enough quality to be worth modding and cheap enough to be worth taking a risk on when getting into modding. God speed with your mod! I hope it all goes well and you end up with an awesome watch at the end of it. And maybe a new hobby/skill too!
Uncle Seiko wafle strap... The mistakes you do its funny 😂 It something that i would do in your place 😀😜😜 Im sure with little practice you will do miracles 😘😘 Greetings from Greece 😊😊
Yeah.. I did consider doing that. But I decided it was probably a better idea to keep the hand set complete rather than mix it up for this. I think if the Steeldive hands had been BGW9 I would have done that.
Do you have links of where you got your tools from? The hand revive tool and applicator for example? I love this steel dive watch. The mod is amazing. Thanks
They Did nail the bracelet. I have one I bought a couple weeks ago and they removed all Steeldive markings and it feels pretty nice. Nothing like my Breitling but nice none the less. The logo free look is fantastic, now if I could just find a way to swap the bezel insert. I could not get anything under it, including a bezel knife.
I bought the Tactical Frog versions and looking forward to it! I think JOMW did a side by side and the Tactical Frog was just a little better presentation.
I really like my Steeldive watches. I find the more flexible steel bracelets more comfortable on my bony wrist. I also don't have problems with my hairs getting ripped out.
Superb mod, not without its hiccups but couldn't work out why some shots at the end had a second hand with the red dot and some didn't. I think this will be my first project, just waiting for the final tools to arrive. L,astly, its pearlescent and not pearlersecent. Just saying!😂
Thanks for a cool vid. That face does look nice on the Turtle! I have the AddiesDive version which is essentially the same watch. I would like to change the crystal for a double domed type. Any thoughts? What size is the diameter? TIA
The crappy bracelet possibly means that the manufacturing costs were spent elsewhere. The lack of "Diver's 200m" on the dial reflects the fact that this watch has not been designed to meet the relevant ISO standards.
Hi there, I'm a recent finder and subscriber, I'm really enthused by your mods so much so I'm going to try to do it myself in the New Year. I have several Steeldive watches and well as Seikos, including the self same 'Willard' homage, it's a great watch, but I may well mod mine too?!
Looking into replacing both the dial and the bezel with Seiko olive green (the Steeldive green is too candy apple). Are there good aftermarket candidates for a bezel replacement? Thanks:)
The dials used here were both 28.5mm. Typical dials for NH/7S/NE/6R seiko movements are 28.5mm, but there are some larger cases that use larger dials such as some Presage and Sarb SEIKOs. But I'm only familiar with the 28.5mm dials since those are the only ones I've needed for my mods and builds so far.
Hey man i was inspired by your vids and tried to do my own skx013 mod and COMPLETELY botched the hands 😢. Any recommendations on how to install hands? I’m using one of those metal pressing tools where the hand presser is integrated into the base and I was using forceps/tweezers to place the hands. Any recommendations on better tool like maybe rodico paste or a new install tool?
I feel your pain, I've messed up my fair share of hands. I can only say what works for me. I use hand pushers that have plastic tips on them with different diameter tips and holes in them (for various sizes of hands) and I place and align them as best I can and then try to gently press them on so they're going to go down straight, then I apply a bit more pressure to put them on. If you see any hands leaning down or up and they need to be leveled, you can either use the hand pusher again to tip them where they need to be, or a thin dial protector to gently curve them back to being straight, ensuring they have reasonable spacing between them so they don't conflict with each other (or the dial indices). My last bit of advice is when putting on the seconds hand, use a large flat pusher with the smallest hole in it, since you're just wanting something that will apply even pressure to the seconds hand rather than something with a hole in the middle that might apply outer pressure and bend the hand down from the center point. Honestly, the only other thing I could say is practice makes perfect, setting hands is something you get used to, but always be wary that things can act strange and throw you off (as what happened to me in this video, where the hands felt like they weren't going on properly, but ended up being just fine). Hope this helps, you can always take a look at my other videos, where I set hands to see if watching it in action helps, but its something you just get a feel for. I recommend using Rodico to hold place them if you're struggling with the tweezers. That's why I use it.
hello friend good morning late night I have the watch, I have looked for some hands with good lume, since the dial indicators are of great lume, I really liked what you present here. I want to make it the same as yours Where can I get the dial and the hands? thanks for giving us your help greetings from Mexico 
I've had the same problem of the colour of the hands not matching the indexes. A lot of the websites don' make the true colors clear. So frustrating- ruins the watch for me
I don't know how you get the second hand on! The pin is so tiny and the tube it goes into is nearly impossible to see. What magnification are you using?
Steeldive makes a good deal, but their Bezels are made of pot metal. If you try and take it off, you may ruin the watch. Safer to dremel it off and replace it.
Camarada, me tira uma duvida pfvr. Tenho o 1970 ha 3 meses apenas. O seu qnd balança faz um sutil barulinho internamente nele? Acha q é assim msm? É tipo um mini chocalho porem bem baixinho, acha normal ??
(Hopefully the translation of your comment was accurate) The "mini rattle" that you're referring to sounds like it is just the automatic winding bridge being wound by the rotor. Watches like the Steeldive 1970 (and any other SeikoMod watches with NH movements) can be hand wound with the crown or wound by motion that spins the rotor and winds the watch. A simple way to confirm that the sound is normal and not something that's potentially damaged would be to compare it to another watch that uses a seiko NH movement to see if the sound of the rotor winding the watch (when shaken) is similar.
It looks great. Is it a counterfeit now? What is the correct way to describe it? Is it a Seiko because of the movement? I like it but that seems like something that a legit watch guy wouldn't do.
I, myself, see it as a seiko because of the movement. But I'd consider it a SeikoMOD more than anything else. Since my goal is to make it look like some kind of seiko, rather than some seiko like microbrand, I'm fine with it, especially since its just for my collection. And since OEM dials can be difficult to get hold of or not have the style you're looking for sometimes an aftermarket is the only option. But you'll get different answers depending on who you ask. Some don't mind aftermarket dials like this one, and others swear against them. Honestly... it looks the way I want it to look, and I had fun modifying it to get it that way, so I'm happy. I'd be happier if Seiko sold their dials directly so they were more affordable and easier to get hold of, but they'd never do that unfortunately.
