Steeldive is renowned for making great value homages to vintage Seikos. Of course, there are bound to be one or two areas where they fall short, and with the SD-1975 model that homages the Seiko “Tuna”, the glaring shortcoming is the dial.
The Steeldive’s dial – pretty as it is, especially in this orange version – has the logo printed, along with printed indices, which is fine for what you pay for.
The lume is still very good, and it functions perfectly; it’s just not as good as it could be, and is screaming out for an upgrade. After all, the case design is Seiko, the internal NH-35A movement is Seiko… so it’s not such a leap to have a nice dial, with applied logo & indices, and chrome accents, which happens to say “SEIKO” on it. Importantly, no one is pretending this is an original Seiko.
I’m still learning and gaining experience every time I do watch modifications, such as replacing a flat crystal for domed, or changing a bezel & bezel insert (and destroying them, apparently!) and so on. I had removed and replaced the hands of a watch for the first time only recently, and discovered how difficult it is to reset them, the seconds hand being very difficult to place correctly. Fortunately, this one was much easier, as are most things the second time you do them.
Looking closely, you’ll notice the old/original Steeldive dial did not have a minute track around the edge, and the new dial does. This revealed a minor misalignment between the minute track on the dial and chapter ring – and I mean minor, it’s like 0.1mm off. I will not lose sleep over this.
As watch modifications go, I feel like this is one of the more complex I’ve completed. Ensuring the dial is aligned correctly with the date display, ensuring the hands are level and do not interfere with each other, are pushed on properly, and the date clicks over just at (or nearly at) midnight, trying to get each little spec of dust off the dial and crystal, and get it all back together and working… all of this requires great attention to detail and patience, and is an extremely rewarding and enjoyable process.
It also creates a relationship with the piece, more than just buying a watch from a shop or online, and it is this feeling that demonstrates why hobbies are fun, whatever they may be.