My Evolving Relationship with the Seiko SKX007
When I purchased my SKX back in July of 2016, it was my first proper, usable dive watch. Two hundred meters, ISO certified, you know the deal. Up until receiving the SKX, my experience in divers was limited to my Seiko SNZH55 and a couple vintage divers I had stumbled upon.
The SKX007's early days.
The SNZH certainly looks the part, borrowing design cues from both the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean (I'm not sure I've seen anyone else point out the PO parallel, but I think the dials are pretty similar). With "only" 100 meters of water resistance and no screw down crown, though, it just doesn't feel the part. At the end of the day it's a dressy dive-style watch that I don't mind getting wet occasionally.
When you're new to watch collecting, you're constantly one-upping yourself. When I bought my SKX for $180, it was the most expensive watch I had ever purchased, and I treated it accordingly. If I've noticed something about myself as a collector, though, it's that I don't like too much overlap between my watches. While the SNZH and SKX are fundamentally different, seeing them side by side in my watch case made me wish the SKX was toolier. In October of 2016, after scouring Yobokies, Dagaz, and the like, I purchased an aluminum bezel insert with black print, matching the design of the OEM bezel. The poster child of the affordable diver was reborn.
Living up to its tool watch potential.
To me, that bezel insert made all the difference in the world. If I'm drawing comparisons, it turned the SKX from a Rolex to a Sinn. Not only did it breathe new life into the SKX, but it also gave the SNZH a more distinct place in my collection.
Now, nearly a year later, I'm beginning to daydream about the next bezel insert. Over the course of the last several months, I've become enamored with GMT complications. That's an entire conversation in itself, but the bottom line is I've yet to find a GMT watch that fits the bill for me. I have, however, found a number of 12-hour bezel inserts for the SKX - a pseudo-GMT complication, if you will. Yobokies offers one in stainless steel that looks the part, and when they're back in stock I may have to snag one.
@watchlic's Yobokies SS GMT bezel insert
Some may call a 12-hour bezel on a dive watch blasphemous, and I agree in some respects. A 12-hour bezel doesn't have any use for 120 clicks or unidirectionality, and a dive watch is useless for diving without a dive bezel. The dive watch, however, is no longer a tool legitimately used for timing dives; It's a tool for instilling confidence in its wearer to venture forward. A 12-hour bezel appeals to my own sense of adventure, and occasional timing can be handled by the partial graduation found on many inserts.
Since installing that bezel insert in October, the SKX has become my designated beater watch, the one I'm almost excited about scratching and nicking, and it will continue to be as it continually evolves to suit my utilitarian tendencies.