2018-11-13

No 271 - Seiko SCED035


I know, it’s been ages! ‘What’s going on?’ you might think. ‘Did he quit?’ No, I did not. I just started to work again and it’s been an intense three months and it’s not going to get less intense any time soon. But, I’ve managed to scrape together a few hours and I’ve chosen to use them wisely. That means writing a piece to end this three month drought!

While writing this I’m expecting the delivery of a grail. A Seiko 7A28-6000, a.k.a. Bishop. It’s not only supposed to be in NOS condition but it is also manufactured in May 1984. Say what?! I know, it’s insane! It’s pretty funny then that the next piece I was going to write about was this SCED035, a.k.a. Ripley, which completely opened up my eyes for a whole new segment of Seiko watches that I hadn’t even looked at prior to the announcement that Seiko made of their upcoming reissues of the Giugiaro designed 7A28 chronographs back in 2015. Unfortunately I had already missed out on the re-release of the Bishop, the SCED003, but I managed to get a hold of a Ripley on eBay to a fair price. Growing up in the eighties and loving science fiction of course led to me watching all the Alien movies over and over again. Just like with the Abyss (another favorite movie) the watches the characters wore wasn’t something I reflected over while watching the movies as a kid. So after my purchase was done it was time for a marathon of Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 just to build up a good vibe.

#271 - The Seiko SCED035, a.k.a. Ripley. Reissue of the 7A28-7000.



I received the Ripley in the middle of December 2015. The watch was really super cool and much more comfortable to wear than I had imagined. But seriously, if this watch wouldn’t have been comfortable to wear I don’t know what I would have done. What a goddamn pain it was to size that bracelet! Jeeezzz! Usually you can always find a tutorial on Youtube to solve most matters but at the time there was no information anywhere on how to do this (now there is though!). I knew this was going to be a collector’s item so I didn’t wear it that much and stupid like so many times before I ended up putting it up for sale (WHY?!?!). Some clever dude of course made a good deal and every time now when I try to find a new one, the only thing I find are just increasing prices. Well well what the hell. It was a reissue. Nothing to cry over. And now when I have an incoming original Bishop it would of course be an ideal quest trying to find an original 7A28-7000, in equally good condition, to pair it up with. That would make a sweet duo that I perhaps should consider keeping for some time. 







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