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From a career perspective, I have been a statistician since 1990. A financial analyst since 1994 and financial engineer since 2008. My love for horology only became full-bloom since 2010. On October 2013, I created this blog http://easternwatch.blogspot.com/ to write and document all the watches I own (and will own). I decided to operate this blog to share the beauty and wonders of watch collecting. 

At the moment the watches I bought to document on this blog is purely self funded. If anyone likes to contribute to help subsidize (even a little) of the purchase price of a new watch, it would really be a great help to me. I am currently averaging one (1) new watch a month. Since I started blogging, I have review 55 watches (@October 2015), an average of two (2) watches a month.

If you like to contribute some funds to help me in future purchases, you can contribute via the payment gateway provided by PayPal (see below):

Any contributions is appreciated!

Seiko Prospex 200m Diver SRP637 (or SRP637K or SRP637K1) Shrouded Black Monster (a.k.a. Monster Tuna) - A modern transformation of the original Monster to something bigger and stylish, A Review

I just love the metallic shrouds on high end Seiko dive watches. I have collected three shrouded diver examples from Seiko over the years; the SBDX011 ‘Emperor Tuna’, the SRP653 ‘Baby Tuna’ and the SUN019P1 'Vader-Tuna-Turtle' (although I got another shrouded watch from Seiko, the SBDC011 Fieldmaster is not a diver hence the reason I excluded it from the list). A few years ago, Seiko incorporated the shrouded concept to the Monster series with the launch of the SRP233, SRP234 and SRP236. However, what put me off from looking into that series further was the fact that the shroud was made out of plastic. Nevertheless, the price point and size were just nice to be able to be an affordable and wearable wristwatch to many people.


This year, Seiko answered the request by its legion of fans to come out with a new series of shrouded Monsters by introducing the SRP637, SRP639 and SRP641 series. This time around the shroud is made out of metal! What makes it even more special is that it has been upgraded to be under the Prospex series of professional tool watches.

I immediately made the necessary inquiries to get the best price possible from some of my trusted suppliers. However, the demand was so great that the initial consignment for Malaysia was sold out in a matter of weeks. As it was also the same time since the introduction of GST into the country, I was not willing to get a unit from my overseas suppliers as I was not comfortable yet with the new custom rules and procedures for imports. So, I waited for the supply to catch up with demand.

After a few months I finally got my hands on the Seiko SRP637. The watch is sizable. It comes with a diameter of 47.5 mm (excluding crown) and a lug-to-lug distance of 50 mm. Coupled with a thickness of 14 mm, the watch makes it presence obvious on one’s wrist.

Orient Automatic Flight - Aviation Type Pilot - CER2A003 (CER2A or ER2A series) Black Dial - Value for Money Pilot Watch, A Review

I bought a watch from Solar Time Sunway Pyramid over the weekend. It has been a few months since I indulged in acquiring a new watch. The watch that I got was the Orient Automatic Flight - Aviation Type Pilot - CER2A003.

Orient acknowledges that this is homage to the classic Pilot’s watch. Instead of being too stylish or try to put in their version of what constitute a Pilot’s watch, Orient’s version is a very simple watch. Apart from a date window, the watch has Arabic numerals and three hands. The dial has three scales; the outer scale has minute markers, the middle scale in the traditional Pilot’s watch numbering and the inner ring reads time on an hour scale.

If I was a pilot of yesteryear, the primary complication I need on a pilot watch would be either a countdown timer or a chronograph. This will allow a pilot (without the benefit of radio way-points and GPS satellite navigation) to accurately measure imaginary way-points in the sky by just using timing at specific speeds and direction. This particular complication is not provided by this model and as such, the only benefit it gives to a pilot is the legibility of the information. In this regard, this Orient model is very legible. Even in a dark environment the watch is legible. Luminescent material has been applied to every numeral on the outer ring including the primary markers, in addition to the hour and minute hands.