[Seikosha-Tom]

I kiiiiinda wanted a Willard homage for a while, but the popular Steeldive wasn't convincing me because of that HUGE empty black chapter ring that dominated over the dial. Seems like Rdunae is fixing this and might be the one I'll finally get (pics from wrwatches):

I had seen these go up for pre-order a couple weeks ago. I've been impressed with their previous 6105-8000 clone, so was eager to see more pictures of this one. Have decided to be rash and put down a pre-order for it. The only 6105 clone I've previously owned was a sterile example I bought from Alibaba, which I sold soon after. Have been keeping an eye on the available 6105-8110 clones, but was always bothered by the design deviations they made. This one from Rdunae looks to be especially faithful to the original.

I do wonder how far Rdunae will go with these faithful vintage Seiko clones. We've seen the the 6105-8000 clone, the Grandfather Tuna clone, and now the 6105-8110 Willard clone. Perhaps they'll go for the 6309 next?

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Some new pics of the upcoming Rdunae 6105-8110 Willard clone, now with a glimpse of what strap it'll come on. Anyone else looking forward to this? I know Willard clones are a little played out now, but I'm really liking Rdunae's take on it and how true it sticks to the original Seiko model.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

I was so tempted, I put it in my shopping cart, applied my coupon (which brought the price to $148) and was just about to buy, then noticed the show-stopper (for me) that the lug width is 19mm. It might be historically authentic, but it is really frustrating in terms of finding replacement straps or bracelet. My impulse buy has turned from boiling to a gentle simmer.

I've already made the rash decision to preorder it, so I'll definitely report back with some impressions.

I agree with you in that the stock chocolate bar strap looks great and hopefully removes the need to look for an additional 19mm strap. I don't have many 20mm straps laying around, so the 19mm lug width doesn't really bother. And I already have a 19mm waffle and tire tread strap for my Rdunae 6105-8000 clone anyway, in case the stock strap on the -8110 isn't great.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

This is probably old hat to everyone in the thread, but here's more info on this pre-release:

Rdunae Vintage Turtle 6105-8110

Rdunae Vintage Turtle 6105-8110: Case Material : 316L Stainless Steel Case back : 316L Stainless steel Case dimension : 44mm Height : 13mm Lug to lug : 48mm Lug width : 19mm Strap : TPU Quality Rubber Strap with Pin & Button Buckle : 316L Stainless Steel Bezel : Aluminium Bezel Insert with...

wrwatches.com

I'm really smitten with this thing, honestly. I prefer to wait for reviews before buying, so that definitely rules out a pre-order. But man... that one looks great. Anyone have any experience with Rdunae you'd like to share - good or bad?

Also sharing as info in case there are Willard fans lurking in this thread.

Here are two vids from Spencer Klein discussing (and modding) the Rdunae 6105-8000

Yeah I've already put my money where my mouth is and preordered. I already own their 6105-8000 clone and have been quite satisfied with it. Feels solid in the hand, bezel action is tactile, crown is smooth to operate, and no alignment issues to speak of at least on my example. Movement running very decently at around -6 seconds per day. And if you go on the WR Watches store page for this watch there are countless positive reviews too. So I have faith their Willard clone will be up to the same standard.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Looks like those Rdunae/Retangula 6105 Willard clones will be shipping out soon.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

So WR_watches posted pics in their Instagram story feed of the 6015 preorders getting boxed up. Hopefully they’ll ship in the next day or two!

Good to see it's still going ahead. They initially posed that shipping would start around mid-November, so I was getting a bit restless when November came and went without much news. But seems it's back on track now.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

I got my tracking number this morning. I didn't pay for the fast shipping though, so I'll be happy if I get it before Christmas.

I got my tracking number 2 days ago. I opted for express shipping to (DHL), estimated to arrive by 9 December. Home stretch now.

And in another bout of consumeristic tendencies, I ordered the Ironwatch Sub Diver vintage submariner homage (not sure if it's already been mentioned in this thread). Looks to be very similar to the San Martin SN006 with a couple of differences:

• Different dial with applied markers
• Unsigned crown
• No drilled lugs
• Different clasp design, unsigned
• Male endlinks

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

My tracking number is from DHL but it still isn’t working yet. if its not working a day or two I’ll email them to see what’s up.

I’d love to hear what you think of yours. And what the extra bad looks like. I’m hoping for a waffle variant and not a tropic.

They previously indicated that the extra strap will be a 20mm chocolate bar strap.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Been wearing my Rdunae 6105-8110 homage after it arrived a couple of days ago. First impressions are pretty good and in general lives up to the quality of my previous Rdunae 6105-8000 homage. Case finishing is very clean and consistent (maybe even a touch sharper than a typical Seiko Turtle). Bezel resistance is lighter than on my -8000 homage (though this probably varies on a per-example basis). Alignment is good to my eye, and the NH35 is currently running around -7 s/d. Crown action is alright, feels a bit tough to screwdown (though that's probably due to the slightly smaller crown size). As was the case with the -8000 homage, the blue AR coating on the sapphire crystal is a bit much and can get in the way of photos.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Looks lovely! What's the lume like?

Lume is alright. It only has C1 Superluminova; during my brief experience, the lume doesn't seem quite as potent as some of my other watches (like my Proxima MM300 with C3, and my various Seiko divers with Lumibrite). I've seen worse though, and even without extensive testing, I certainly wouldn't call it weaksauce or anything.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Also in the meantime, my Ironwatch Sub Diver arrived just yesterday, and this one I'm really partial to. Really liking the proportions on this particular Submariner homage, not a fan of the larger super-case Submariners, so this one really scratches that itch.

A word of warning though. When I first started playing around with my example, the crown would catch and want to engage with the threads and screw down when trying to manually wind the watch (which normally indicates the crown stem being cut too short). Thankfully, this seems to have alleviated itself on my example and no longer automatically catches the threads when winding. So maybe there was some minor burr or irregularity with the crown or case threads that caused the issue before and has now cleared up. Though another owner of this same model reported the same issue, though they atleast shipped him out another crown+stem to fix the issue. So just something to look out for if you're interested in this model.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Ironwatch Sub again for today. While female endlinks would make this more wearable for smaller wrists, I personally prefer the look of male endlinks on these submariner homages (provided the wrist can support it and they're not extended to a ridiculous degree). I've got around a 17.5cm/6.9inch wrist for reference, and I think the watch still fits well on my wrist even with the male endlinks.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Oh man, I can't wait! Mine had been sitting on the Memphis Fedex Hub for around 3 weeks, just today it shipped to Brazil, it will probably be another couple of weeks until it arrives to Chile. Does the strap attract lint? What's the extra strap it came with? (if you pre-ordered)

Nah the strap doesn't really attract lint. The material is very similar to the Uncle Seiko Waffle and Tyre Tread rubber straps. So while not the softest material, it does conform to the wrist after some break-in. The extra strap is just a 20mm version of the regular 19mm chocolate bar strap.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Escapement Time has just launched a 35mm version of their quartz King Seiko homage. The 40mm size of the previous iteration always gave me pause. But I instantly put in an order for a white dial version as soon as I saw this listing.
79.04US $ |【Escapement time】Women's Quartz Watch 35mm Case VH31 Heat Treatment Hand| | - AliExpress

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Does anyone own a Rdunae Emperor Tuna and wants to share a picture!

I'll swoop in here, seeing as my Rdunae Titanium Emperor Tuna just arrived this morning. I've seen literally no one else mention this new Rdunae release let alone any reports of buying it. And yet the WR Watches website says it's already sold out. Perhaps Rdunae haven't made very many of these

I've only recently been pondering adding a Tuna to my collection, but I was particularly drawn to the hand/dial layout of the old Seiko Grandfather Tunas, which none of the other existing homages on the market really took after. At 52mm wide and 17mm thick, it's an absolute unit of a watch and bigger than the already-considerable size of other Tuna homages (which is probably why it's flown so under the radar). Thank god the case is made from titanium though.

The shroud itself definitely isn't plastic, and I don't think it's metal either; the sheen and texture feels different for some reason. I'm willing to bet it's made from a similar type of ceramic to that of the actual Seiko Emperor Tunas. The bezel is interesting in that it's a 60-click mechanism, and the action itself is quite tactile and satisfying, especially for a titanium watch. However the action does have quite a lot of resistance and is quite tough to turn, despite the grippy knurling on the bezel.

And here's a quick wristshot I managed to snap during the workday. The stock rubber strap is very decent, being flexible enough to be comfortable, while also not being a lint magnet.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Finally, Grandfather/Emperor/Darth Tuna homage in titanium. I looked at Steeldive one but the stainless steel case scared me away. The massive weight of steel along with 52mm case 17mm tall would crush my puny 18 cm wrist. It's too bad this Rdunae version is not monoblock case like Proxima.

It says in this AliExpress listing that the shroud is aluminum.
198.0US $ 50% OFF|Retangula Watch For Men Pvd Coated Titanium Tuna Diver Nh35 Movement Automatic Mechanical Watches Sapphire 200m Waterproof Date - Mechanical Wristwatches - AliExpress

I added one to the cart to consider for the 11/11 Singles Day sale.

Yeah it does feel a bit weird lugging around a 52mm x 17mm watch for only 200m of water resistance. I mean, I understand why they did it. A standard screw-on caseback is infinitely more versatile than a monoblock case for owners who may wish to regulate or disassemble their watch. And I guess it's unlikely that anyone in the market for this Rdunae is actually gonna dive deeper than 200m. But still a bit weird nonetheless.

And good callout on the aluminium. It makes sense I guess, considering their similar Zaku Tuna models are also stated to use aluminium shrouds (and those Zaku shrouds look to have a similar finish to the shroud on my Emperor Tuna).

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Decided to do the unthinkable and strap the big Emperor Tuna on for the office today. I think the bezel has loosened in resistance, and actually I've found that the bezel becomes easier to turn provided you don't push down on it too hard while trying to rotate it.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

RMALTI grand Seiko Birch homage just unboxed. this thing is impressive, guys.

View attachment 16838788

I've been quite pleased to see the influx of Grand Seiko homages popping up. The case finishing definitely looks quite good, and so does the dial/hand finishing too. Usually the metallic hour markers just look so blobby and imprecise on many Ali-X watches. But this RMALTI looks quite sharp under close inspection, very nice.

Thanks for guinea-pigging on this RMALTI example and providing a video, it's convinced me to take a punt on this RMALTI myself. I wasn't a huge fan of the dial options for the stainless steel versions. But I found a quite nice burgundy dial option in a rose gold coloured case that I've ordered.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Finally decided to pull the trigger on something during a sale. Have purchased off of AliX before but never bothered participating in a sale. This time around decided to go with the San Martin SN036 with the Miyota 8315. Reviews for this looked pretty positive over the last couple of months. And as always for a San Martin, the quality of finishing looks real nice. Any other owners that can chime in with their experience?

Ordered a bit over a day ago (pretty much right when the sale actually started) and it's already going through various Chinese sorting facilities, so hopefully that foreshadows a relatively speedy delivery. Total discount I managed for this was 43AUD, which I personally think isn't too bad. Though I'm not sure how that stacks up with the level of other people's discounts or not.

 

[Seikosha-Tom]

Well my 11.11 order landed yesterday, a San Martin SN036. Shipping to Australia was relatively quick actually given that I ordered about 9 days ago.

The watch in person feels every bit as quality as I was expecting. The case finishing is excellent, and the bracelet just glints away whenever you rotate your wrist thanks to its many facets. Bezel is incredibly grippy and tactile to turn, and the deep enamel blue of the dial and bezel is quite attractive in person.

I ordered the Miyota 8315 version with hacking and 60 hour power reserve. Time will tell how accurate it is, but my first measurement on the WatchCheck app has it running at +2.5 seconds per day.