This is a Seiko Orange monster that has been modified by Bill Yao of MKII watches.
The watch was originally bought secondhand from aahwatches who frequents the PMWF. It was then sent directly to Bill Yao for the modifications. This took about two weeks before it was delivered, and the delivery time was around a week.
The watch was very well packaged with the original Seiko box (and papers) in a large box packed with styrofoam peanuts.
On first inspection the watch is quite stunning and looks very good. The design leaves it as being a very sharp, simple and functional timepiece.
Although I did ask aahwatches specifically that I needed the watch to have a very firm 'hard to turn' bezel, the bezel on this watch is actually quite loose, with a fair amount of freeplay. Apart from that the base watch is in great condition with no visible marks anywhere.
On to the modifications performed by Bill Yao of MKII watches. The watch was originally bought to serve as a holder for Bill's Sapphire Crystals that have been made in a limited run batch of around 60 I believe. The crystal has an anti-reflection coating on the inside of the glass and being sapphire is essentially scratch proof.
The dial is a SAT version with no window for the day or date. The hand set is a Plonguer hour and minute hands with a red tipped second hand taken from the Ball and stick set that Bill also sells. the finish on the dial and hour minute hand is excellent, the second not quite the same quality as the 'leeward' side has a very slight amount of roughness to it, possibly from the stamping or the rhodium coating. This is pretty much imperceptible, but you look close at a new watch! The red paint on the second hand tip is applied very well, even and with a 'square end'. the lume of the watch as a whole is a little disappointing, yes its quite bright when charged up, but it dosen't hold glow for as long as the original monsters, but those watches really do set the benchmark. The lume coating on the hour and minute hand is a little too thin, which shows up as shadows on the hands with a full 'charge'. Not nearly as thin as say a Rays 'MoD', but an extra coating of lume would make a world of difference.
And alas, upon assembly there seems to have been a tiny hair trapped in the dial... it moves around.. so I can't see it right now...hopefully its caught up on the side somewhere and stays there!!

I'm not sure if I did the right thing by picking out the rhodium plated second hand to go with the Plonguer handset. My initial thought was to get the second hand for the fact that the 'ball end' would match well with the round indice markers of the SAT dial, which it does. But I didn't really think too much on the fact that its a very reflective silver finish, and I'm not sure THAT goes with the style of the hands and dial. So, overall I'm happy with this one. A unique custom watch for what was, a very reasonable price.

Item	US Dollars	NZ Dollars
Secondhand Seiko SKX781(Orange Monster)	115.00	170.73
Watch Modifications	172.50	245.24
Freight	30.00	42.60
"Offshore Margin Fees" - Visa charge		9.63
	______	______
	317.50	468.20

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