The first Tuna that got me hooked on was the long discontinued Golden Tuna, that’s made back in the 70’s and 80’s. What you can find online nowadays are really really used. Rare to get a good condition and working piece. An alternative would be the SBDB008 that’s a Spring Drive derived Golden Tuna but still it doesn’t capture the original’s cohesiveness. I instead bought a SBBN017 (steel bezel and shroud) to get a feel of Tuna. Did a review here (somewhere). Loved it but was commented on that its a little small.
Fast forward to 2015, specifically August, Seiko made a dream come true when they launched this SBDX014 Rose Gold Tuna to mark Seiko’s 50th anniversary in marketing their dive watch. Its the closest I could get my hands on a Gold Tuna. But at a pretty pricey offer (350,000 yen, about RM12,500).
First time I tried it on, it is MASSIVELY HUGE to look at (of course it is when compared to the SBBN017 I was used to looking for a year, which by the way was sold to a nice gentleman to make way for this). I won’t bore with the numbers comparison of the 2 watches, but will indicate my wrist is 6.5” and I’m 6’ tall. Large for my wrist (at first) but not my frame.
From the few days after wearing, I got used to the size. There’s no long lugs like a Pelagos, its hidden from view, making the Rose Gold Tuna wear comfortably. It doesn’t bling as much as a SBDB009 (which I also tried while deciding with this purchase). The Rose Gold tints subtly and not in-your-face glare.
The extra strength silicone strap was way way much better than SBBN017 rubber strap. I swapped the previous SBBN017 rubber strap for an Isofrane which sat and hugged the wrist so well. Surprisingly this Rose Gold silicone strap feels much softer, durable and ‘extra strength’, that’s slightly thicker than the rubber, but still thinner than an Isofrane. Am still deciding what Isofrane strap color to match it with.
Specifications are similar to an Emperor Tuna (SBDX011) except for the Rose Gold additions. The 2 tone colors match perfectly in my opinion, not just an all black look. Love it that the screws, bezel, keeper and buckle are in Rose Gold, I think all are made of titanium (kindly correct if I’m wrong).
Its accuracy has been about +5-7 seconds a day right out of the box. I’m not hoping much even after breaking in for few weeks, well at least its close to COSC standards (-4 to +6 seconds per 24hr). Probably it can get to Rolex’s Superlative COSC (-1 to +5 seconds per 24hr) accuracy.
As a side note, I tested the Tuna against my Pelagos, and the Tudor timepiece is +3 seconds, which for an ETA2824 movement is amazing!!! Rolex/Tudor manufacturing standards I must say is really above par. Pelagos clocked 42 hours (ETA2824 officially at 40 hours) and Rose Gold Tuna clocked 57 hours (8L35 officially at 50 hours) of power reserve, from full wind until full stop (lying down, untouched).
I like winding the crown because there’s just that fine resistance when you turn the crown. Its a unique feeling compared to all other normal watch winding as it is. If you get a chance, do try it out. When it locks, its tight. However if the ‘X’ logo had been engraved (its printed now), it’ll be a more prominent feature which many will like. Like how the ’S’ worked before.
Titanium and ceramics (and an ‘L’ rubber gasket) used is the order of the day when it comes to resistance towards water, knocks and pressure (its gone 3,000M under sea before it stopped). Holding within this mono bloc case is the 8L35 movement that’s an undecorated Grand Seiko derived automatic timepiece. I also love the fact that this is hand assembled in Shizuku-Ishi Watch Studio in Japan, even though it may be a novelty factor.
Overall I’m pretty stoked at getting this amazingly made piece, mostly because of the gold accent too. Its probably going to be a keeper along with the Tudor Pelagos (in the dive watch section).
