Is Bill Yao still doing watches? Sent email 4 days ago.

Yes, he is. But I think he is very busy right now from what I have seen him post in other places.

I expect that he will get back to you as time permits.
 
My experience is he is slow to communicate but maybe that was just me. I would try him again. His stuff is certainly worth going the extra mile for. :)
 
Email communitcation w/ Bill generally involves a hang time of about a week.

Just got this from him a couple of weeks ago, so he's still hard at work.

YaoMOD3a.jpg
 
ExMachina,

That's good to hear.

Excellent watch you have there, by the way. I've got my eye on a Seiko with the exact same appearance, except with the date window.

Hey, now that we have a Bill Yao thread going, what do you think of the following options:

plongeur hands
black 300 day/date face
sterilized back
aluminum chapter ring

I'm still figuring out my options for a good band. I'm either looking for something like Steven Andrews' patterned leather or a heavy duty oyster band without the Seiko logo.

What do you think? Now that you have your Yao-isized Seiko is there anything you would have done different? Any options I definitely need? Anything to avoid?

Thanks!
 
No, I wouldn't have chosen differently; I’m very pleased with the result. However, I think Steven's Yao looks at least as good as mine :) so Bill makes it difficult to choose poorly. :cool:

The only observation I'd offer is that, since the 4S26 movement doesn't hand wind, it can wind down unpredictably. The date will then become just one more thing to reset when that happens.
 
Did you ever get a response? I emailed him a few days ago about ordering a Quad 10. I hope to hear back soon as I need one of these badly.
 
He also travels frequently to Southeast Asia frequently and is out of reach during those trips. Give him time. He'll get back to you...
 
Got a reply this morning. I pulled the trigger on a type 48 Quad 10 with a tan Liberty strap.
 
shootist16 said:
Did you ever get a response? I emailed him a few days ago about ordering a Quad 10. I hope to hear back soon as I need one of these badly.
Click to expand...

Yes, he eventually responded and I wound up ordering the Seiko 007 with the following options:

plongeur hands
black 300 day/date face
sterilized back
aluminum chapter ring
oyster bracelet

He said he'd try his best to get it to me by birthday on May 11 - so I'm getting excited.

I think he goes through all his customer email only once a week so that he doesn't get bogged down when he should be working on watches. I wish I could do that, too.

That Quad 10 looks great. Good choice on the liberty strap.

Cheers,

Brew
 
Just received my watch and it's pretty awesome. Big, solid, and bold. I love the aluminum chapter ring - didn't think I would, but it's a really nice touch. And how's this for serendipity - the bracelet was perfectly sized for me right out of the box; no need to expand the band or remove links. Here's a crappy pic from my cell phone, I'll try to get a better pic tonight (something involving a knife, maybe? heh).

3bc3cefd3f51.jpg
 
brewthunda said:
Just received my watch and it's pretty awesome. Big, solid, and bold. I love the aluminum chapter ring - didn't think I would, but it's a really nice touch. And how's this for serendipity - the bracelet was perfectly sized for me right out of the box; no need to expand the band or remove links. Here's a crappy pic from my cell phone, I'll try to get a better pic tonight (something involving a knife, maybe? heh).

3bc3cefd3f51.jpg
Click to expand...

Looks great! I really like the aluminum chapter rings. I think it makes the watches look more expensive than just the stock plastic one.

I have two more watches that I'm wanting to send in to him. I have a type I that I want to get the GMT bezel he is now offering.

I also want a set of plongeur hands on my 173.
 
hey bruthunda once its all said and done how much did the mods cost?? have a old seiko diver i wanna get fixed up and give to my son........
 
It wasn't cheap. This was a big gift for myself for my birthday last week and I decided to just go all out and get something special.

Here's the page for the 007 Yao watch: http://www.mkiiwatches.com/cus_w_seiko.html

Here's the breakdown for my watch:

Basic $262.50
Aluminum chapter ring 25.00
Seiko Oyster-style bracelet R 65.00
Sterilized case back (satin) 35.00
Spring Bar Tool 6.00
S&H 12.00
Total $405.50

The basic watch includes the watch, replacement Yao face and replacement Yao hands. The spring bar tool is just an accessory to help change straps.

The oyster bracelet looks to be the 48A2-JG/GI bracelet, which is sold from Chronograph.com for $52 including shipping. It's pretty nice and I don't feel bad for spending the extra $13 to buy it from Bill - he managed to mount it without scratching the crap out of the watch, which is probably what I'd do if I tried to do it myself.

If I were to change anything I probably would have not gotten the sterilized case back. It looks really nice and I originally was going for a stealth seiko with no outside seiko markings. But now that I've been cruising the seiko boards and fallen in love with this watch, I'm proud that it's a seiko and wouldn't mind the markings on the case back. I would rather have spent the money on an extra liberty strap or something. The flat Hardlex crystal looks great. So far I don't regret not getting the sapphire domed crystal at all.

Overall, I'm really happy with this watch. It wasn't cheap, but it's a bulletproof, beefy watch that looks classy and the face and hands are really top quality. You can't appreciate the crispness of the printing on the face until you see it in person. I figure a basic 007 with this oyster band would be about $190 shipped from chronograph . . so I paid about $210 for Bill to add the face, hands, and aluminum chapter ring and to sterilize the back, plus shipping. I feel that he certainly earned his fee.

IMG_0730sm.jpg
 
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