Sears Diver and SKMEI-More Watches

 Sears Diver and SKMEI

Like many people in my age bracket, the Sears catalogue was a big deal, especially during the Christmas Holidays, when my parents would let my sister and me look through and choose our presents.

In 7th or 8th grade, I thought it was time to upgrade my Harlem Globetrotter watch, though I did keep it as my ‘dress watch,’ and I picked out a dive watch from the Sears catalogue. I’ve liked dive style watches ever since, and own several variations on them now. 

I’m not sure where that dive watch ended up-I don’t know if I threw it away, which would seem odd since I think I have every other watch I’ve ever owned still, but I certainly beat the crap out of it in high school. I remember making a bet with someone in class that I could drop it on it’s face, and it would keep running. I did, cracked the crystal, but put it on and it kept on running.

For the last few years, I’ve kind of kept an eye out for a Sears dive watch. Sears actually made quality items, usually contracting with major manufactures for their goods. My family had Sears bicycles, Sears Pong games, Sears radios, Sears clothes, Sears auto parts and Sears tools. The big Sears store in East LA was a favorite shopping destination in grade school. Several major watch makers, both American and Swiss, made Sears watches over the years.

I found this skindiver on eBay for about $100. They do seem to be more and more

expensive these days. My guess is the early 70s, and the internet says that the movement was contracted out to one of the many Swiss watchmakers of the day. Interestingly, unlike most of the Sears skindivers I've seen on the internet, this is branded 'Sears' and not 'Tradition.' It's about 38mm, with a 19mm lug. It didn't have a band, which I wasn't to worked up about.

 

I wound it up as soon as I took it out of the envelope and let it run for a few days while waiting for a silicone watch band (Amazon, $10). It loses about three minutes every 24 hours, and I can’t figure out how to fast set the date, but after a quick scrub with some toothpaste and a toothbrush, it’s fine (and minty fresh)-a bit of nostalgia for my wrist.

 

 

Now, this other watch.

As I’ve mentioned before, I will buy watches off of AliExpress, and I have a hard limit of $100. The Pagani Design watch I’m wearing as I write this I bought as a beater last summer, and it really is a scratch resistant crystal-the watch still looks good.

If you type in Men’s Watch, all sorts of strange watches pop up, most with about zero appeal to me. This one caught my eye in my late night shopping, but not so much that I remembered that I actually bought it until it showed up a few weeks later. It was just under $20, and when I opened the package, it still looked pretty cool.

It’s a SKMEI, and the SKMEI page on AliExpress show a bunch of Casio and Freestyle digital knockoffs, all for around $10. This one is fun, a digital watch that shows sentences. The band is cheap leather but serviceable. The face is big and legible, and it’s though it’s a touch awkward on the arm, there are no sharp edges or things that make it uncomfortable.

You have to push the button on the side to show the time, so not terribly practical, but a fun time piece that if it works a year will be worth the $20 I spent.