Alba AAAA101

To many Seiko watch lovers, Mr Thomas Yeo (aka yeoman) is their undisputed guru. After reading Thomas’s wonderful weblog at http://yeomanseiko.spaces.live.com/, I decided to write to him. It has been a few months since we met and I’m pleased to be able to exchange information with Thomas on a regular basis.

Thomas has written countless reviews and here’s a recent one (edited for length) extracted from http://yeomanseiko.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3318BA07329CD633!1508.entry dated 24th Jun 2008.

Riki Watanabe Mechanical

Few weeks ago I received an email from the boss of Big Time, Leslie. He wrote something like this to me:

Dear Thomas,
I bought a mechanical watch for my own use ....... I would like you to do a test drive before I take ownership of it.

So I emailed back to ask:

Is it a Japanese, Swiss, Russian or Chinese watch?

He replied:

You are Yeomanseiko, better give you a Japanese watch to test drive. .....it's a Riki Watanabe..... watch is on my desk and you can come and pick it up anytime.

I went to pick up the watch one evening. It is the silver dialed AAAA101. I strapped it onto my wrist and went home.

The next day, I emailed him saying I want the watch, just tell me how much to pay.

Last week, Big Time received stocks of all three models and I was invited to make a final choice of the dial colour I want. I went with the AAAA101 on my wrist and upon reaching, three Riki Watanabe Alba's were laid on the table for me to select (see picture below).

The watch in the middle is the AAAA101. It has a silver dial and comes with black leather strap. On its left is the AAAA103. Its dial colour is quite close to that of the AAAA101 except it is slightly yellowish. It comes with a tan strap that looks a bit reddish in my opinion. Watch on the right is the AAAA105. It has a brown dial and comes with a light brown strap.

I chose to keep the silver dialed AAAA101 as I already have the cream dialed SARB031.

From left: AAAA103, AAAA101, AAAA105

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Below is a closeup shot of the AAAA101.

The watch uses a crystal that has curved edge or "crystal has leg" as some may say. The "legs" of the crystal has some kind of optical effect on the dial that makes it look bigger.

To illustrate, take a look at the picture below. The curved edge of the crystal reflects part of the dial makes it looks as though it curves downwards (see 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock portion) even though it does not. The reflection hence creates an "extension" of the dial that does not exist.

The dial is nicely divided into three segments. The hour and minute markers are located on the outermost segment which a layer above the dial. The hour markers are applied and extends beyond the inner circumference of the layer thus crossing over to the middle segment. Note that the hour marker do not touch the middle segment as they are at a layer above it.

The middle segment is where the date window is located.

The innermost segment is made up of many concentric circles (see picture below) , giving it a nice texture. It is where the words "Riki" and "Automatic" are printed.


In any watch, you will notice that the hour hand is shorter than the minute hand which in turn is shorter than the second hand. This is also a basic principle behind the hands of the clock that I learnt in primary school when learning to tell time.

Besides adhering to the above principle, special attention was given to the length of the hands. The hour hand is contained within the innermost segment of the dial and the minute hand is reaches no further than the middle segment. The longest hand, the second hand reaches all the way to the minute indices on the outermost segment.

In Riki-san's design, you will also find that the hour hand is wider than the minute hand which is then wider than the second hand. This seems to be a principle that Riki-san observes in his design.


The thickness of the watch according to the catalog is 13mm which is 0.5mm thicker than the a recent Seiko with similar case design, the SARB031. However, the SARB031 looks slimmer because most of it thickness comes from its crystal.

Top AAAA101, bottom Seiko SARB031

The diameter of the watch measured from 9 to 3 o'clock is 36mm excluding the crown.

Watch comes with display back that lets you see the movement. The Y675 movement looks exactly the same as the Seiko 7S26 movement except for the information shown on the rotor of course.

BMW 125i

I hopped into this BMW 125i Coupe late one night.

Within seconds, I was able to drive off without any fuss. All the main controls and switches were similarly positioned as any BMW from the previous generation. The dash did not bear the latest minimalist look. And, thankfully, it also did not have BMW’s signature i-drive knob. I must admit that the knob has often been one feature that I had to fumble with.

On most cars, the ‘+’ paddle can be found on one side of the steering while the ‘-‘ paddle is on the other side of the wheel. In the case of the 125i, a downshift can be activated by depressing the thumb on either paddle. To prompt the transmission to shift a gear up, simply lift the same paddle with index finger (or tall man) behind the steering wheel. I am certain that many drivers will find this arrangement more user-friendly.

Like all coupes, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ pillars are set further apart. Thus, the doors are usually longer and, as a result, the safety belts for front occupants are harder to reach.

In terms of pricing, its closest rival comes within the family – the beautiful 120i Convertible. The 125i scores with the purposeful 6-cyclinder engine, giving it a much needed pace and character. In addition, the body shell offers better rigidity and balance without adverse effect on the ride comfort. The 125i may not be the ultimate coupe but at approximately $150k, it is relatively within reach.

Volvo Driveaway 2008 – Kijal, Trengganu

A total of 45 Volvo owners responded to SM Motors’ invitation for their driveaway trip to Trengganu. Although all participants were given prior briefing and navigational instructions which would eventually lead them to Awana Kijal Golf Beach & Spa Resort, more than 10 cars preferred to drive in a convoy that was led by me.

Soon, some of them became my friends.

On Day 3, my friends and I visited the traditional boat builder at Pulau Duyong,

and the ‘floating’ mosque.

On the way back to hotel, we were a little overwhelmed by the magnificent night view of the oil refineries at Kerteh. We could not resist stopping by the road side to take some pictures.

But for others, the highlight of the trip must be the release of little turtles into mother nature – the sea.

DAWN (June 2008 issue)

Eight months after the successful completion of CAITA 2007, our adventure is still news worthy for DAWN (a magazine for medical practitioners) June 2008 issue.

And, I am surprised that we were featured as the main story.

Traction Circle Club (TCC)

TCC was formed by a group of car enthusiasts to facilitate collective booking of race tracks, in particular the Sepang International Circuit (SIC). There are a total of 9 Track Days scheduled this year, in which TCC members could enjoy private lapping sessions at SIC. Various marques can be spotted at the paddock including this Nissan GTR.

I was glad to meet an old friend, Mr Andy Choo (TCC’s Treasurer and founding member), this morning at SIC.

The owner of this Mazda RX-8 invited me to today’s session.

He wanted me to provide some pointers on how he could achieve a faster lap time. In terms of timing, our objective was not fully met. However, both man and machine now require less effort in order to equal their previous best lap time. With this new found confidence, I can look forward to further improvements on their next outing. It has been a pleasant session.

Japan F1

The various agencies have played up our first ever F1 to be held in September. As a result, many Singaporeans can’t wait to get their hands on the tickets. Unless you are an invited guest, the admission cost to such an event can be rather high. During my tenure as President of Singapore Motor Sports Association, I was invited to watch the Japanese F1 in 1996.

Although the trip was made a long time ago, I can clearly remember all the special treatment accorded to me during my stay. On race day, I had the opportunity to stroll the paddock among the contingent of dignitaries, watched the event in a VIP Hospitality Room situated above the pits, dined with F1 supremo – Mr Bernie Ecclestone and slept at Suzuka Circuit Hotel. After the event, I stayed at the renowned Prince Hotel – right next to the iconic Tokyo Tower . And, I was ferried in a Nissan President to Narita Airport for my return flight home. What a lifetime experience!

Misrepresentation by car sellers

The headlines of The New Paper shown above, caught my attention. It reported that customers of a parallel importer felt short-changed after learning that their cars were manufactured in 2005 instead of 2006 which was stated on the registration papers.
Such matter would take time and require the intervention of the authority to resolve.
That begs the frequently asked question: Is it worth the savings buying a car from parallel importer?
In case you think that official agent can do no wrong, here’s an interesting case study.

A close friend wrote to me 2 weeks ago. He was looking for email addresses of the head honcho in a reputed automotive company….. (see self-explanatory mail list herein).
Fortunately, the management of the automotive company looked into his problem and accepted full responsibilities for the mistakes. Shortly, my friend told me that the matter has been settled to his reasonable satisfaction. That’s a happy ending :)