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Official BFK Owner's Club: post yours here!

55K views 283 replies 115 participants last post by  Hardscrabbler 
#1 ·
Yes, it's been around for a while, but I get the feeling there's still love for the mighty BFK out there, otherwise known as the 'Big Friendly Kinetic' (or whichever F-word you prefer). Seiko, in their boring way, call it the SKA371.



Like most of us, I can't pass a mall jewellery store without casting a quick eye over the watches, though there's rarely anything of interest there (A whole wall of Michael Kors? Really?). Even in the Seiko section, it's rare to see a non-quartz watch, and, well, quartz watches, ho-hum.

However, over a few weeks, I noticed that one watch stood out for me, and every store I went past, it was in the window, and every store I stopped and pressed my nose against the glass like a schoolboy to look at it. It's a striking watch, partly because it's just bigger than anything else in the window.

Well, I like big watches, and I cannot lie. Eventually I popped in to try one on, just for the fun of it. The weight of the thing is palpable. It's like strapping a polished steel brick to your wrist, and the hefty rotor spins loudly like a roulette ball ("No more bets!").



The bezel action is extremely smooth and positive, with a discreet but efficient click like an expensive socket set. The tank-like case with its gently curved lugs and alternating brushed and polished surfaces recalls the Sumo, while the aggressively cut bezel edge and 3 o'clock crown have a little of the Shogun about them.



Wrist test completed, I handed it back to the majestically uninterested assistant and left the store. But if you've ever had a watch sneak up on you, you'll know what happened next. First you look around at a few new prices on the web, then you start browsing eBay ads for used models. "I'll just put this on my watch list so I can see what it sells for," you tell yourself. "I'm just keeping an eye on the market."

Before you know it, the watch is turning up at your door, and you're giving your wife a pleading look as if to say, "It followed me home, can I keep it?"



The lume is excellent, as you'd expect from a Seiko diver, though the skeleton hands are hard to read at night. I find the best thing is just to look at the big blob of the hour hand and see where it is; the minute hand gets mixed up with the hour indices. I'm not surprised that a popular mod for this watch is to either change the hands, or fill them with lume. However, it does have a certain unique, quirky charm, and that's why I love Seikos.



Overall, it's a solid and high-quality watch, which of course keeps impeccable time thanks to the little flake of silicon inside. It's an attractive, if slightly brutal diver, with plenty of character. Not just a pretty face, either, as forum torturers will attest. They sell in the UK for about two hundred pounds, and with the possible exception of the new Monsters I don't know many better watches for the price.





I've shown you mine, now show me yours! Bonus points for lived-in BFKs, especially if it looks like you use it to hit rocks on a regular basis.
 
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#42 · (Edited)
Hi Folks
Recently got my BFK and singularly unimpressed with certain aspects of it compared to my £5 SKJ I recently got at a car boot sale (maybe post pics soon doing a comparison..when I get my camera sorted)...HOWEVER....one important thing I did learn is that its very easy to make your own pins and collars for the 371 bracelet..you'll need:-

0.9mm stainless steel wire....available on the bay, normally sold for fly tying or fishing lure making approx. £5.50 for 50 7 inch lengths

1.0 x 4mm stainless steel roll pins ...google for them....approx. cost inc postage (in the UK) £10 a hundred...note 1 x 4 is a standard ISO size and the smallest they come...US fractional sizes are normally 1/16 x 1/4 and are quite a bit longer

Seiko in their wisdom have the collars at 3mm so you need to gring 1mm off the roll pin (pop it in the rebate in the bracelet to get an idea of how much to take off, I hold mine in a pair of pliers and touch them on a tiny grinder I have

Cut your s/s wire at 19mm dress the cut end flat and slightly taper the other

Voila...stainless split pins and collars which work perfectly for the 371 bracelet



 
#43 ·
New BFK and some comparisons with an SKJ

Hi Folks
New BFK arrived and whilst i'm v happy with it I couldn't help but make some comparisons with my SKJ kinetic diver.The BFK cost £62 (has a ding in the bezel) the skj cost £5 and was found at a car boot sale with the bracelet in pieces.I've done very little to either watch (yet!) resized the bracelet on the BFK and learnt about budget pins and collars (I swapped them all out..they do get distorted) and the skj I converted to run on a standard watch battery (rotor removed..really not a good idea to try and recharge a standard battery !) and rebuilt the bracelet



The pair alongside each other

Starting with the BFK I adore the case and bracelet with the wet suit extension,i work in a marine environment and can spend 10 hours a day in an immersion suit with neoprene wrist seals so the extension really is a boon,I like the straight section between the lugs which allows more bracelet/strap choice without having to go with curved strap ends all the time

The movement and its durability are legendary going by some of the torture tests they have been subjected to by forum members ...Now to some of the let downs.....I was surprised at the 'tinniness' of the bezel, If I tap it there is a definite looseness to it although it does state in the owners manual that the resistance on the bezel will increase underwater..no good to me I never go underwater ! the SKJ however has the ball and spring click for the bezel and on the whole feels far superior..the hands have been discussed to death and I cant say I like that phallic minute hand...think i'll fill it with orange lume and put blue in the hour hand.
Have to say the worst part of the BFK has to be the cheap printed dial..it really does look like one of the shonky replacement dials you see on the bay the SKJ on the other hand has the applied Seiko logo along with the applied kinetic rotor symbol and just looks so much better.




Lume on both is very good with the BFK having the slight edge perhaps due to age however the pips on the SKJ seem to have the dge quality wise (very hard to show with my appaling pictures !)


In conclusion both watches have really impressed me The BFK being the winner methinks...now if Seiko could put the bezel from the skj onto the bfk and the same for the dial i'd probably buy 2 because I would never need to buy another workhorse watch again...and i'd have a spare should one be subjected to disaster :)
 
#44 ·
Re: New BFK and some comparisons with an SKJ

Hi Folks
New BFK arrived and whilst i'm v happy with it I couldn't help but make some comparisons with my SKJ kinetic diver.The BFK cost £62 (has a ding in the bezel) the skj cost £5 and was found at a car boot sale with the bracelet in pieces.I've done very little to either watch (yet!) resized the bracelet on the BFK and learnt about budget pins and collars (I swapped them all out..they do get distorted) and the skj I converted to run on a standard watch battery (rotor removed..really not a good idea to try and recharge a standard battery !) and rebuilt the bracelet



The pair alongside each other

Starting with the BFK I adore the case and bracelet with the wet suit extension,i work in a marine environment and can spend 10 hours a day in an immersion suit with neoprene wrist seals so the extension really is a boon,I like the straight section between the lugs which allows more bracelet/strap choice without having to go with curved strap ends all the time

The movement and its durability are legendary going by some of the torture tests they have been subjected to by forum members ...Now to some of the let downs.....I was surprised at the 'tinniness' of the bezel, If I tap it there is a definite looseness to it although it does state in the owners manual that the resistance on the bezel will increase underwater..no good to me I never go underwater ! the SKJ however has the ball and spring click for the bezel and on the whole feels far superior..the hands have been discussed to death and I cant say I like that phallic minute hand...think i'll fill it with orange lume and put blue in the hour hand.
Have to say the worst part of the BFK has to be the cheap printed dial..it really does look like one of the shonky replacement dials you see on the bay the SKJ on the other hand has the applied Seiko logo along with the applied kinetic rotor symbol and just looks so much better.




Lume on both is very good with the BFK having the slight edge perhaps due to age however the pips on the SKJ seem to have the dge quality wise (very hard to show with my appaling pictures !)


In conclusion both watches have really impressed me The BFK being the winner methinks...now if Seiko could put the bezel from the skj onto the bfk and the same for the dial i'd probably buy 2 because I would never need to buy another workhorse watch again...and i'd have a spare should one be subjected to disaster :)
Agreed. The dial on that skj looks great!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#49 ·
@Magu. I think you are missing the point! And MAYBE buying a severely used and abused secondhand model is not the best way to objectively test the bezel action. Mine is fine, turns smooth after 5 years of daily wear in very demanding conditions. The BFK is a real tool watch that does everything a £1000 boutique diver does and more, I don't think the dial is meant to have applied signing, it's not really a dress watch! Best lume, best accuracy, best durability. The TiCN coating is insane, I studied materials engineering and I would say this 'PVD' type coating is the best in the world. Many PVD coatings are just applied finishes a true PVD coating bonds with the metal and does not wear off, after 5 years of daily use (I am a floor sander and wood restorer so watch is dropped onto floors, bashed into architraves, bashed onto industrial sanding machines and touched by abrasives and shaken around by several hours of vibration a day and just keeps on going. The PVD coating is almost unmarked, not even any swirlies, truly amazing, much much more durable than either bare metal, paint or any other surface finish full stop, most amazing part of the watch for me.I just gave mine to my GFs son and he loves it, I want another now but will get the velatura hands mod with a yobokies second hand and then get luxmento to relume in lime green, fit a sterile chapter ring and a sapphire. (I cannot wait for a The SBDD003 to come around)I think the only objective criticisms one can have are:A: Seiko bracelets are generally pretty poor.B: The owl and cock hands are unusual but not the best and grate after a whileC: The bezel isn't particularly pleasing, the one on the SBDD003 looks much better, I agree and the larger size means there are no known custom options.and most of allD: On a serious tool watch with ridiculous lume, reliability and the best pvd coating out there WHY FIT A HARDLEX????? there is just no need for this penny pinching. Seeing as Seiko used the top PVD process on this watch to skimp on the crystal just lets the side down, no serious watch nut is going to be impressed with a hardlex, ffs fit a sapphire already! Very very big let down. And yes, amazingly after 5 years of quite serious abuse the bezel has only a few minor scratches and the PVD is almost as new but the hardlex is showing the most wear and is why I gave it away.With the SBDD003 discontinued Seiko could of made the decision to update and upgrade the BFK with neutral colours and a sapphire, instead they chose pepsi bezels and more colours, seems like the went down the fashion route, shame as IMHO the BFK is the best tool like PVD dive watch out there.
 
#53 ·
I have a black BFK that's waiting for some parts.

If the mod is successful I will PM you. ETA on parts is likely 4-8 weeks (currently backordered) as they're coming from Rob.

First set of hands on the BFK above were totally mangled. I've since received an alternate style of hand remover. You're likely able to source something sooner than wait for me though.
 
#56 ·
Actually considering this watch (or the skx007 which I flipped) because I don't have any quartz in my collection.
I read it has a 6 months reserve. So would it be sensible to have a watch with a battery in a collection? (Batteries which are low on power don't last long)
 
#61 · (Edited)
I've had my SKA369 for four years and still love it. I want to try a Zulu band on it, though, but after spending all day today (on and off) trying to remove the bracelet I have been unable to dislodge the spring bars. I have the correct tools and I have applied as much force as I'm comfortable with applying. It's frustrating - does anyone have any tips?

Thanks,

Mark.
 
#62 ·
I've had my SKA369 for four years and still love it. I want to try a Zulu band on it, though, but after spending all day today (on and off) trying to remove the bracelet I have been unable to dislodge the spring bars. I have the correct tools and I have applied as much force as I'm comfortable with applying. It's frustrating - does anyone have any tips?

Thanks,

Mark. View attachment 1569499
It has drilled lugs .....

"The bracelet can be removed quite easily (and my fingers are all thumbs...). Just take two paper-clips, bend them up a little bit and bring them in. Once you press down the spring bars, press on top of the end-link - done. Couldn't be easier for me, no scratching with knives and whatsoever."

The above "tip" is from forum member # swingkid.

Regards,
 
#65 · (Edited)
After an extremely bad day, I used all of my AMEX points yesterday and had this delivered today! Always been a fan of Seiko, as I have at one time have/had the 007,009,Orange and Black Monsters, Solar Diver, SPB001 Premier (wish I woulda kept that one), SARB, and a few others. However never had a Kinetic.

Got it today and am very impressed! I was surprised how comfortable it wears. And it does have a very nice "presence" on the wrist. This may be my gateway to that MarineMaster I have been eyeing for so long.

Anyone have any cool strap options?







 

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#67 ·
After an extremely bad day, I used all of my AMEX points yesterday and had this delivered today! Always been a fan of Seiko, as I have at one time have/had the 007,009,Orange and Black Monsters, Solar Diver, SPB001 Premier (wish I woulda kept that one), SARB, and a few others. However never had a Kinetic.

Got it today and am very impressed! I was surprised how comfortable it wears. And it does have a very nice "presence" on the wrist. This may be my gateway to that MarineMaster I have been eyeing for so long.

Anyone have any cool strap options?
I keep the stock bracelets on all my BFK's. I love the original bracelet and am probably one of the few that actually likes the stock hands. The Panatime with yellow stitching does look good though. I am more of a bracelet person.
 
#68 ·
I love the heft and robustness of mine, it sees a lot of wrist time, but I have just started to notice, it is not a night time watch! Well not for me at least! With my eyes recently starting to need reading glasses, I struggle to make out the time with the lume and the hand design.
I find my Orient SD and my Orca are much easier to read early in the morning when it's time to get up!
I still love the BFK though, and as it has served well as a beater, it's probably not worth trying to sell it on either!
The BFK with its current traveling companions.....
 

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#72 ·
I work in a very physical job that requires a very tough watch so i got the bfk (who is indeed very very tough) but came to the conclusion that its just not practical in every day level because as the name suggests its just to freaking big or to be more accurate -its just way to heavy. Anyone here feels like they went to fur with the wheight ?
 
#73 ·
Having worn this watch 24/7 for the past three weeks I can happily say that for me there is no weight or size issue , I was expecting a heavy- weight and I got one. What remains to be seen is will it be able to go the distance, the whole ten rounds? This watch is not a beater or is it a weakender nor shall it be worn on any rotational basis . This watch is the ONLY watch that I envisage wearing for the foreseeable future and it shall be worn 24/7. I can hear the stunned silence from here.Yes folks for all intense and purpose this is my only watch. Where I go , it goes, when I shower it showers when I wash dishes it washes dishes when I swim it swims ( and I swim allot ). Will I be disappointed? Should I have gone Gshock? I shall give my bnib ska 371p1 4 years of continued use and involuntary abuse before a full service. Ladies and Gentlemen place your bets............
 
#76 ·
You know it is really thanks to you wis & wus folk that this young sparkling piece of Japanese technology is hanging onto my wrist. I must have read every review ever written on the BFK and the good WAY outnumbered the bad and then most of the bad reviews concerned weight, size and inconvenience regarding the kinetic power system. Weight and size at present seem to pose no problem and since the watch stays attached power supply should be no problem either. I believe water infiltration will be its downfall as has been the case in previous watches I have owned.What I would like to see is a few shots of old, worn ,and damaged BFKs and hear their stories, how they have stood the test of time.......

Best regards
 
#77 ·
I believe water infiltration will be its downfall as has been the case in previous watches I have owned.What I would like to see is a few shots of old, worn ,and damaged BFKs and hear their stories, how they have stood the test of time.......

Best regards
they hold their own quite well. and as a diver I'd be surprised if any water got into yours if you dont open the crown underwater or something.

check this thread https://www.watchuseek.com/f21/bfk-durability-testing-more-updates-655265.html
 
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