It struck me that the V-shaped 12 oвЂ™clock marker looked very close to the SKX401KвЂ™s, so I decided to compare this watch with it. It was the SKX401K with the Pepsi-colored rotating bezel. I remembered that there was one particular SKX diver that was considered rare as henвЂ™s teeth and only a handful of photos were available. I figured out that it had to be some short-lived model that not many people knew about. The dial is very unlike the SKX173 despite both designs having rectangular markers. I would have believed that, except for one thing. Framed index markers (hardly noticeable in the picture)ДЄs you can see, the cryptic watch appears to be a combination of the SKX173 and the SKX007K.Shorter and wider V-shaped 12 oвЂ™clock marker.

Different styled second hand (lumed dot on the opposite end of the hand).In fact, it would be a dead ringer for the SKX173 if it werenвЂ™t for the: You can see that the hour markers are rectangular and the addition of the lumed marker at the 3 oвЂ™clock position. Now the arcane looking Seiko diver draws more parallelisms with the SKX173. Top: Compared with the 7s26-0028/9, the SKX173 for the North American market. OK, now letвЂ™s take a look at the same watch versus the North American model. The 12 oвЂ™clock index shapes are also vastly different.ДЄt the surface, our mystery guest seems to be an SKX173 diver gone wrong! рџ™‚ Did someone at the factory inadvertently switch the wrong parts for this oddball piece? The dial on the watch on the left has square hour markers while the SKX007KвЂ™s have round and ellipsoid index markers. Top: The mysterious 7s26-0020 vs another well-known 7s26-0020, the SKX007K.ДЄs we can see, the only the only similarities between the two are the black rotating bezel insert and the hands. There was something strangely familiar about the design of the watch dial вЂ“ itвЂ™s like IвЂ™ve seen it before, but where?Д«efore we delve further into the subject matter, we need to make direct comparisons this mystery watch with what we already know вЂ“ the SKX173 and the very commonly found SKX007K. What model was this watch, exactly? It wasnвЂ™t even referenced in Kevin ChanвЂ™s Seiko DiverвЂ™s Reference вЂ“ the well known, de facto Seiko diver photo repository. I still kept the photos downloaded from the post and decided to take another look at them. This watch was never seen again on the forum nor was it discussed after that. cobbled out of parts from different Seiko models.ДЇorum members nevertheless congratulated the owner for his strange find. It was as though this model was a вЂњFranken Seiko', i.e. The second hand was indisputably borrowed from the SKX007K model as the lumed dot (or some call it вЂњmeatball') was on the opposite end of the hand. Appearance-wise, it looked like the garden variety SKX173 model for North America вЂ“ except that there were differences enough to suggest that it wasnвЂ™t a SKX173 at all. I scrutinized the photos carefully and couldnвЂ™t put my finger on it. Nobody was able to identify the odd model from Seiko and a few suggested that it may be a fake Seiko watch. A couple of years ago, someone proudly posted his proud acquisition on SCWF вЂ“ a strange looking 7s26-0020 diverвЂ™s watch that none of the forum members had ever seen.

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