By Joe Berk
The Honda Cub is the most-produced motor vehicle of any kind in the history of the world. Not just motorcycles, but motor vehicles. Honda passed the 100 million Cub mark years ago; today they still offer a Cub in the form of the 125cc Super Cub. That 100 million figure doesn’t count all the knockoffs by Yamaha and the Chinese marques. It’s a staggering number for a staggering vehicular concept. So, if you’re a watch company and you want to produce a watch honoring a motorcycle…well, you know where this is going.
Seiko is the company, and this year they introduced a limited edition of the Honda Super Cub watch. These watches have been nearly impossible to get, so I was astounded when on Christmas photog duty at the mall I wandered into a watch store and what do you know, there it was. It was the only Seiko Super Cub watch I’ve seen and I knew I had to have it. It’s self-winding and to watch weirdos like me it doesn’t get any better than a mechanical self-winding watch. The ticket in was $400, I asked if there was any room in the price, the store manager said no, and I pulled the trigger anyway. I bought it for list price and that was still a good deal.
Seiko is offering a limited run of the Super Cub watch in two colors. I’ve not seen the black one in person, but that’s okay. I like the green and white one better.
The Seiko Honda Super Cub watch has several cool details, including a NATO band, a rear cover intended to evoke a tail light, and a stem that looks like a Cub fuel gage.
Two of your blog boys (that would be Gresh and yours truly) both owned Honda Cubs back in the day (Huber didn’t, but he has an excuse…he wasn’t born yet). I guess that made Gresh and I two of the nicest people you’d ever meet.
To my great surprise, I found a couple of photos of my Honda Cub buried in an old photo album. The image quality is not up to my current standards, but hey, I took these photos with a Minolta C110 camera in the 1960s. With those little 110 film cassettes, these 60-year-old pics ain’t half bad.
I bought the Cub for $50 (a dollar per cubic centimeter) from Zeb Moser (a buddy in New Jersey; RIP, Zeb), rode around on it a little bit, and then sold it for $70 thinking I’d done well. There’s no need to say it, but I will anyway: I wish I still had my Cub.
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I’m not into time , man. – Tommy Chong
I like Cheech better.
You were luckier than me. I never got my Cub running. I still have both wheels from it and maybe the engine.
I plan on using the wheels for another 50cc project bike in boxes.
As I am your senior, I was wondering as I wrote that article if my Cub was the one you have. Then I realized the odds of that being the case are less than 1 in 100 million.
Joe, you make an excellent salesman. I just bought a green Super Cub watch. I ordered it from a jewelers in Florida. They had a website so I’m sure they’re legit. I’ve been looking for a watch to wear as I refuse to wear my sixty year old Rolex cloth faced Submariner dive watch I received when my uncle died or my Seiko 6105-8009 Seiko dive watch that my parents bought me for Christmas in the seventies. It was bought at the PX in Vietnam and sent by the same uncle who’s Rolex I have now. Both watches in mint condition and somewhat valuable now. I’ll get it Tuesday. I just hope it’s not too nice or I won’t wear it either, LOL. I’m just not worthy.
That’s awesome, Marcus.
I picked up a brown leather band for my Seiko Super Cub when I bought the watch. I don’t want to get the white and green NATO band dirty. I selected a brown leather band and the dealer gave it to me for free. I think it will look great when I get around to putting it on the watch.
When I came home from Korea in ’76, I brought three new Seiko mechanical chronographs with me that I had picked up at the Kunsan Base Exchange. I gave one to my father, one to my grandfather, and I kept one for myself. Both my father and grandfather passed away, so those watches came back to me in the mid-1980s. I sold all three on Ebay when I bought my Rolex (which I almost never wear these days; it’s too pretentious). I wish I had all three of those Seikos now. It’s probably why I buy any new Seiko that strikes my fancy.
Good luck with your Super Cub watch. I think you will love it.
Nah, I’m going to wear it. I’ll let my next of kin worry about the band. I’ve never had a watch with a nato band. My ancient Seiko dive watch came with a rubber waffle band which dried out and broke apart. I understand somebody makes a silicone replica. I’ll look for one. No other band seems quite right with that watch and I’ve tried a few.
I spent a few minutes trying to find a phone number for Seiko and I did. It’s 800 722 4452. I ordered a spare original green and white NATO band. It’s about $60, which is kind of crazy unless you’ve ever tried to find an original band for a Seiko watch. I’ll be wearing mine now, too. Still, $60 for a band is pretty crazy when you think about it; there are a lot of great watches for less than that. A great dive watch (style only, I’m not a diver) for about $45 is the Casio Marlin. I wear one of those pretty regularly and I have done so for about 15 years. I thought I’d put a link to a review I thought I had done on that watch, but I haven’t done one. I probably will in the near future. By the way, the replacement band for the Marlin was $12.
Joe, I’ll give some thought to the band, $60 is indeed a high ask. I’m going to buy a silicone replica waffle band for my other Seiko dive watch, which I actually used diving. I’ve received my Super Cub watch. You failed to mention how cheery the green painted dial is in the sunshine. I love it and it’s very comfortable with the NATO band. As to my Rolex dive watch, which I foolishly used swimming once, here’s a link to the same one I have, only mine is in better condition. Why I never wear it anymore will become evident.
https://www.tourneau.com/watches/pre-owned-rolex/submariner-circa-1964-stainless-steel-automatic-5513-VRX37498.html
You know, I haven’t had my Super Cub watch out in the sunshine yet, so I have to get off my butt and see what that bad boy looks like in the light of day. Gresh and Huber tend to keep me locked in the basement working on blogs and such.
I agree, the price on Rolex watches is nuts. I have a blog in the queue comparing the Casio Marlin to the Rolex Sea Dweller dive watches. The Casio costs .1% of what the Rolex fetches, and it keeps better time.
Mine was a red (orange) one. There was a rental company in Miami that sold used inventory for cheap. Like $100. I got mine from a kid who had already thrashed it. I think
I paid $5.
$5. Amazing. There’s a story there, Joe. We should start a club. The Old Bub Cub Club. You should design the logo.
Back in the late 1960’s early ’70’s you could buy 5-6 year old Japanese bikes for next to nothing.
I bought two 305 Honda Dream’s for $15 each, a beautiful Honda 125cc twin engine for $20. I bought an excellent running 160cc Honda for $50. That was cheap even then. I was making about $25 a week.
There’s a story or three there, too.