Seiko NH35 Automatic ยท 36 or 39mm ยท Sapphire Crystal ยท Matcha Sunburst Dial
One price. All duties covered. Ships to the US in 7โ9 days.
Order Your Green Tea Mod โShips to the US ยท Zero customs fees ยท 1-year registered warranty ยท FedEx Express 7โ9 days
This isn't green because green sells. It's the specific green of stone-milled matcha โ and that colour is the result of a process obsessed with patience.
For the finest matcha, growers cover the tea fields for roughly three weeks before harvest. Starved of direct sun, the plant floods its leaves with chlorophyll to catch what light remains โ and that is what turns the leaf that deep, saturated green. The same shading raises theanine, which is why good matcha tastes round and sweet instead of bitter.
The shaded leaf is then steamed, dried, de-stemmed and ground between granite wheels that turn deliberately slowly โ an hour of milling yields only a small tin of powder. Rush the stone and the friction heat scorches the flavour and dulls the colour.
There is no fast way to make something this green.
That felt like the right idea to put on a watch dial.
Not a replica. Not a fake. A custom watch built around a genuine Japanese Seiko NH35 automatic movement โ the same engineering that powers Seiko's own $500โ$2,000 watches โ housed in a premium Oyster Perpetual case with a dial you won't find anywhere else.
We start with an authentic Japanese NH35 automatic โ 24 jewels, 41-hour power reserve, hacking seconds, hand-winding. The beating heart of every watch we build. Not a clone. Not a Chinese copy.
Sapphire crystal, a 316L stainless steel Oyster Perpetual case in 36 or 39mm, and a custom matcha sunburst dial. Every part chosen for how long it lasts, not what it costs us.
Each watch is built by hand on our bench โ movement regulated, hands set, dial aligned, case sealed and pressure-tested. It leaves only when it meets the standard.
The parts that separate a watch you keep from a watch you replace.
No battery. No quartz. A mechanical movement that winds itself from the motion of your wrist and has been doing it reliably in Seiko's own watches for decades.
The workhorse of Japanese watchmaking. 41 hours of reserve from a full wind, and serviceable by any competent watchmaker anywhere in the world โ parts are common and cheap, which is exactly what you want in a movement you plan to keep.
Every movement is a genuine Seiko NH35, installed and regulated by hand on our bench. Open the caseback and have it verified by any watchmaker you like.
The matcha process, and the reason the colour means something.
The Green Tea Oyster Perpetual, photographed as it ships. No renders.
"The dial is the whole reason to buy this. Photos genuinely don't capture it โ in the sun it goes bright, almost yellow-green, and under office light it settles into a deep olive. My NH35 is running about +3 seconds a day. I've had watches five times this price that didn't get this many comments."
"I wanted something that wasn't another black-dial diver. Went with the 39mm on the beige nylon and it's perfect with jeans, but it also cleaned up fine under a cuff at my daughter's graduation. The nylon was comfortable from day one โ no break-in."
"Ordered the 36mm on the steel bracelet for my wife after she kept borrowing mine. Dial alignment is dead on, the sapphire is flawless, and the bracelet finishing is better than I expected at this price. Third Emperor Mods build in the house now."
"Took it to my local watchmaker because I wanted a second opinion. He confirmed it's a genuine Seiko NH35 and told me the build quality was better than he expected for the money. That was all I needed to hear."
Shot on wrist and on the table. Same watch, different light.
I started Emperor Mods because the choice in front of me was either an overpriced retail watch or a cheap fashion quartz with a name printed on it. A Seiko mod is the third option: real Japanese engineering, in a design somebody actually cared about.
Every watch is hand-assembled in our workshop. I personally check each build before it ships โ movement regulation, hand alignment, dial centring, bracelet or strap fit. If it isn't right, it doesn't leave the bench.
The Green Tea was the build I was most nervous about, because a green dial is easy to get wrong. Too blue and it looks like a fashion watch. Too dark and it just reads black. This one took several dial samples before I was happy.
How we stack up against the alternatives.
| Emperor Mods | Retail Seiko | Other Modders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movement | Genuine Seiko NH35, Japan | Genuine Seiko | Ask โ many won't say |
| Crystal | Sapphire | Hardlex (mineral) | Inconsistent |
| Dial | Matcha sunburst โ ours only | Mass-produced | Some great, some not |
| Size options | 36mm and 39mm | Usually one size | Rarely offered |
| Price | $274 | $400โ$800+ | $250โ$400 |
| Warranty | 1 year, registered | 1โ2 years | Rare at this price |
| Shipping to US | FedEx Express ยท all duties on us | Varies | Often customs + delays |
We're not claiming to beat everyone on everything. We're saying the value is hard to argue with.
No marketing fluff. Answers from the person who builds these.
Every watch is hand-built to order โ we don't mass-produce, so batches are genuinely finite.
Ichigo ichie โ "one time, one meeting." A tea-ceremony idea: this particular gathering will never happen again in exactly this way. Same goes for a batch of dials.