Men never outgrow our need for toys; our preference just gets more sophisticated as we age. Whether it be gadgets, guns, photo or video cameras, or cars, there will always be Upsilonians who collect them. Still, a significant number of fellows have accumulated a vast collection of watches. In fact, there exist at least two Viber groups dedicated to watch collector Upsilonians: WISilonians, mainly consisting of Swiss watch aficionados, and SEIKOlonians, obviously comprised of Seiko watch collectors.

However, long before Viber came into existence and even before smartphones became a thing, Upsilonians have been collecting timepieces; from Timex to Rolex, Casio to Patek Philippe, brods were passionate about the watches they wore on their wrists. And when that passion for their hobby met their love for the fraternity, it was only a matter of time before a couple of them put their heads together to design an Upsilon watch.

The Pioneer: Batch '96's Hong Kong Quartz (2001)

The first documented Upsilon watch was commissioned by Rhichie Brown, Scotch Bulacja, and Gelo Serrano, all from batch ’96. It was manufactured in Hong Kong in early 2001, just in time to be sold at Upsilon Congress VIII. The effort to get this project completed should be commended, considering that it predates the boom of Alibaba or any other known online commerce infrastructure.

“I was on my first job in marketing at the time and was consulting one of our suppliers for corporate giveaways. I was going over samples of their previous work, and a particular item caught my eye: a watch. I asked if she could help me get it done, not for the company but outside of work. I also got Gelo and Rhichie involved because I had no money to finance it on my own. It also took a few months because they were ordered from Hong Kong,” recalls Scotch.

The case is stainless steel with a 34mm diameter, which is relatively small even for the standards of that time period. It features a white dial, with a polished metal 12 at the 12 o’clock position, the colored Upsilon seal just underneath, and lumed circular hour markers for the 1 to 11 o’clock positions. The bracelet is also made of stainless steel, while the movement is quartz.

It was sold for ₱1,500 apiece, which now seems insignificant. But 24 years ago, commemorative watches were uncommon, and watches then cost a fraction of what they cost now. Only 100 pieces were made, but according to the three, they didn’t sell out. Not much is known of the whereabouts of the unsold watches, but these three batchmates are charging it to experience. In their failed business venture, they found success in creating the first known Upsilon watch and paving the way for others to follow.

A Mechanical Milestone: Batch '93's Panerai Homage (2013)

Batch ’93 was celebrating their 20th year in the fraternity in 2013, and they regularly held meetings and fellowships to plan for projects they could do to celebrate their anniversary. And on one such occasion, perhaps in a flash of drunken brilliance, one of them conceived the idea of creating a batch watch to mark this milestone.

“Usapang lasing lang yun,” recounts Alan Ascalon ’93, neither confirming nor denying it was his idea to get the watches done. But everyone present seemed to think it was a great idea.

So fast forward a couple of months, they had ordered from China a Panerai Luminor homage with a sterile dial. It featured a 44mm stainless steel cushion case (instead of titanium), complete with the oversized winding crown to crank the Seagull mechanical movement, and the corresponding bridge-like crown guard that protects it. It also featured a sapphire crystal not just in front, but also at the caseback to showcase the stunning intricacies of the hand-wound movement. The only thing left to do now to make it their own was to get a custom dial.

Back in 2013, there weren’t a lot of options for custom watch dial services locally. With a little bit of FORCLI, they sourced a local metal engraver who typically made plaques and name plates and asked for his service. Fortunately, he agreed, and he did such a beautiful job that one would never have guessed a first-time dial maker had done it.

It was a simple black dial, much like the original watch it was inspired by. To highlight that this was a batch ’93 watch, the numbers 9 and 3 are prominently placed on their corresponding hour markers. A prolonged diamond marks the 6 o’clock marker, while baton indices mark the rest. Front and center up top at the 12 o’clock is the Upsilon seal.

Alan estimates only about 30 pieces were made and were given to members of batch ’93, their nanangs and tatang. And with that, batch ’93 produced what is believed to be the first Upsilon watch equipped with a mechanical movement. This piece was a step in the right direction and a sign of things to come.

The Conversation Starter: Noel Puyat's Eone Bradley (2014)

Noel Puyat ’92 is one of the lucky brods who always seem to know people in the right places. In 2014, he had a friend who distributed Eone Bradley watches, which had just had a hugely successful campaign on Kickstarter.

The Eone Bradley is a tactile wristwatch designed for visually impaired individuals. The watch is named in honor of double Paralympic gold medalist swimmer Bradley Snyder, who lost his eyesight serving in the US Navy in Afghanistan. It features a 40mm case with an 11.5mm thickness and has articulating lugs, allowing the watch to sit comfortably on any wrist size.

The hour markers are raised for palpability. In lieu of watch hands, two separate magnetized ball bearings travel around the dial on separate tracks to tell the time by touch. In case they get knocked out of position, the magnetized balls easily get back in position with a simple shake of the wrist. It is powered by a Ronda quartz movement.

“Bradley was offering customized units, even for just one unit. So I asked my friend to do one for me with the stamped Upsilon seal at the blank circular space at the center,” says Noel.

When he finally got his watch and showed it off to the brods, it naturally caused quite the commotion and demands for their own watches. Noel, being the gracious brod that he is, gladly obliged. One Eone Bradley watch turned to what he now estimates to be over 60 units.

The Eone Bradley certainly was an interesting piece and a conversation starter. It has secured its rightful place in the history of Upsilon watches as arguably the most unique piece thus far.

Batch 2008's Sea Urchin

Batch 2008 decided to offer the immensely popular Seiko Sea Urchin for pre-order to the brods leading to the Upsilon centennial, also marking their 10th anniversary. They outsourced the job to Seiko Philippines, which only accepted orders of a minimum of 50 units. They conducted four preorder cycles, totaling 200 units.

The Sea Urchin belonged to Seiko’s popular Seiko 5 family. An automatic 7S36 self-winding movement powers it, encased in a 42mm diameter stainless steel case. The variant chosen was the SNKF-15, which had the Pepsi bezel.

The OEM dial was used, with some modifications. The Upsilon seal was prominently placed to the right of the 9 o’clock marker, while all factory text written above the 6 o’clock marker was taken out and replaced with UPSILON SIGMA PHI. Until now, Batch 2008’s Upsilon Sea Urchin remains the best-selling Upsilon watch of all time.

Batch '96's Samurai

Making up for lost time, batch ’96 launched a second watch project for the centennial year 2018. This time, they decided to offer a more upscale Japanese watch: the Seiko Samurai.

Coming from Seiko’s Prospex line, the watch features a 43.8mm diameter stainless steel case with an edgy design. It is powered by the automatic 4R35 movement, featuring a date-only complication, hacking seconds, and both manual hand-winding and self-winding capabilities.

The factory dial was replaced with an aftermarket one outsourced from Hong Kong. The dial was black to match the bezel insert, and thin lumed baton indices are used for the hour markers.

The easter egg in this watch design is the big fat 9 and 6 at their respective hour markers, leaving little doubt as to which batch was behind this project. Finally, an inspiring four-line excerpt from the Upsilon march song is displayed just above the 6 o’clock marker.

Only 55 pieces of these watches were made, and to this day, it still elicits inquiries from brods who missed out on availing one for themselves.

The Wave Series for a Cause (2019)

The Upsilon Congress XVII took place less than 3 months after the centennial festivities, and Marco Abesamis ’96 was elected as a trustee to the USPAA Board. Each trustee was tasked to come up with projects or ideas to raise funds, so he approached me to get my help with another Upsilon watch project.

The Seiko X Upsilon Wave Series was launched in late 2019 with two versions/colorways of the same sandwich dial design: the Dawn Gray and the Dark Knight. The top layer dial has a wave pattern that reveals the bottom layer dial in a different shade.

The base watch could’ve been any of three models from Seiko 5. The case was a 43mm diameter stainless steel and came with a stainless steel bracelet. The movement is 4R35.

One hundred pieces of each variant were made, and only a handful remain as of this writing. As Marco’s pet project, a portion of the proceeds went towards funding the distribution of anti-mosquito patches in areas with high occurrences of dengue.

Ian Chi-Young's Taipan Chronometers

Ian Chi-Young ’97 got into the Upsilon watch game around the same time by getting an Upsilon version of his Taipan Chronometers.

Providing the heartbeat is a Japanese Seiko quartz movement encased in a European-inspired 316L stainless steel casing and sapphire crystal, linked with a leather strap. The hour markers are classic Roman numerals.

To balance everything out, just under the 12 o’clock marker is the colored Upsilon seal, which is roughly the same size as the other sub-dials, making for a very balanced design.

The Swiss Summit: The Tudor Black Bay 58 (2021)

Heading into early 2021, there’s been an increasing clamor from a number of brods who were craving something more than just low to mid-tier Japanese Upsilon watches. They worked up an itch that only a Swiss Upsilon watch could scratch.

Right off the bat, Rolex was ruled out due to its scarce supply. But its little brother, Tudor, presented a very interesting argument for consideration. Making it even more enticing was the highly sought-after Black Bay 58, a vintage-sized 39mm dive watch featuring an in-house automatic movement.

We broached the idea to the brods, and they agreed it was a good target watch. With that, Marco and I reached out to Lucerne, the local distributors of Tudor, to ask if they could help us make it happen. They provided full assistance and connected us directly to the principals at Tudor headquarters.

What happened over the next succeeding months was countless back-and-forth emails. In hindsight, it was somewhat naïve to think we were going through the motions of routine questions. Apparently, the folks in Geneva were serious about doing their due diligence.

Imagine my surprise when I read the email from a prominent watch executive based decided in Switzerland, asking me pointed questions about the fraternity's reputation and legacy. After the initial shock, I was honestly impressed at the lengths they went to thoroughly investigate people before they decide to jump into business.

It may have taken many more back-and-forth email exchanges, but we managed to do it. We secured their approval, and it felt so much more satisfying that they decided to push through with the collaboration.

The next challenge was to get 50 brods to preorder within the 3-week deadline they set. With just two days until the deadline and stuck at 49, one of the brods in the list decided to order a second watch just so we could get to 50.

Tudor Geneva did not allow us to use the standard caseback. Instead, they provided a sterile caseback and gave us the liberty to do our own custom design. They also wanted each one to bear a unique name at the caseback. Aside from the names, we also included numbering from 01/50 to 50/50, making it a really limited edition item.

Over at the front side, the only change was a simple Upsilon seal in gold outline just above the 6 o’clock marker. And so after an eight-month period, the Upsilon Tudor Black Bay 58 was finally released in October 2021. It was even more beautiful than any of us had expected.

This begs the question: how do we even top this? To answer, we just have to remember that we are Upsilonians. We will set goals and one day, when we are ready, we will do something bigger and better.

Dan Salvador's Rare G-Shock (2023)

By 2023, it seemed like Upsilon watches had gone through all shapes, forms, and price brackets. Not quite, believed Dan Salvador 2007. He thought it was a mistake not to do an Upsilon Casio watch. And if one were to be done, it certainly had to be the iconic G-Shock.

The particular model chosen was the Casio GM-2100BB-1A. It is packed with features, like a complex and highly accurate stopwatch, world time, and is water-resistant down to 200 meters.

Dan said he limited production to 21, including the one he kept for himself. Meaning those G-Shocks are not just the most feature-packed; they are some of the rarest Upsilon watches.

Batch 2002's DG018 Chronograph (2025)

This 2025, the newest addition to this tradition of Upsilon Time is the DG018 Upsilon Sigma Phi Special Edition Chronograph, created by Batch 2002 in preparation for their Silver Anniversary. A year in the making, the project is not just a design feat—it is also a fundraising initiative.

The watch is a collaboration with De Guzman & Co., a Filipino microbrand watchmaker. The timepiece is rich with fraternal symbolism. The chapter ring carries the Upsilon motto. The seal of the fraternity is proudly displayed on the dial. A red marker at 2 o’clock honors Batch 2002.

Powered by the Seiko VK64A hybrid mechanical-quartz movement, the DG018 combines quartz accuracy with a mechanical chronograph feel. It is available in two variants, each limited to 50 numbered pieces. And they’re moving fast.

**Pre-order now:**

🔗 https://www.deguzmanandco.com/dg018usp

🔐 Password: usp2002

📦 Free delivery within Metro Manila; +₱150 for provincial orders.

From Seconds to Symbols

For over two decades, these watches have evolved—much like the brods themselves—from simple quartz novelties to mechanical statements of identity. They are not just timepieces. They are markers of tradition, milestones, and memory. To wear one is to wear history. To wear one is to say: this is who I am, and who I belong to.

As highlighted through the back stories of each of these Upsilon watches, they too have a story to tell. The journey from concept to production did not happen overnight. More often than not, there were obstacles along the way. But there’s one thing these watches shared in common: the brods with the initiative to start them did not give up until it was done.

Which brings us back to the point I raised earlier: why is it so hard to find an Upsilonian willing to part with or sell his Upsilon watch? Perhaps it’s because of all the stories the brod has tied into the fraternity, which he naturally ties to the Upsilon watch.

And when that happens, the watch ceases to become merely a piece of jewelry or timepiece. It now becomes an heirloom, and more importantly, a memory. And you can’t put a price on memories. The best you can do is pass it on when the time comes, to a worthy heir.

But until then, keep wearing your watches in good health and fill every unforgiving minute.