Dear All,
many members consult me for questions regarding what AP to choose for their first AP or what model to add to their existent portfolio.
Sometimes I am in the mood to just name one piece, but most of the time a wide variety of AP´s come into my mind. So I think its time to just summarize what AP ROO would be a good buy.
Please notice that this is just my cheap opinion and you may think of the complete opposite, plus; I cannot name all excisting reps but all ROO´s named are
a) on my wish-list
allready in my watchbox
c) gone to new homes but had been on my wrist for longer.
So beside the usual flaws you all know (date, caseback, crown-position), all newly released models are very accurate.
In the end it all depends on your own taste and your own style to wear watches. I may suggest 3 categories:
1) if you are John Q. Public, just the normal guy. You have a RLX Sub and an Omega or Breitling, you like Panerai and many other watches but you don´t change your style daily, you wear a nice watch for months before changing to a new model....I would choose a watch with understatement, not flashy, dark dial, rubber strap in black or leather strap in darker colors ....best for that are
- Black Themes (classy, standard, wearable with strap [rubber] or bracelet....the only watch for a bracelet me thinks)
- Grey Themes (although it should be Titanium)
- Silver Themes (can handle a ton of different straps....I have at least 5 straps for this piece only)
- CHRONOPASSION (should be ordered with a rubber but you can upgrade it with a nice APBands strap). Now there are 3 versions on the market, but I highly doubt that you will find V1 (Titanium brushed finish like the standard ROO) floating around.
V3: We were told that the sandblasted Titanium finish was done on a bare case.
V2: had a brushed finish and was re-done with a sandblasted finish.
We might see a difference when compared side-by-side with a lense/magnifier.
- Rubens Barrichello 2 black (mind the dial plate that lacks some details, but stunning rep nontheless)
- Rubberclad with black dial (this is the "Submariner" amongst the AP collectors)
- GSTAAD (a little bit of color with a dark case, looks different than others with the rubber bezel)
All of the above can be worn out-of-the-box.
2) if you and the people around you know about your watch-hobby, if you are bit more bizarre, you choose a watch to your outfit.....you can play a bit more with the nice AP ROO reps;
- Tour Auto 2010 (the best part of this and the DRIVER is the accuracy and the wonderful newly designed bezel)
- DRIVER Boutique (orange instead of red accents)
- White Themes (needs a good, high-grade croc strap to make a stunner)
- SAFARI (needs a very good and therefore expensive croc strap, better hornback....that is pricey, HKTan does the trick, APBands fits better, used OEM would be the icing on the cake)
- NAVY (the blue rep-hornback is not that bad....but a good APBands strap in blue color is deffo an upgrade)
- Montoya in ss
- Sachin Tendulkar (the upgraded version of the strap with 3 colored stitches will re-focus from the plasticky leather strap )
- Volcano (with the upgraded inner Tachy ring in matte orange, the older versions used anodiced orange color)
With an additional strap or a nice croc from 3rd party supplier, these are all nice watches with an attitude.
3) if you are Mr. Cool Man :cool: you can go for all the other nice pieces that are screaming in color, appearance, material, ..... just beside the norm. So here goes;
- SURVIVOR (the very first absolutely stunning and nearly 1:1 replica in the ROO business, the watch wears equal to all other ROO´s due to the PVD coated Titanium case, the pusher protectors don´t dig into the wrist)
- MASATO (red/black and a little bit of bling...just enough to make it get some second looks)
- EoD (wonderful alternative as you can wear it on the nice velcro strap)
- Las Vegas (deep dark black and bloody red....the devil inside, wow)
- LAVA
- MARCUS in PVD or gold (not 100% my taste but I kind of like it)
- Don Ramon De La Cruz (I am a stainless steel guy....if I were to choose a gold watch one day, this would be it!!!)
- Rhone Fusterie (Red, white and silver/grey....good color combination, I had it on a light grey calf strap)
The last pieces listed are for the more experienced watch-nuts, for those who wear jeans and T-shirt but still pull-off a ROSEGOLD big watch with flashy red accents.....
So I hope the small list above will help some members to find their own AP ROO without spending a fortune on several pieces and learn the hard way. Nearly all of the above had been or are in my collection, so I know what I´m talking about.
Arrh...BTW, I have not mentioned the new DIVER although its a ROO.....yeah, I ordered it and wait for it, nice alternative to all my chronos
It is a wonderful piece, it has a new designed case construction, thinner, and most of the watch is 1:1 to the gen....allthough the factory managed to do a date-window and date-mag that is too small compared to gen....another downer is the missing lume on the rehaut . So I guess we might see a V3 of this watch in the future. But in the meantime I love mine
Thx to Joshua for allowing me to use his pics!
Cheers mates....and send me a note if you have any Q´s or if you are willing to part with your ROO or parts of them.
Theo