Imaknockov

Thanks for that little breakdown, Zorro. I will use this opportunity to demonstrate just exactly how good a deal that $1540 is, despite initial appearances. Gen AP Grand Prix: $70 000.00 Rep AP Grand Prix w/full bells & whistles: $1540 -Mathematical cost ratio: the gen is 45 times more expensive than this super-rep. Gen Rolex Sub C: about 10 000.00 Rep Rolex Sub C (noob mod): $4-500.00 -Mathematical cost ratio: the gen costs twenty times more than the rep. Conclusion: even when you pull-out all the stops and go for aftermarket carbon parts and a gen strap that costs more than the rep, you're still getting better value for your money compared to the gen than a Rolex rep collector. Food for thought.

Not from the fabrication videos I've seen. I also have a Formula 1 carbon brake disk sitting on my shelf, and the texture of these is nothing like what we see on the AP watch parts.

I consider the process of making this material to be a trade secret but I can tell you this: it's probably not as high-tech as most people think, and relies more on skill, technique and concentration than anything else.

I took a few extra pictures under artificial light. It's quite tricky to photograph the carbon as it'll just look black if the light isn't coming from the right direction. In these you can see that the "etching" pattern that was on the rep parts was reproduced on the carbon parts, but can be done away with rather easily if needed. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There are issues with the Bumblebee case that make it impractical to reproduce at this time. Since I work from the rep parts, the case for the Bumblebee offered by the cartel is inaccurate, and I feel that it would be a waste to invest all the time and effort to make a carbon unit from it. If you're not sure what I mean with regards to inaccuracy, look at the shape of the pusher guards and positioning of the chrono pushers on both the gen and the rep.

I've decided to start a thread specifically for the forged carbon APs. As some of you may or may not already know, I've been experimenting with producing my own forged carbon parts but was reluctant to start a thread on it until I could satisfy myself that my efforts would not be futile. Also, I didn't feel that it would be right to capture peoples' interest and then disappoint them, so I kept a relatively low profile as I worked behind the scenes. While my initial tests with the material proved fruitful, I can say with all honesty that once the tooling for the real parts had been done and I was making the first actual watch parts, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the test was going to be a failure. The three hour curing process was painfully long, as I had no way of knowing how bad the damage was before the moulds could be opened. Much to my surprise though, the parts actually turned out rather well. To be honest, my initial expectations were rather low to begin with. So far I can tell you this much about making these parts: it's exceedingly delicate and frustrating. The mould cavities are very small and challenging to fill, the forging process takes about 3 hours and then probably another 3 to manually clean the parts. Sufficed to say, I don't think that this process lends itself well to any kind of mass-production and is probably why we haven't seen the factories do anything like this yet. While I thought of taking pictures of just the parts, I was actually more keen to determine whether the pieces would actually fit back onto the watch properly, so as soon as the parts were cleaned, I bolted them back into place and the whole process was surprisingly trouble-free. There are a few defects that I noticed during the fitting process, but it has been extremely educational and have found ways to remedy these for future parts: my watch's role in all this was to be the proverbial guinea pig, and it's doing its job very well. And now that I've ranted, here are some crude but adequate photos of the new forged carbon parts for your evaluation. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I will start tooling the molds next week, I've just been quite busy with other things and the project had to be put on the back-burner for a while.

What are the tells between "real" carbon fiber and "fake" carbon fiber? I have to ask because the watch uses just a few small onlaid pieces decoratively. It has the same shortcomings of the rest of the models: slightly thicker than gen case-back and date wheel spacing, but from my experience having owned a platinum model, it's one of the nicest and most accurate APs. The only minor quibble with the RG version is that the outer faces of the bezel on the gen are brushed, whilst the ones on the rep are polished. Other than that, it's fantastic eye candy and even the faux leather strap is better than the average rep strap.

You'll have to define "cut down."

The fact that while the dial is skeletonized, the top plate of the movement is not, so the gears and innards are not visible through the dial as they should be. The movement itself is fine in terms of functionnality.

To be fair, I've only ever seen one documented case of the forged carbon components on an AP looking like it had survived a motorcycle crash, and there was no mention of how it got that way. My own experiments with the material show that it's essentially like a plastic part, and will last according to how it's maintained.

i'm working on something currently, but it'll only be for the Grand Prix models if I get it working. Bumblebee rep has incorrect case design/shape so it's not a good candidate.

Gluing a magazine cutout on your wrist? Sure!

Indeed, the new 44m case IS the shizzle! Feels closer to the Shaq/T3 in size without being over the top. The wider strap is also more comfortable and makes an otherwise heavy watch feel much lighter. MADRED, would you happen to know the size of the allen key needed to remove the crown guard screws? I know that the case-back needs a 1.5mm tool, but I don't have anything small enough for the CGs. Knowing what size is needed would help me a great deal Also, has anyone else tried to disassemble their GP?

The faux carbon is really the biggest drawback of all 3 models, but more so for the top (all carbon model) as it not only has more fake carbon surface area than the other two, but the case-back and pusher guards aren't made in proper titanium, which is slightly darker/warmer in color and also the gen parts have a slightly rougher sandblasted finish. There are other minor variances with regards to colors, details, etc. But still excellent overall. Carbon replacement: as per some posts I made before Christmas, I'll be working on producing actual carbon parts for this model. Some earlier experiments yielded very good results, and I'm confident that it will translate to some really high quality carbon bits that will put this watch over the top as a super rep.

The Montoya is a very close second, if not neck-in-neck with the Rubberclad. The one obvious flaw with the Montoya is of course the movement seen through the exhibition case-back, though I don't consider that an issue and doesn't detract from the overall splendour of the timepiece. The rose gold is so close to the gen that unless two were side by side, you wouldn't be able to notice the difference.

Loving this! The brown of the strap supports the brown of the subdials beautifully. All it needs are black bezel screws and you're in business!

If you think this girl has hairy arms, then for Heaven's sake don't look at any Indian girls as they are infinitely worse (and bordering on scary!) I doubt her boobs are fake: you can bet that if they were, she would have shown more cleavage. Don't ask me how I know this

Absolutely. http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=157585&page=3 Let me know if people can't access the link.

As promised, I decided to perform a little (albeit improvised) experiment with some carbon fiber that I had lying around to see if I could get that random shimmering look. The polyurethane binding agent was sufficient for a test, but I think I'd switch to a harder material for final parts. The aim of the test was to see how well the carbon and binder would capture harsh angles and fine detail, and I'm very pleased at the results. The effect is difficult to capture under artificial light, but looks very impressive, despite the fact that I used much finer carbon strands. I'll see to taking some better pictures in daylight in the next day or two. http://imageshack.us/g/259/dscf4094g.jpg/

I'm going to do some tests with carbon fibers to see how laborious it would be to get the proper look; might have some initial results in about a week.

I dare think that a proper carbon finish would run you more than an extra hundred bucks. Considering that the cheapest timepiece in the Grand Prix series is at least 35K, even $1200 for a good replica puts you miles ahead in the price-to-value ratio.

Guy buys a watch for 27k and just mysteriously "lost" the box and papers and doesn't feel the need to post clear pics of the item. Sounds legit

T3 is also excellent. While it has the offset date window and thicker case-back that all the others do, it's far less noticeable due to the watch's already generous proportions. Aside from the font on the Tachymètre and maybe a few stray molecules here and there, when placed side-by-side with a gen, unless you know exactly what you're looking for, you'd most likely be unable to tell one from the other.

The case is actually ceramic, which is very rep-able.