Pakz

The FT has a "Watches & Jewellery" supplement, now and then... Bell & Ross advertises in there... So my rep BR02 finds company in there!

Yep, you're not mistaken, that's the one!

Well, yeah... Normally, the more you pay, the better you get! Except that's true in theory for watch movement. Most will arrive to you dirty, and Asian stuff is more prone to break. Most "swiss" movements from our dealer are at best Swiss ebauches finished in Asia, by Chinese guys using Chinese pieces. So is this better than "plain Asian clone" or "plain Asian 21 jewels"... Well, certainly, at least in terms of reparability, availability of replacement pieces, ease of handling by a watchmaker (they are clones of very well known movements). But 21j are not bad, usually fairly robust, their finish and all improving all steadily. When they have problems (and that will happen at some point, one month, one year, ten years, who knows) they will be more difficult to repair by most watchsmith, and the cost of repairing them will possibly be higher than that of movement... So replacement seems a better option. Swiss or Asian clones are much better option for frankenizing, as well... As for most things, in the end, it really is a matter of "risk-reward", "cost-opportunity". In my experience, 21j come cheap, are fairly robust, if they crap you replace them, or change the watch and that's it. "Swiss"... well, they should be better at many things, and they can get repaired. But the initial cost is higher, cost of the repair could be steep relative to the value of the watch, etc. etc. So if you're into modding your watch a lot, if you'll invest a lot in it, if you want a "like the original on every point" but cheaper, Swiss will be best. If you believe that it will just be one among many, and if you really love it, you'll end up buying a gen... 4813 is the way to go. My 20 cts on a very controversial and subjective "problem" !!

I've lived that same experience time and again... I've got more than a few gen, and more than a few rep... Some in double... And I need to look twice or more to get "the right one". Sometimes even I fool myself, believe I've got the rep on the wrist only to discover sometimes later, on remembering one specific thing, that no, it's the gen!! My noobmariner has been admired as a "very nice example of the 1660" by a guy sporting an obviously gen deepsea dweller... I'm the only one, apart maybe other "rep-geeks", to notice the flaws of my reps. Even ADs (not of the same brand, normally) would be fouled by most of the "good reps". But that's part of the sport, of the passion... chasing details that no one sees...

Got mine from Josh...

That does totally confirm my own experience. They probably managed the speeding up of the movement by reducing the amplitude...

Great collection... I'm really starting to develop a love of the Chronopassion... Only thing blocking me is that second @12 problem making the already not quite reliable a7750 a wrist worn hand grenade, ready to blow at any time

My bad... Crowns are the same as the "old" v5... Still great watch! Congrats', segoy!

And I've got the impression that the crown is slightly smaller than on the usual v5... Looks like they've improved the few remaining flaws on that one!!!

Humm... The bracelet seems very different, too... It's using screws, and there are tabs for opening the clasp, not buttons. Let's hope all that gets rep'd soon!

I really don't know what to make of this info... and I don't think it's that meaningful. All I see is that this movement tend to have at the same time a smallish amplitude, very good accuracy (mine are -001s and +000s) and very low beat error... As to what it will make in terms of life expectancy, we don't have enough hindsight, I'd say.

I guess that yours has an sticked metal logo on the dial, so no-happy feet for it, yet being a speedmaster it has the "speedmaster bracelet" that comes with a happy-feet logo since most speedies have a painted logo on the dial (as the original models had). So instead of having two versions of the same bracelet, for different versions of the speedmaster, they just make do with logos that get "crossed" like on yours. That's the price you pay (sic) for a "not really standard" watch. If you'd gone for a moonwatch or a reduced, like mine (the staples of the speedmaster familly), you'd have had "coherent" logos Or if you go for a PO, you get coherent (no-happy feet) logos as well... In terms of helping know gen or rep, that's the conformity to the spec's of the gen that really make sense. The moonwatch has happy feet... so if you get a "non happy feet logo" on one, it's a rep. On the other hand, the PO should have non happy feet logos. So if you have happy feet, then it's an (old) rep...

I'm not too sure about that... I have the clear impression that the optimal amplitude varies from one type of movement to the next... Comes from the design of it. And in terms of DG4813, I'm yet to see one showing an amplitude of more that 230°... I've seen something like 6 or 7 QC pics for such movements, and the amplitude is always in the 200's. And no one just came two or three weeks after telling that the watch doesn't keep good time, or that it died. My exp with the 3 of them that I had bought is quite the inverse: they all run very well after 1 month or more, and they all keep very excellent time (all within COSC values!!!). It could still be that they're all "dirty and in need of service". But at the same time, I've seen many a Valjoux with amplitude of 330° or so just crap in 5 days... and be found to be really dirty when dissecting it. So, based on the empirical facts, I'm not convinced that "big amplitude means movement's clean and well working" while "short amplitude means dirty movement that needs service"... Then again, I'm no watchsmith or anything similar and I could be very wrong, particularly with a fairly small sample as the one I'm considering. But either I'm very

In my original understanding, the logo of Omega included the so called happy feet (pointy bits at the end of the feet of the omega letter). And they kept it that way for the longest time. However, at some point it seems that Omega started to have attached metal logos and not just only painted logos. To simplify the production process they went for a more modern version of the omega, without happy feet. Your speedmaster has attached metal logo, I believe, so on the dial there will be no happy feet... My gen speedy has painted logo so it has happy feet (indeed, on the papers and the clasp as well, you can see them). So the metal logos on the Seamasters (included the one on the clasp) do not have happy feet, rest of the brand does, as long as it's not painted. My gen speedmaster reduced has happy feet, so does the moonwatch etc. If you go to the official omega web site, you'll see the happy feet everywhere... But not on the POs, nor some other models, I believe...

Yep, gorgeous... I'm very tempted to get one myself at some point in the (close hopefully) future... And I LOVE titanium...

OK, so I've been "fast"... Here are some picture first, the speedmaster reduced on my wrist (7.5"-7.75") for comparison, my current daily beater, the 42mm PO: then a couple side by side pics with the speedmaster reduced and the submariner: I hope that helps you with the wait

I bought it on leather and after 5 years, when it started to show signs of wear, I went for the bracelet... I'll see for wristies (I don't have any yet, so I'll have to take the watch out of its box, same for the camera... no big deal but... )

I've got a gen reduced too... And yes it wears fairly similar to the sub', so it's very much OK even on a large size wrist... When I bought this watch, I deliberately went for the reduced feeling like the moonwatch was too big (and nowadays I wear regularly a fiddy or a BR02... go figure... )

Looks good to me... And the beat error like the rate are super-great !!!

It's the angle of variation around the "neutral" for the balance wheel... It's usually around 300°. I think (but may well be wrong) that the larger the amplitude, the more stable you get and therefore the less variability you'll have in timing.

Thanks... me too Yes, black bezel and red number or black bezel and white numbers From Josh, but certainly other trusted dealer will have them too... $128 last I checked...

Well, I went for the DG (cf here) ... and for more than just my PO. However, there are some that will tell you that the ETA is more reliable etc. That contradicts my experience, but hey, I'm talking about a very small sample, and given the price difference, I'm inclined to believe I've been lucky (with the 21j)/unlucky (with the "clones"). One thing for sure, the DG is way cheaper and the ETA clones are possibly way easier to service/regulate/repair.

Well, they're exactly the same except for that size difference. the difference between the "ETA" version and the DG4813 is just in the insides of the watch. Cosmetically, no one can tell which is which... just the movement differs and both tick at 28.8 kbph.

I second coolluke on that... I have a speedmaster reduced and it doesn't look shockingly small on my wrist... My wrist is 7.75 and I'm a frequent fiddy, B&R BR02 and so wearer...

Yep, size of the attachment to the movement are slightly different... But I guess that if you want to go gen on the movement, you'll not shy at a few bucks more for a set of gen hands...