hilts

Let us know how you get on K - mine is booked with him for late June - would love to get your pics etc Thanks Hilts

2 weeks in now with the first one from Angus - date wheels appear to have lined up pretty well, no probs with bezel here. Good time being kept. Chrono works a treat. AR is superb - damn close to on par with gen BP. Lume shines well all night - appears at least as good as my gen Seadweller but maybe not quite as bright as my gen BP. Love this watch! Only remaining problem is the swarf on the underside of the crystal - watch going to ZZ for a service next week so after that I think we're as good as a rep is ever going to get. The second one from TT - still in the box - the dodgy bezel really annoys me so going to ZZ and we'll see after that. Would a v2 be any better? I doubt it - without decent QC it'll be no different I suspect. Only way we'll get better QC - pay more!! I think that a good v1 watch with a clean up and tidy from someone who knows what they're doing IS the v2 watch we're looking for. Cheers Hilts

Well, I'm lucky enough to have a gen BP and it is the dog's doo-das! It is REAL big though - the attached pic beside beside an EL3717 doesn't do it justice. I'm wearing my Cousteau daily at the moment and the difference is clear - the Cousteau fits under a shirt cuff - the BP doesn't! Anyway - the question - Edit, The Gen has a Stop function for the seconds hand, is this just hacking when the crown is pulled of is it a pilots tool ? there are no pushers? No stop function - just hacking function when crown pulled out. Note the details however, which EL managed to show on his 3717 - second hand bent at the tip to reduce parallax error - also shown on the Cousteau - few people notice it! Hilts

I'm trying to be positive, but Hike - it looks like you and I were the guinea pigs! Hopefully the QC will improve big time for dadog and others who have held off buying this far. Delta - it was the black one - definitely better than his pics - looks like the Ultimate, but I'm pretty sure it's just an improved Asian 21J movement. Maybe I was just lucky!! Cheers Hilts

Well, the second one arrived from Andrew today. Finishing looks perfect - no nasty marks under the crystal! Won't bore you with more pics - there's already some great ones on other threads. On this one however, I have another problem. The inner bezel is all but stuck! It has taken me nearly an hour to get it to do a complete revolution - the only reason I started is cos it was stuck at half past and I wanted it lined up with 12. Anyway, I coaxed it along careful not to damage the mechanism and it got there eventually, but clearly something not right there either. If I took the 2 watches, I reckon I could get a good one out of the two! Anyhoo - this new one is not even going to see my wrist - off to The Zigmeister ASAP. Hilts PS Andy's service - world class as always. I also got the Chopard Mille Miglia XL for SWMBO - the cheap Asian 21J one and guess what??? The date wheel is now black and the rotor is engraved - NOT as per the picks on his website - definitely better! So a result there!

Awesome pics! Just took delivery of my 2nd one from TT - it is the greatest watch yet! Hilts

Yes - as I put in another post - the one I got from Angus has what looks like blue paint from the dial smeared across the inside of the crystal! I don't imagine it is blue paint but it sure looks like it!! Apart from that I agree with everything Yello says - it is a superb watch but after all the effort that has been put in it's a bit annoying to have such poor QC. Not to worry though - I'll be getting it serviced/cleaned - but as Yello says - I don't think I can take it off for another couple of weeks at least! Hilts

Spectacular Jeff - mine's heading his way soon too! Along with my Cousteau - same problems only bigger!

Well - It has arrived! Angus's service was world class - he said he was going to send on Tuesday and it arrived here in UK on Wednesday! Can't beat that! But can you beat the product? When I opened my EL 3717 I was blown away and despite a slipping day wheel (which hopefully The Zigmeister will sort) I have loved it from that moment to this. It was love at first sight. I was hoping for the same from the Cousteau..............and my bubble has been burst! It's late here so I'm not posting pics but will in the morning, but here's my first impressions. 1 Dirty crystal. I thought at first it was a mark left by the protective film but no - it is a large amount of dirt inside the crystal - a problem I've never seen with any (certainly not "super") rep. It is particularly bad as it is silhouetted against the white hour marker - it needs dismantled and cleaned. Annoying especially as PT sent some back to factory for poor QC - seems this one slipped throught the net. 2 ARGH - squint markers! As per every photo we've seen in the run up to release, the 3 marker and the 12 markers are not aligned properly - surely this should be spot on?! 3 in particular is noticeable. 3 Positioning of hour numbers on the outer bezel - too far out - noticeably so IMO. 4 Day and date alignment - a known problem of course, but this is certainly worse than my 3717 - on it it is only the day that is out of whack. Here it is day AND date. As per my 3717, hopefully The Zigmeister can sort it but out of the box it is poor. Not all bad news though. 1 The overall impression is good. Very solid. 2 Good colours/fonts on the dial. 3 Strap spot on. 4 AR seems good 5 Lume seems OK (but certainly not Super Lume territory) 6 Movement seems smooth for winding and runs well (for the last hour anyway!!) In summary, I'm a little disappointed. I think by the time it has been to The Zigmeister and back, it will be spectacular, but out of the box, I'm not blown away as I was with the 3717. For comparison, I've also got one coming from TT Andy - we'll see if he's got a better batch. That's all for now - I'll try to get some good macros up in the next 24 hours. Hilts

Just had shipping confirmation from Angus who says he's had to send a load back to the factory for quality control problems, hence slight delay in sending. Says he's going to post about it soon. Hilts

4 or 5 months - gets a couple of days wrist time a month. Runs fine - no probs but I leave the chrono alone just in case!

You know, I really struggled to decide too, but I just think that the extra is not worth it. I've gone for the Asian and will be shipping it straight off to The Zigmeister for a service and maybe luming depending on how it looks when I get it. The Zigmeister seems confident (and who am I to argue!) that a well serviced Asian 7750 is a pretty reliable bit of kit so I'm going to go with that. Price wise, it'll still be cheaper to do that than go for the ETA, and I'll have some confidence that the movement has been well serviced and so hopefully fairly reliable for some time to come. As always, it's a bit of a gamble, and I'm sure those that splash the cash on the ETA will be happy guys too - interesting to see how many are prepared to drop nearly $800 on a rep!! I'm sure there'll be plenty - I was very close!! Cheers Hilts

Well, I'm in Andrew's hands - order is in!! Hilts

You're right - just released. Note that the new 2007 watch does not have a wooden insert on the back. I think if you were to buy a gen, the "old" one is the one to get. Hilts

Considering one of these and interested to read the posts about jerky seconds hand, and the comment from the factory that it is because it is long. I have a gen Big Pilot, and the seconds hand is much longer than even the GT XL (47mm vs 44mm). This has an awesome movement as you'll know, but I have to say, the seconds hand on it is also noticeably jerky compared to say my gen Rolex - it can actually grab your attention. It is possibly because it is so long, but if this $10,000 watch with a superb movement is jerky, then it is not surprising that even the gen GT XL is too, never mind the rep. I also have the rep of the IWC Portugese Chrono and agree that the 6 o'clock seconds hand is jerky. mmmm - not sure what to do - perhaps just best to wait for the IWC Cousteau!! My 2c!

Just left an AD having handled a gen again for a good 10 minutes - I was within an inch of doing their interest free credit deal there and then. I took the opportunity to have a really good look at it - it is (as you would expect) beautifully made - the deep gloss finishing on the dial (no concentric circles on the sub-dials) and exquisite detailing will be really hard to rep accurately. It is hard to describe - the details may be repped accurately, but the watch has a "feel" to it that will be hard to capture! Hopefully we'll not have to wait too long to see - otherwise that 0% credit over 3 years could be hard to resist! Hilts

Anyone heard anything?!

Got it! See PM.

Is anyone offering to carry out this mod?? I'd love to have it done (and a service of the movement as well) but lack the skills myself. Thanks PS I'll be sending my Cousteau off for the same treatment as/when/if I get one!! Hilts

I'm not up to speed on HBB - what do they retail at?

Hey Angus - 15th has come and gone - what's the latest update - we're all keen here? Thanks Hilts

Please tell us! All talk seems to be about the Asian at the moment - are we getting a Swiss version? What's the timescales now? And any idea of price yet? Sorry for repeating old questions - just excited! Hilts

I'm in for group buy on Kevlar if one can be arranged.

Agreed

Don't know how other owners feel about the date wheel, but having worn mine now for 2/3 weeks solid, I don't even notice it now, and I can't stop staring at the watch - it is sooooo good. Tuesday seems to be the bad day - rest of the week is OK and SAT in particular seems to be spot on! I too would appreciate a fix for this, but don't let it stop you getting the watch - it is superb. Hilts