Logan

These real world pictures make this watch look a whole lot better, much more like the Rolex shape we'd expect. The early show pics and press photo's made it look rather weird, especially the crystal and bezel. I'm really liking this watch now, eagerly awaiting a decent rep.

This certainly confirms a few long held suspicions..

The HBB strap is only held in place by two bolts which go vertically thru the strap. The rubber ones are strong enough for this but gator is going to need a plastic or metal block at the end for the screws or the strap will tear in no time.

The rolex 3135, and in fact all Rolex movements are actually pretty simple, Rolex make them that way to allow for easy assembly, servicing and long life. Cloning one really wouldn't be that hard assuming you're already making watch movements and have the equipment. Cloning the 7750 would have been much more difficult and thats seems to have works reasonably well (apart from the lack of oil in some) I personally think that the lack of ETA movements for high end reps will sooner or later make a cloned 31xx series a reality. The main hesitation is more likely to be the threat of legal action by Rolex who hit the roof the day a cloned movement appears.

All mechanical movements have a discernible tick to the hands, it'll never be truly smooth. Its actually 8 ticks per second

Someone posted a while back about DLC coating the movement plates in a seconds at six 7750 to reduce the friction between the plate and the transfer gears. I don't know how successful it was, but it might be worth finding the post and investigating further.

Bead blasting isn't really intended to remove material, its mostly used industrially to harden a surface, basically by pummeling the surface with round balls, rather than abrading it like sand or grit blasting does.. having said that PVD is a very thin and very hard coating. If the underlying metal deforms in any way its likely the PVD will flake off. If the base metal is hard enough it might work.. Wouldn't it be easier to remove the coating and have it redone after you're refinished the case to your liking?

Sadly there is nothing thats any good. The as Sql says they would be tough to replicate. I'd love to see them try though. A manual wind chrono based on the Venus movement would be half way there.. or an RM11 with the big date 7750 movement. It would never be 1:1 obviously but it would give us modders something to start with.

A tourbillion has no place at all in a sports watch.. as well as the cost they are mostly very delicate. The Co-axial movement is hardly a radical rethink.. but it does work very well without the cost, impact sensitivity or servicing issues that come with a tourbillion.

I just love cut away drawings like this.. its brings out the engineer in me every time

You know the companies that left it a bit late when the press releases get trotted out just as the recession kicks in properly. The market for super luxury "silly money" type products always dries up when the economy drops, And this time will be exception.

Doing it by hand is no doubt possible, but it massively increases your odds of a slip and a big gash in your case to try to polish out.. not fun. Trust me, unless you got the steadiest hands out you're much better of with the control of a press, or leave it to one of the experts

Its great to see a good Ice Bang rep finally, one of these has been on the top of my wish list for a while. This one seems very good, real ceramic case, bezel is the proper serrated edge style not polished like the older reps. They have even got the bezel colour right. The real bezel is made from Tungsten Carbide btw. I would expect the usual Big Bang rep problems, loose screws are themost common, you definitly need to thread lock everything, carefully too, the threads on my Mellow Yellow BB were nearly non existent. There are also lots of these with un-oiled movements.

Its fairly easy to do if you have the right gear. Heres some tips for anyone who wants to do their own: 1/ Buy a good quality drill bit, the kind you buy from an engineering shop, not the mall hardware store. 2/ Use a drill press with the case held securely in a vice or similar. You cannot do this job properly with a dremmel etc 3/ Make sure the drill is setup so the new hole follows exactly the center line of the old one. The drill will break every time if you try to cut off angle. 4/ Follow basic metal work rules, small drill = fast rotation speed, and use oil or cutting fluid. Go slowly, let the drill do the work If you've done a tidy job you shouldn't need to polish the case lugs afterwards, The genuines tend to have a fairly sharp edge to the hole, but if you looking for the aged look you 'll want to round the hole out a little.

@iceberg.. we're not boring and tasteless.. we just don't agree with you.. there's a difference.

And overcharge they will... apparently its 31,000 euro's.. thats ridiculous.. This watch reminds me more and more of those huge four wheel drives you see in the mall carpark.. covered in bull bars, lights and winches, jacked up on massive tyres.. that have never seen mud in their lives..

The recent Lange and Patek reps are pretty much that.. just a sheet of nicely finished metal stuck over the crap movement, looks vaguely like a finished movement if you don't look to close.

It definitely belongs in the same camp as the Zenith Defy (and I don't mean that in a bad way). I'm still wavering between cool and ridiculous myself. Any idea what the cost will be?

One of my other interests is CNC machine tools. Its used to be the chinese tools were pretty inaccurate and only good for low grade hobby use.. now they are starting to nip at the heels of the big names, and for a fraction of the price. The brand name watchmakers are pretty much all using CNC manufacture now.. despite what the pictures in the brochures like to pretend. The better your CNC the better the stuff you can make. That particular VC is obviously a tough one, but I do predict we're going to see some reps of stuff we think is impossible right now.. and I think it'll happen rather quickly too.

I've been surprised it lasted so long compared to Josh, Andrew etc.. I expect we'll see a new domain name in the next day or so.

Thats a huge difference.. thanks for doing those pics.

Very true.. I have one of those cheap chinese 100 piece tap and die kits, and its fine for alloy or the very softest steel, but for real work I buy proper taps individually just as I need them. I have the ofrei tap and it seems identical to the better machinist grade items.

Branding.. is the art of getting customers to pay a higher price for your product. These watches are a fashion item, and they are expensive because the branding convinces us that they should be. All the nonsense about "in-house", and "finishing" and so on is just marketing really. The true manufacturing cost of these branded watches is staggeringly low.. You're paying for the (30 yr old) design, the rarity, and most of all the marketing effort behind the brand. Call me cynical.. but there's a reason I collect rep's and not genuines.

Btw, you can buy the right size tap from any machine tool supply company, and it'll be a lot cheaper than Ofrei's.

Its not terrible.. although it would be a good idea to brush the centre links.. thats an obvious give away.