cougar1

.... Lume: Not bad but not nearly as pronounced as the gen, doesn't last too long in comparison when charged. It doesn't help that the gen has some of the strongest lume that can be seen on any watch. Crown and He valve: Crown is too tall by a couple of mm's and not as wide as gen, He valve is too tall by a couple of mm's. SS bracelet: Don't know and won't get into it, bought my gen on rubber. Somebody else can clue us in on that. Caseback: Good, better than the 45mm's, not as detailed in the fine areas on the Hippocampus as gen but pretty close, not a problem. All lettering correct, though not as finely finished as gen. Caseback and bracelet serials etc. Also correct now, afaik 952 correct on endlinks, caseback has standard rep serial 81866898 but in correct spot as gen should be. Crystal: A little too blue on the AR...however similar to the older gen 42mm PO's that had very blue tinted AR. Newer gens have clear AR so I guess it's off. Either way AR is not as pronounced as gen. Bezel: Rep pearl is well....rep pearl! Improvements on the original 5th gen release as it is more flush to the bezel so more genlike. However it is still a little too large, by about 1mm diameter or so and sometimes not too well centred, but it is better than the 45mm UPO pearl which is always off centre!

Dial: New version dials have logo moved up higher than first versions, still not right but better than before. Dial writing is in grey, should be in white. Markings are too greenish, although the gen is greenish white so not too much of a bother with this. Lume is ok but just not even on the same planet as gen. Date font: is correct afaik, just not nearly as bold as gen Eta datewheel. Will get back to the others in a bit...called away, ....the crystal and bezel are other issues!

Swaping out second hand is a possibility, but not with a gen hand on this model, you'd have to dismantle another a21j smp and use that, whether thats worth it I don't know, might be possible to get a very cheap 2nd hand rep smp as a donor though. I think they all have greenish markings, probably just the photo lighting on certain shots. The gen is very white markings, and blue lume. There is a possibility of a couple of other smp options, the 2254 rep is not too bad for a black smp, also (timeshops.net, not a trusted dealer here but is on one of the other main fora) had a fantasy black bond recently, which had the old classic blue bond painted markings, but it was done on a black dial, with black bezel just like the black bond. And even though it was a fantasy model it actually looked like not too bad an attempt, the case was quite good and it had an eta 2824 in it, with correct he value and decent bracelet. Not sure if he still has them in stock but might be worth giving him a shout via email. Also would you not consider one of the smp chrono reps...they seem to be pretty good? Also just to add, I'm surprised WBK stan can't get hold of any blue smps? Even if he doesn't have any he usually gets a supply sooner or later.

It's hard to know what would suit, I do believe the rep smp chrono version is a pretty decent rep at the moment (the old version was great). It's probably the best of the smp's. It is a big chunky watch but fairly accurate. I went through the same craze to find a black bond about a year and half ago, I really loved the look of the watch, ....could not find something that quite cut it so eventually went out on a limb and picked up a 2nd hand black bond gen, it's great, but even with the gen, I feel the dial is a little too glossy/shiny for a dive watch, it's a very dressy diver. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing watch just not sure it's my thing, I had thought the dial would be a little more matte. lol we're never happy In terms of watchedens I found that this 007 LE isn't bad, AR coating, better markings and no waves on this.... not accurate but a nice watch (except for the 007 second hand!): http://www.watcheden.biz/omega-seamaster--james-bond-with-black-dial-updated-version-i-20042%7B0%7D1-p-1.html A few other options(plus your standard one above.): http://www.watcheden.biz/omega-seamaster-working-gmt-automatic-with-black-dial-i-17870-p-1.html http://www.watcheden.biz/omega-seamaster-automatic-with-black-dial-and-bezel-i-17651-p-1.html http://www.watcheden.biz/omega-seamaster--james-bond-anniversary-with-black-dial-i-10225-p-1.html I'd say pick up one to have a look at it, either the standard one or if you could get the 007 seconds hand changed to standard on the first one above...it would be quite a nice watch. tbh if you are waiting for an ultimate from the factories, I wouldn't hold my breath, it would be lovely to see one and everything is there to do it, but the factories are happy if they still sell the current ones even when so inaccurate...and they do, so they don't bother improving it! btw, ususally with reps the rule of thumb is the ETA or Eta clone is a better version (better case/finishing/little touches here and there etc....than the asian21j, but in terms of the classic smps that rule goes out the window I'm afraid!

None of the smps are very accurate, even worse with the black bond versions that you mention. The list of inaccuracies to gen are probably too much to mention them all but still as said above for $108 you can do worse if you just want an everyday beater, actually it's $88 with the discount on the top of the WE page With smp's the rep community has always been up in arms that the rep factories could never produce an accurate one, if they did it would sell like hot cakes! Pity. You might be better off looking at the cheap PO's if you want a reasonably priced semi accurate rep.

Yes the trend is ridiculous, and many people are just fooling themselves that the wallclock on their wrist looks 'the business'! I think the golden rule of the lug edges being comfortably contained within the other edges of the wrist works well. If in doubt, put a strap on the watch and put it on the wrist...if the strap is pointing straight down without any curve to the strap...then you look like a plank with that watch (regardless of what you think ) Discard said watch and try again until you find a watch with some curve around the wrist to the strap....then and only then can you consider wearing said watch!

That looks great zorg, is that franken just with gen dial/hands and bezel?, you didn't change the crystal or anything else? Looks excellent! I can't see the He valve, but the crown and crystal looks gen aswell from the main pic above??

I just wrote a longer reply but pressed my backspace and bloody deleted it. So here is the short version Stay away from that site, stick with the trusted dealers, preferably one like josh at PC that offers QC and some aftersales for first purchases. As far as the watch goes, it's not as in demand as the plain jane PO so probably not as accurate but you'll get better pics of what you'll actually receive from one of the trusted dealers. That site could send you anything...even a brick in box for instance...or worse nothing at all!

I would say not to worry about where the logo is, it looks better where it is positioned on these new ones out of the box, and so does the pearl, even if not entirely identical to gen. The real issue with the reps is the lume compared to gen. So if you want it to be more genlike then new dial/hands are a must. But in fairness this is probably the best we can get on logos and pearls from the factories.

That looks great, thanks for the pics, that's what I was on about in a thread below, I think these look much better than the first edition versions of the 5th gen where the logo is right on top of the lettering. My question is where did you get it?

On a quick look it looks great, thanks for the pics!

Could somebody please help clarify something on the 5th gen PO 42mm, since it came out we've had a few variations 'out of the box' on this but I find it difficult to see what dealer has what version? Seems a bit of 'pot luck' on which you'll receive. Here is what I mean: First release of the 5th gen and the one still stocked by most dealers, jandrew etc: Omega logo directly on top of OMEGA writing, pearl a bit more protruding and prominent! Then there was a period where there was some dial mishaps with missing words and some got sent out to forumites: Notice the location of the Omega logo here, much more centred on dial, still not where the gen is but much better 'balanced' than the first edition. Pearl is still shi**t And now there's this one but still seems to fairly rare only stocked by select dealers, I personally think it's the best I've seen, with 2nd version omega logo, more flushed pearl, hard to see exactly in first pic but 2nd pic is better example: Thanks to S3g0y for this pic! So my question is! What the fcuk is going on? How come some of these 42mm 5th gen are clearly a newer variation than others?...and who has them...or is it a secret?

Yep, nice one, forgot that one! Twas late at night and I'd had a few vodkas!

That looks great, tg, you got a minty watch at a very good price. Yes definitely Yes! Check The older versions of gen smp 2531 and 2541 had different caseback to the newer (red seamaster) versions Much more detail in the new version. This seems to be an smp rep thing. I don't know why it's thicker, either inaccuracy or needed for movement. The quartz gen and co-axial gen are thinner and similar in thickness to each other. Auto's will always be heavier than quartz afaik Probably due to the much better finishing on gen, or less impurities in the metal? Yep! Gen black smp has blue/white lume, the gen blue smp has standard white/yellow lume. I agree, rep is a good tester watch, but is well off in terms of accuracy and if they are not producing superreps at this stage of the smp's life then we will never see a superrep(God knows they've had plenty of time!). It's nice to give it a test drive before considering buying a gen and that's it. Paying more than 110 $ is insane for an smp rep when we consider 2nd user gen prices. Frankening a rep eta smp ( yes it can be done!) when we consider used smp gen prices is chronically insane...I'd have to question whether the person should be allowed out in public lol, just imho! Oh, almost forgot, the gen smp bracelet is one of the best most comfortable bracelets ever made on any watch. The rep doesn't even come close, So we forgot to include the bracelet in the list of differences. Anyway tgchrono, looks great, wear it well. btw your pics are huge!

That's a very good price tbh, the RRP on these in the UK is £1440 GBP. Even grey market new is about £1300 GBP. http://www.precisiontime.co.uk/omega-21230416101001-seamaster-james-bond-300m-quartz-gents-watch-p-5684.html I've seen a few go on the gen forums for around £800-£900 GBP, so in euros around 900-1100 euros depending on how good the condition is. The black is nice, a little more dressy than the blue, but still a lovely watch. I have the black in co-axial but I have the blue in quartz. I bought my blue quartz for around 850 euro in mint condition. I would say 800 euro is a good price for the black quartz, you could sell it on for the blue later and maybe make a bit of money if it's in very good condition.

Yep I'd say go for gen, if you can get one reasonably cheap. The quartz smp is a great everyday watch. If you can get the auto even better. I know people have issues with quartz but this is well worth it in comparison to say buying the rep ETA smp, The eta rep is still seriously flawed. WBK's rep smp is a good tester (try before buy) as the watch is cheap and is enough to see if an smp is going to suit you. The quartz gen is bulletproof and I saw one go a week ago on tz for around 700 euro. Keep an eye on tz-uk as you are in the EU. They are available even cheaper at times in the US. By tor did a good write up a few years ago, but still valid today, about questioning the point of buying expensive reps of watches that are pretty damn cheap on 2nd gen market.

Thanks alot db2, that's exactly what I was looking for, great layout of the process. It looks great and very genlike even after just those first stages. I will be bookmarking that thread. One quick question, when you eventually decided to put in the gen crystal did you notice a significant difference between the rep crystal and gen AR?

Cheers OS, It actually sounds like a good project, I'm really going to consider taking it on, however I wouldn't sell my gen until after I saw the final result (for side by side comparison purposes!) I do love the PO but it is not so much my grail that a semi decent franken wouldn't substitute nicely. (My grail would be the moony!) I agree, dial is a must have; Gen PO lume makes the watch, even walking from outdoors to indoors on a sunny day with the gen shows just how important the dial is, it just defines the watch. Hands aswell are a must for same reasons. I'm a bit torn on the crystal, the gen AR is great but I've heard of even gen owners taking it off as it is a scratch magnet so I wonder if I could get away with rep crystal. I have the older version gen PO with the bluer AR compared to the newer clear AR gens. The blue can almost be distracting at times so don't know if it is necessary? What removing it, or even just leaving the rep crystal on does to the effect of the gen dial lume I don't know but wondering about this. I do know that those gen owners that removed the other AR actually for the most part prefered the effect as it made the watch more tool like and less 'bling'. I could nearly go with that, especailly if the rep crystal had inner AR. The rep bezel is good, however even though the pearl has improved lately I somehow have some sort of erratic hatred of all rep pearls ..this goes back to the original smps and I don't think I can ever get over rep pearl ...even though I recognise that some of the pearl mods from franken projects I've seen lately actually look good, they would still give me nightmares irrational I know but I can't get over it! The other stuff, He valve is just cosmetic and I don't care about these things, I don't care about bracelet as it will be on a strap, ....gen crown and tube I don't care about cos again cosmetic but going gen might be worth it for fear of rep threads stripping. So I'm thinking dial, hands, bezel(unfortunately for pearl!) and maybe crown and tube at a push. If anyone sees any franken pics with this combination or very similar let me know? Also I anyone can convince me that the gen crystal is a must and why then let me know God damn I've again just raised the franken price by a couple of hundred

Yep that was a good deal, hard to find at those prices!

Hi tgchrono, glad you like it, I think a better version used to exist years ago, back around 2006/2007, but that factory has now closed. It still wasn't a superrep but was better than todays versions. The two probably best version around now are wbk and mary and each has flaws and advantages, neither are even near perfect. Any smp rep is going to need a lot of frankening to make it gen like and it is barely worth it as 2nd user gens are not too expensive. The new version (red version) I believe is worse than the old ones, but I haven't done enough research on those. The best smp reps ever were probably the chrono versions, especially the old one.

Thanks Mickey for the info, I wasn't even aware there were that many flaws, fair play for pointing them all out! I will get onto a few dealers aswell and ask them to push the factories for a corrected version. Judging by the their usual form we should see it in about 2013 Such a shame, I think though we might be grasping at straws getting them to go titanium, if at the very least they corrected the fonts, logos, ar, crown and lume then while I'm not sure how it will hold up, but it would be interesting to see it. I will however tell them to get cracking on the getting it done in titanium.

Not politically incorrect at all, there are a few of the females around on watch forums but it is a rarity. Two things, 1. Women, don't exactly appreciate watches per se, they do however like shiny things and brand names (hence the watch market for them!) 2. Women don't have the attention span to appreciate automatic movements, they are not technically minded enough to be dealing with them, hence they are quartz people pure and simple.

It's still up on PC @ $328, it's been there all week. Code 00tgaq00085 in http://www.1-pc8838.com/advanced_search.php should get it. Pity about all the flaws, was looking forward to a good version of this. Looks like they will ship this one for a while. I'd still like somebody to buy it and come back on here and put up some pics so we can have a good squint at it. Who's goin to be the guinea pig.

db2...that franken looks suberb, great shot! Great stuff, keep us updated, very interested in these projects as I had a brainwave that if I could do the minimum expense franken necessary to get the 5th gen reasonably close to gen, then I might actually sell my real gen 42mm in a few months to replenish the watch fund. That's a bit mad in-itself but I bought the watch 2nd hand for £1100 GBP just about 6 months ago. They are now selling 2nd hand for about 1500-1600 GBP as Omega are raising prices across the board. I wonder what sort of franken I could get for about £500ish, I couldn't much justify going too far over this amount. Anyway I'm just thinking out loud Good luck with the franken

Very nice collection mate, they all look superb!