Aquaracer 500m Calibre 5 Review

[cdnbear]

So I had been looking for a rep like this for a while. Definitely on my wish list, here are my initial thoughts.

Finish: Not bad but not great, I've had worse Tag reps but I have also had better. This is a larger watch, about the same size as my PAM 111(see my attached photos). This model has the stainless bracelet (more on that later) and a black face and black bezel. The bezel is a hard plastic (I believe the gen is a rubberized material) that is pretty close to the gen in appearance. The bezel does fit loose (pretty sloppy) and ratchets at 60 clicks (my preference is for 120 clicks). Their is a He valve placed on the upper left and the crown is nice and big, I am stunned however that they would have such a nice crown but NOT have it screw down (no showers or swimming with this guy). The machining quality is mediocre at best.

Movement: This is a standard 21J asian movement, looks like a 21k beat rate. I am guessing they lifted the stamped rotor off of some other model (looks nice). The caseback is crystal (glass, who knows?) and actually looks not too bad, however the markings are off center and partially on the angled portion on the one side. This baffles me as they look like they made the effort on the case back but just got sloppy on the engraving.

Face: The face is not bad. Everything looks like it is spelt correctly (I've had tags with mis-spelled text). The hour markers look well aligned as does the logo. The ridges and circular ring look accurate. One of the odd things about this model is that the calendar is placed on the left side. The crystal is fine, however the calendar mag lens is too far towards the centre and partially cuts off the "500M" logo. Again I don't understand why they put so much effort into the face but got sloppy on the crystal.

Bracelet: Is Crap. OK, Stainless oyster style with polished center links (common on tags). The clasp is, well it is a clasp. Laser etched logos and markings. Mine looks like part of it was pinched at the end.

Summary: I paid $120 shipped to my door. This had so much promise, and I definitely love the style. Will I wear it, probably not, will I keep it in my watch box... probably.

[morlock]

I didn't even know the factories already rep the 500M.

Your comment about the ciclop also applies to the gen, the mag glass intrudes with the 500M logo.

Thanks for sharing.

[chrgod]

Thanks for the review. I have looked at these at Watcheden. It is bigger than I expected!

All in all, I think it looks decent for a 120 USD watch, but far from the quality we have been used to from the superreps.