sfa437 Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 (edited) Do NOT get your Ploprof wet. The crystals are of laminate construction- sapphire on top mineral on bottom. This has been confirmed by two dealers. The adhesive is apparently water soluble based on the delamination. I thought this was important enough news to post here to make sure the word got out- don't want anyone's looking like mine... The bezel just has fingerprints but the concentric circles of the crystal de-laminating have spread since these photos were taken. Edited June 11, 2010 by sfa437 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Not good at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchurch Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 ACK... that sucks. wonder if there will be different ones available. Can it be replaced if they have others available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whacky Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 So the fishtank was its downfall! That sucks, but thanks for posting for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastrmindalliance Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 So, this icon of diving watches can't even be splashed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfa437 Posted June 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Right now I am looking into seeing if the 21j crystal from Hont will swap out. It is mineral but at least it is solid and will not have this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 pLOpROF SCANDAL???? WATER BASED ADHESIVE LAMINITE....DE LAMINATING.....THIS WILL MAKE THE TOYOTA CALLBACK SEEM LIKE A MINOR THING...REPLICA FACTORIES ARE CRAZY... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Wow, who would have seen that coming? I mean ... people getting a dive watch wet??? I know that Watchbitz can draw from an amazing variety of crystals. How about if someone measures the diameter and thickness of one of these, and we can see if a replacement is out there? Hmmmmmm, these are advertised as "1:1 to gen" so I wonder if a gen crystal will work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastrmindalliance Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Wow, who would have seen that coming? I mean ... people getting a dive watch wet??? I know that Watchbitz can draw from an amazing variety of crystals. How about if someone measures the diameter and thickness of one of these, and we can see if a replacement is out there? Hmmmmmm, these are advertised as "1:1 to gen" so I wonder if a gen crystal will work? If mine delaminates i'll personally go see OS and to try to work out a suitable replacement. (mind you, I've been super-closely inspecting mine since this scandal broke and it looks all good - and its been quite wet - not submersed but entirely wet on the facing side) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfa437 Posted June 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 (edited) Been trying to get the damn crystal out and I think it's in there with epoxy Either that or it's somehow retained by the bezel. Not gonna say that EVERY one will do this but until I can figure out what is going to work as far as a replacement- why take the risk. Took mine close to 18 hours to delaminate from the time it got wet. Edited June 11, 2010 by sfa437 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealReplica Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Pat as far as I know the crystal can only be removed if you also remove the bezel. I remember someone mentioning this in RG on some thread, I can't seem to find it now though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfa437 Posted June 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Pat as far as I know the crystal can only be removed if you also remove the bezel. I remember someone mentioning this in RG on some thread, I can't seem to find it now though. Bleech- That is not what I wanted to hear Here's what it looks like now- delamination is increasing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChipSlap Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Maybe you should check your local water supply for xylene content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastrmindalliance Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 That's mad! How exactly did you get yours wet? Mine was rainwater and it was nearly three days ago now and still seems good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfa437 Posted June 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 (edited) That's mad! How exactly did you get yours wet? Mine was rainwater and it was nearly three days ago now and still seems good... Fishtank for a photo shoot. Nothing but fish & water The adhesive has to be water based otherwise it wouldn't be dissolving like it is. Worst part is I can't figure out how to get the damn bezel off to pop the crystal. Seems the construction of the crystal is two flat pieces of differing diameter with the larger being on the bottom under the bezel. If I wasn't enjoying the march of what looks like Shrek's fingerprint across the damn crystal I'd just centerpunch it an remove it in bits and figure out where to go from there LOL Edited June 12, 2010 by sfa437 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight_six Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 If possible, try to remove the bezel insert as it might give you some clue what's underneath or how the bezel is held in place. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealReplica Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 WOW that looks a lot worst... the shrek fingerprint that is! I think we're gonna have to do some Chinese slapping soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 I feel for ya, SFA. Thanks for taking one for the team. That really bites. I was so hot to buy one of these, and mine was going to spend its life in water as a surrogate for the gens I can't really justify taking swimming/diving anymore. It stinks to see this happening. You got to hand it to the factories for thinking outside the box to find a way to make this rep, but there's got to be a better solution. I wonder if it's found in the Omega parts catalog? Or by separating the crystal layers, and using something cheap, waterproof, and easily accessible instead? Something like, I dunno, SUPERGLUE? C'mon factories, how hard was that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormTooper4 Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 DOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 How ridiculous is that? You can't take a bath with a rep of a legendary deep sea dive watch. The Chinese have outdone themselves this time. Let's hope they go with sapphire in the $500 version at the end of the year. SFA-thanks for posting this important information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Sorry to hear about this SFA. Unbelievable thing to happen. I know it's a rep but still...that's just lame. Thanks for giving us all the heads up and for being the first to wade into the unknown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Have to wonder what the reasoning was to even use this kind of crystal construction... If the crystal is two parts (mineral and sapphire), I can't imagine there being much cost savings over just using a solid piece of sapphire... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight_six Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Anyone else got it submerged? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Have to wonder what the reasoning was to even use this kind of crystal construction... If the crystal is two parts (mineral and sapphire), I can't imagine there being much cost savings over just using a solid piece of sapphire... How thick is this ploprof crystal, I wonder. Thickness, even more so than diameter, does seem to play a big role in the cost. So my guess would be they'd rather pay a factory laborer $0.10 an hour to CNC a jig that allows them to register a thin sheet of sapphire on top of inexpensive glass with the proper alignment to fit the watch. Once they have the jigs, they can knock these things out with cheap materials that delaminate in water. And it's a solution that does seem to achieve the right look if you never get it wet. And it reminds me of the original UPO crystals. I still think there is something funky with those crystals, which are among the thickest out there. They were originally 3.3mm (now most I see seem to be under 3mm though) and while not a two piece lamination, definitely questionable. Whatever they are, the failure rate for recoating AR is extremely high with those, and I've never seen this happen on any other sapphire crystal. Another thick one is the 187 crystal. But this seems to be legit sapphire, and probably the highest quality rep crystal out there. Heavy, coats beautifully, and is crystal clear. Dunno... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prdubis Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 How ridiculous is that? You can't take a bath with a rep of a legendary deep sea dive watch. The Chinese have outdone themselves this time. Let's hope they go with sapphire in the $500 version at the end of the year. SFA-thanks for posting this important information. At the end od the year? :-( The Ultimate version was supposed to be released in a month or so...It has been delayed? :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.