Getting to the bottom of my biggest pet peeve : Luminor rehaut/Depth Crystal distortion

[chad]

I have owned my share of hand wind luminors and they are one of my favorite watch designs of all time and I currently have a gen 176g.

I have pulled the trigger on various super reps but can never get over the fact that the rehaut appears drastically deeper than the gens.

Many people are particular about CG levers, caseback engravings,etc but this seems so much more pronounced.

My question is what is the issue?

- would a gen crystal solve this with less distortion?

-is the case rehaut cut to deep on dsn, jimmy and cartel cases?

-are the dials thinner in some way?

Just curious from the experts what is going on. I would love to finally get a FGD dialed rep I could live with

If the owner of the rep photo objects I will remove it.

[Watchmeister]

I don't own 44 mm sandwich dials so I am guessing but. Dial, underdial or both may be thinner. Certainly the case on the Fiddy. Presumably the movement is in the same place in a case on a better rep (overall height and crown positioning)and it is the same height movement. The other possibilities are thinner crystal soaking up less rehaut on the rep, overall bezel height and internal height (think of it as visual carve out in the bezel).

[PeteM]

Isnt this more related to the crossover in the manufacturing by the rep factories between the PreV, contemporary (manual and automatic) sized cases?

Thats why I had assumed a lot of the better cases were a mixture of different bezels and bodies plus of course the xtal

[babola]

Chad, nothing to worry about mate...the rehaut appearance varies even even on the same gen model for different series sometimes, old or new models.

I've seen 201/A with what appears a supper thin rehaut ring, as well as a very deep one. IMO, this would be the result of xtal edge finish, thickness and properties of the xtal gasket as well as the depth of the bezel area inside which the xtal is pressed in. The angle of photo as well as lighting can also play a part.

No worries mate...there are many more issues with the reps, rehaut depth diffs is IMO one of the least evident.

[chad]

For me babola, there is something to worry about otherwise I would not have posted

Forget accuracy for a second, it just looks plain awkward especially on a non ar crystal.

I have never seen any gen with a deep rehaut, for sure not a 201/a. I have seen many in person.

The rep I posted is a mild example. There was one just posted that appears so deep it is casting a shadow over the numbers at a very mild angle. My gen dial "appears" closer and close as you tilt it. The reps do not do that. Which might indicate crystal distortion contributes to the effect.

A buddy of mine at work has a The Zigmeister/dsn/fgd 002 I got for him, its visible from across the room. Has a sort of "dial at the bottom of a coke bottle look".

Which might indicate crystal distortion contributes to the effect.

I have had some great fgd, franken reps next to gen 201's, 002's, 112.....

It's not subtle and accuracy aside, the shallow rehaut is simply more pleasing to the eye.

This is all just my opinion and issue of course.

[babola]

A buddy of mine at work has a The Zigmeister/dsn/fgd 002 I got for him, its visible from across the room. Has a sort of "dial at the bottom of a coke bottle look".

This is very true for watches from Davidsen. Just about all DSN casesets I've handled and owned in the past had a slightly deeper rehaut. That's just the way it is with his cases, I'm afraid

Here's 2 pics of gens for comparison...the rehauts on these appear even deeper than on most of my old-school reps.

PAM001 A-series:

PAM005 G-series:

Again, the extra depth of the rehaut on these photos may well be artificial, due to shoting angle, light etc.

But definitely there if you're looking for it

[chad]

Those two watches look great.

My previously owned old school eddie cased and DSN cased super reps were at least an extra 50 percent deeper than that and as a result and most important lacked that pop and polish the dial appearing up close to the crystal gives on your examples.

In my mind it looks like a non ar'ed crystal vs a chief one on an IWC.

One pops and looks like a million bucks and one looks average and dull.

[w0lf]

maybe it has something to do with the fact that we have rep case rehauts designed with marinas and chronographs/gmts in mind to improve parts interchangeability whereas gen cases can be specifically made for a base watch with a shorter pinion or a crystal with a recessed cyclops so there's no worry about the munutes catching on the cyclops? just a hypothesis.

[chad]

I guess maybe everything is debatable on rep vs gen.

So my questions really are

- does the gen crystal improve this issue?

- can the rehaut be adjusted in anyway?