Anyone interested in getting an Aqua terra repped.

[cougar1]

I'm wondering what they did with the dials details overall, very tempted to buy the golf for a look, but if the blue is out in a few days/week might be worth hanging on for, in one sense I'm delighted to see some ATs out, in another sense BP are known for fairly poor attention to detail so a little wary, then again these are reps right. And as grim says we probably wont see better for a while. I can't believe now that the factory angus got went out any bought the 41mm grey, when everyone and their dog was asking for the 39mm blue!

 

If you look at the gens they have very high attention to detail in the markers/hands with brushed areas contrasting with polished etc, will be interesting to see if they could pull off anything remotly close looking.

 

[ryaku]

 I don't expect anything so accurate, I won't be disappointed

[cougar1]

 

They do look pretty decent tbh especially from the front, and they may surprise us all when we have them in hand, will be great to see them in the metal, I still think the dws look odd, but it just might be the pics, and some other odd BP factory quality QC in other areas a proper look in the metal will reveal more. Definitely best available right now...

I wonder also if the 20mm bracelet on the 41mm will fit the old 39mm AT...Hmmm

[GrimReaper85]

Nice finds there, van_damme1988.

As for me, I'm not looking for a perfect watch for $330, even watches for $1000 probably have QC problems. Even Omega's probably some minor.

Edited October 20, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[ryaku]

 

I wonder also if the 20mm bracelet on the 41mm will fit the old 39mm AT...Hmmm

 

 

Me too, the gen bracelet is amazing, I wouldn't mind grabbing a spare bracelet for my old 39mm AT or for my 42mm PO ...different thickness might be an issue though.

[rayma]

add my name...rayma

[van_damme1988]

Some QC pics are up on Josh's site http://www.p-cls.com/omat41104-aqua-terra-auto-ssss-black-swiss-2836-p-14918.html

 

 

Ain't the best pics out there but will give you idea about the real thing. I wonder what happened to "highest clarity saphire with AR coating" Bad pics?

[ryaku]

Yes, not bad although the bracelet finishing is not the best (better finishing in Grid's QC pics).

Black datewheel seems better though, not so thin.

AR is not good enough for a black dial, we need to get it coated once again and at this price point is not nice.

 

They are both excellent reps imho just a little overpriced.

[GrimReaper85]

That QC pics of the dial are really bad (except second one on 6'o clock side), if it were my watch, I would tell him to make them again.

And I guess I got a really nice movement, +1s/d, 286° amp. and 0.0ms b.e. This one is still good, but I would have to open it to regulate it to +1s.

QC for Captain's are of my watch, btw.

Edited October 20, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[cougar1]

 

Ain't the best pics out there but will give you idea about the real thing. I wonder what happened to "highest clarity saphire with AR coating" Bad pics?

 

Thanks for the pics VD, jebus, no AR, at all? What were they thinking? That definitely doesn't have any AR. Another afterthought for BP!  Not good really, 

From your golf you'll know that these newer omegas have the best clearest AR in the industry so they don't get away without some good AR in rep form.

As mentioned by R, $328 is a little expensive starting price to be leaving out stuff like this.

[van_damme1988]

Thanks for the pics VD, jebus, no AR, at all? What were they thinking? That definitely doesn't have any AR. Another afterthought for BP!  Not good really, 

From your golf you'll know that these newer omegas have the best clearest AR in the industry so they don't get away without some good AR in rep form.

As mentioned by R, $328 is a little expensive starting price to be leaving out stuff like this.

 

Indeed! I was really about to place an order, because I really liked this rep, but when i saw the live pics, i thought it was a bad joke or what. It looks fine at first sight, but considering this is BP model with used ETA and missing AR for 328 USD? Chronometer with date without any other complications ... Lol ! Even if this one was for 238 USD i would rather buy SuperOcean 42. For the price stated i would expect really good AR for this one. Aqua Terra is imho one of the watches, where missing AR makes the difference between "super rep" and "just another rep". I think we should wait few months to see what Angus and his "maker" will come out.

On the other hand many thanks cougar1 for making this thread (and also those one RWI and RG). I am glad that at this point we have at least one maker who makes at least decent 41,5 mm Aqua Terra And i hope that Angus and his "maker" will nail it with a great rep. Otherwise i will stick to Seagull's homages

[cougar1]

Thanks van damme, agree it could be much better for the price, when compared with other watches in the $300-$350 range it doesn't really stack up. The captains still looks pretty good though and will be keeping an eye on grimreapers feedback. Lets hope that angus maker gets things going and produces something soon, getting a factory to do some aqua terras is like pulling teeth at this stage

[van_damme1988]

getting a factory to do some aqua terras is like pulling teeth at this stage

 

Exactly! Will keep an eye on grimreaper's AT as well.

[GrimReaper85]

I got the watch today.

 

Here are some first thoughts about this watch. And I already took the pictures, but they are probably not that good, because of bad lighting.

 

When I first looked at the watch, I was very happy they got the blue hands right, they are beautiful and I don't think gen has them any better.

They are not lacquered as on my other rep, but heat treated, or how do they do it. And they change color with different lighting, as blue hands should, and what is the main attraction of blue hands.

And I have to say for the whole dial, it is as best as it can be in a rep, I would rate it 8/10 comparing to gen. The drawbacks are:

-too thin DW font, altough centered nice

-specks of dust in the grooves, I counted 4 on mine

This is a QC thing and it shouldn't happen. They should have used an air blower or rodico.

I am now looking at my $35 Silix AT and it doesn't have this problem.

 

The finishing is nice, everything is polished as it should, even between the lugs, which only some of my gen watches have, but no rep. Altough I did notice that the bezel is sligthly scratched, it didn't came protected.

 

When I first looked at the bracelet I thought that this is a gen quality bracelet. But I later found it is just another rep bracelet.

First, they [censored] up the clasp, yes, it still opens and closes without problems, but the 3 parts are held together at some strange angles, I already have a better clasp from a rep which was not made from a genuine watch.

The resizing is a pain in the ass, but practice makes perfect, and after probably 10 removed pins, I finally know how to do it without major problems.

You have a screw on each side and a pin in the middle. But this pin needs to find its way through 3 holes. Even the second one (through middle part of the link) is not easy sometimes, but for the last one on other side you really have to wiggle it just right so that the pin finds the hole.

It is doable, but you need practice and be good with your hands. I don't know how difficult the gen is to resize, but my other rep has only 2 screws, one larger where the smaller one goes in.

Endlinks are not that bad, I think the space is pretty normal, and they don't move, but the first two links attached to end links do.

Bracelet also has some noise, but nothing that baby oil can't fix.

 

Now for the caseback. There are two specks of dust on mine, one is quite large, probably skin.

And funny thing, when I was just saying to myself, look at that nicely polished caseback, I see that it is badly scratched from a jaxa wrench. Couldn't they just use a sticky ball?

 

As for the movement, I can't say much for now. It works normally and it is precise (should be +1s per day).

When setting time, it was somehow rough. My other rep is a lot better, but I am almost certain that one has a new Swiss movement.

And I noticed a noise coming from it, when I shake the watch up and down. Actually my other rep has that sound too, but I haven't noticed it before. Here it is much louder, like some spring sound.

It makes the watch really cheap.

 

Here you have it. To some this would look like a bad watch, but for me, I don't mind misperfections that much.

I can use it as a beater watch, which is practically every day if you work in a toolshop like me.

And I usually don't have the time to look at the watch from a very close range and for a longer time.

 

What I also have to share is the weight. I will probably measure it too, altough I don't like to use a caliper around new watches, this one already came quite beat up.

And the lume. I must say it is nice, but I have yet to see how long it lasts.

 

And yes, there is no AR. But I don't have an AR watch in my posession, so for now that is not so bad for me.

 

You probably wonder what my other rep looks like. I got it from Hont in June. I wanted a 2503.33 Swiss rep, but didn't knew they stopped doing the good ones. Now they are almost fantasy watches, they don't look nothing like the gen.

The blue hands are lacquered and they don't look as nice. The finish between the lugs is as poor as it can be, just roughly milled, like on $35 reps. And everything else is quite poorly made, considering I payed $300. I only like the Swiss movement and the bracelet.

I can also give you pictures if you like.

Edited October 22, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[GrimReaper85]

Can't edit anymore. I forgot one thing.

 

If someone also has a 6.2" wrist, I was left with 2 regular removable links and one half link on both sides. Altough there is a rule that 6 o'clock side should have less links, I don't think it would look good with two half links together. And I think one more regular link on 12 side would be too much.

 

The watch itself looks good on 6.2" (16cm) wrist, it is not too big.

I don't think there is a need for a 38.5mm rep, as some of you would like. I think these watches are more sporty anyway, and 38.5mm is really a dressy size.

I haven't measured lug to lug with a caliper yet, but with a tape it is around 48mm, which is the same as 42mm PO. My PO is still on the order, so I can't do a comparison for now.

 

I really have to open the watch and clean it. The caseback won't be a problem. But I haven't yet removed a movement. Altough I have a lot of cheap watches to practice on.

Edited October 22, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[van_damme1988]

 

And yes, there is no AR. But I don't have an AR watch in my posession, so for now that is not so bad for me.

 

 

This is what i was afraid of. It is disapointment that they forgot AR coated crystal. What can you say...BP factory... Anyways thanks for posting your thoughts grimreaper. Wear it well. Hope to see some wrist shots or eye candy soon

[GrimReaper85]

I asked Josh for new caseback now.

[asciwhite]

This one just up!

 

 

 

[redmond]

No AR is a killer for me

[fitmic]

Won't order a >300$ watch that should have "highest clarity crystal" but have no AR at all.

[GrimReaper85]

I now looked at the dial with a 15x loupe, and what I thought is dust look like some holes. And there are exactly 11, some visible with naked eye.

So no point in removing the movement. There is only one small spot which could be removed.

Again, the Silix $35 doesn't have this problem, I can see only one hole, but only with a loupe.

 

As for scratched caseback, Josh told me he would arrange it.

As for the clasp, I am now looking at it and perhaps it was meant to be like this. Everything actually works as it should. I will take a picture of what I first thought was the problem.

As for the noisy rotor, I now see it has a screw on it. Do you think that if I screw it in more, the noise will be gone?

 

Can anyone describe how AR should actually look? If I hold the watch under light, I now see the light clearly, and everything else can be seen like in a mirror.

But what I like is when you turn the watch to the light, the blue hands change color to a lighter blue. Would you lose this with AR?

PO V5 is on the way to me, I will see for myself in 2 weeks how AR should look.

 

I now also cleaned the crown with rodico, man it was dirty, I guess from polishing.

Edited October 23, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[Risdian]

Thanks Grim. I am one of fans of the AT. I follow closely and this AR situation is bad for the pricing.

AR will make that hands (and dial) waaay much better.

Considering aftermarket AR is $100-ish, this is a deal breaker for me.

[GrimReaper85]

I think BP factory really needs to stop refurbishing these old Swiss movements, and just go with Asian clones.

Mine is very rough when setting time, makes the watch very cheap. And there is loud noise when you shake the watch, even 2 of my 3 Silix $35 economy ones don't make that noise, they are DG2813.

Only Seagull ST6D one makes the same noise. And I also have another ST6D and it is quieter.

 

There was a good post from big_raji on RWI regarding these movements:

100% quality - Brand new swiss ETA movement from Ofrei to swap into my watch.

90% quality - Brand new swiss ETA pre-installed from the rep factory by an 11 year old chinese slave child

80% quality - Brand new asian ETA clone pre-installed from the rep factory by an 11 year old chinese slave child

70% quality - Brand new asian 2813 movement pre-installed from the rep factory by an 11 year old chinese slave child

60% quality - Refurb swiss ETA pre-installed from the rep factory by an 11 year old chinese slave child

And I must agree completely.

And I will also get an Asian ETA and DG4813 in the same time, so I can see which one lasts longer.

 

As for other factories, my other Aqua Terra from unknown factory has new Swiss and Noob factory also has new Swiss or Sellita movements.

Edited October 23, 2013 by GrimReaper85

[cougar1]

Thanks Grim for the feedback. Please show us some pics if you can do, regardless of quality, dealers pics are hard to see anything, always good to see home pics. What surprises me is the sales page pics on site clearly show they have AR, but the QC pics don't. May well be good photoshoping in the sales pics though. I thought yours might have some AR from your pics Grim but it is not always easy to tell on white dials. To check for AR you should tilt the crystal at an angle towards a light, if there is a split between the reflection then you should see the layers of coating, often they are coloured differently, such as yellow inner layer, blue outer layer etc.

 

Example is similar to this:

 

[GrimReaper85]

There is no AR whatsoever.

 

Here are the pics.

First one of the dial is actually not bad, I don't know why I didn't take more. You can clearly see the not so clean dial.

 

I now see that the spring bars were also fitted by a child, all 4 lugs are scratched.

And I will have to polish the bezel, altough it would probably be scratched quickly again. You can see one scratch on 5th picture in 3rd row.

QC is really subpar on this watch, even for rep standards.

 

But still, this is a very genlike rep. Hands are perfect, this was the main reason I bought this watch anyway, to look at those beautiful blue hands. And the whole dial looking from normal distance of 10-30cm is actually quite good.

I don't think you can recognize this watch as a rep from 30cm, if the date is 10-31. When the date is 1-9, which should be bold, the distance has to be at least half meter.

 

    

    

    

   

 

On last two pictures you can see the angled clasp. It still closes and opens without problems, but it is certainly strange looking.

Edited October 23, 2013 by GrimReaper85