Angus Returns With A Big Bang!

[tvt]

HK and mainland China are about as different as two places could be.

[PureTime]

Sweet! They're going to be shipped today.

Most of them shipped

not today..Xmas man...26 for sure...righttt ???

Shipped today :-)

I don't know if they have holiday in christmas in china.

No we don't have xmas holiday in China.

Argh. I wanted Gold hands but no one wanted it so mine was shipped with SS hands.... bleh.

ss handss look promising as well, don't worry.

I got my tracking number. Too bad I'm off to Buenos Aires this afternoon.

And@finepics

Yes they break for Christmas, I know HK does at least.

Yes, HK has a 3 days holiday.

HK and mainland China are about as different as two places could be.

Yes, this morning I was in China preparing for the HBB shipments, got the HBB at 4pm and shipped at 5pm, missed the train to HK at 6:15pm so I took the 8:20 one. Went to the Christmas count-down at Tsim Sha Tsui and just arrived home, feeling not well (probably fever) and going to sleep now (2:12am), today is the earliest day I sleep in the whole week, HBB shipped and I should take enough rest before the evo is out.

[PureTime]

First Batch shipped, please e-mail me if you have not received the tracking number.

Edited December 24, 2006 by PureTime

[solicitor]

Now that the pre-orders are done, what is the price of this watch? Thx.

[PureTime]

Now that the pre-orders are done, what is the price of this watch? Thx.

Final product pics and price are listed in my dealer section, enjoy:)

[Quarks]

Angus,

Sent ya an email for another order for a SS version. Awaiting yr reply when u can. Get well soon.... cheers.

Aaron

[Guest RiverwindMDS]

The final pictures are awesome. I love the ss version. One order sent...

[Guest RiverwindMDS]

angus, please tell me if the caseback on the istambul version will be corrected anytime? or it will be like the ss one even in the next production?

Thanks

[PureTime]

angus, please tell me if the caseback on the istambul version will be corrected anytime? or it will be like the ss one even in the next production?

Thanks

No, the watchmaker confirmed that the correct caseback for the istambul edition will not be produced.

We may have other HBB versions with correct caseback, still in planing.

[Guest RiverwindMDS]

Thatìs a real pity. I really liked it.

I hope for the other corrected versions

[slay]

please please talk to the maker and tell him to make the bracelet!!! it cant be too hard to make this bracelet

[omni]

I figured this thread would be an easy place to put a review of the TT watch I received today from Angus, since there are umpteen pictures of the gen. and rep. already posted here to compare. And adding more pics seems redundant at this moment. Plus all the possible flaws we could find from the pics have been corrected and have been discussed ad naseum.

Caution to all who receive the watch, tighten the screws before wearing because a lot of them are loose. My jeweler discovered this when he took it apart to reset the second hand which had fallen off during shipment. To tighten the twin slotted screws he took a jewel screwdriver and split the driver head with a dremel until it fit the screws. Removing the movement means removing the back bezel (5 screws), then case back (4 screws) and then two holding screws & flanges.

To all those that are worrying about the appearance accuracy of this rep. movement to a gen., don't bother, the movement's fit and finish are not up to par of a genuine, my jeweler even commented that it wasn't a greatly finished made movement and compared to swiss it was cheap to the naked eye. But you can see that the plates and gears don't quite match up to the gen. anyway so what does it matter. Even if the rotor and plate ever do get engraved instead of painted it won't make much difference, you couldn't fool any AD or jeweler with this exposed movement as soon as you turned the watch over. But this is the quietest turning rotor on a rep. I've ever experienced, its very silent. The crono hands all set very precisely back to 12, no offset anywhere. Setting the date also was the smoothest turning I've tried, its as if someone oiled this movement before it arrived, but that is highly doubtful. Crown and pushers are very smooth.

The fit and finish are excellent, the watch case, dial, lugs, clasp are superb. The date wheel is the right depth although not the correct weight font, too thin compared to the gen. Only one glaring flaw for the front I can pick out now that I have it in my hands, the crystal is not raised as high off the bezel as the gens., its damn near flush. And we have had many pictures of the gen posted in this Thread to compare it with. I though I had read that this was going to be fixed but apparently it was not for this run, maybe later runs they will correct. The back bezel is not engraved as deep as the gen but that doesn't matter much, 1) because its the wrong engraving for this TT F1 Istanbul, 2) because of the movement appearance the watch back will always be inaccurate, so its really not a pity afterall @RiverwindMDS. Also no back case lug engravings appear either.

All in all, it is an extremely handsome design profile side & front, my wife likes it better than the (gasp) Pannies. Initial reaction is I'm wild about this very innovative design. Would I buy a gen, jury's still out on that one.

[Guest RiverwindMDS]

Good review. I ordered a ss. I have to tighten the screws...

[launchnukes]

how big is this watch? i've wanted the big bang for a while and everything i see says it's 44.5mm but the pics side by side with 44mm pams makes the bb look way bigger than a pam. i have a 6.5" wrist and i was hoping this was a little smaller than my 47mm 187 which looks huge on me.

[thomasng]

@omni

Thanks for the quick review. I'm quite excited about this watch now.

However, didn't Angus post that the improvements to the crystal, engraving on the lugs would be made? How much is the crystal sitting above the bezel? He said it would be 0.5mm, so as long as it isn't completely flush...

And by the way, the engraving on the lugs is not a problem. The genuine SS one at my AD doesn't have it, while some I've seen on the internet have it. There's a lot of manufacturing inconsistencies with the BB. There's different colour datewheels, different placement of serial numbers, different engravings, etc.

[omni]

However, didn't Angus post that the improvements to the crystal, engraving on the lugs would be made? How much is the crystal sitting above the bezel? He said it would be 0.5mm, so as long as it isn't completely flush...

Its not completely flush, I'd say about 0.1mm above, definitely not 0.5mm. I'm only pointing these things out for the accuracy buffs, I'm only into this for the design tryout so flaws don't bother me. My thoughts this morning, its very elegant looking for a sports watch because of the glistening refractive shine of the arabic & hour markers, extremely eyecatching, it will get noticed, blingy but very subtle. I've decided to scrap the idea of putting a carbon fiber strap on this, the rubber strap looks great.

[tvt]

Arrived with the second hand just loose in the case! Is that what you said or did I misunderstand?

[omni]

Arrived with the second hand just loose in the case! Is that what you said or did I misunderstand?

Second hand at 9 subdial was completely off and floating in the case. Angus asked if I could get it fixed here instead of sending it back, but Angus did offer to send me another watch. My jeweler is also a client of mine so he does most of my fixes for free if they are not too involved. I took him all the blowup pictures & diagrams posted here on a couple of threads and we determined removing the back instead of the front was proper. Its an easy fix but not if you don't have a deft touch. He had to pinch the hand since it was definitely too loose fitting on the post, which made it harder to set back on but my jeweler had no problem.

[slay]

thats the punishment you get for ordering 1st gen stuff j/k

[tvt]

Thanks for the info Omni.

See it is this exact kind of thing that kills me about fake watches. You are lucky that you have an easy fix and a trustworthy relationship to take care of the problem, but most of us do not. Getting a watch with the second hand floating around the inside of the case does not exactly inspire confidence about the quality of the watch does it. Especially when you factor in the extremely high premium being paid for this particular watch.

[ubiquitous]

So, Omni... Now that you've had a chance to experience the BB rep, do you think you'll be buying the gen?

[slay]

Thanks for the info Omni.

See it is this exact kind of thing that kills me about fake watches. You are lucky that you have an easy fix and a trustworthy relationship to take care of the problem, but most of us do not. Getting a watch with the second hand floating around the inside of the case does not exactly inspire confidence about the quality of the watch does it. Especially when you factor in the extremely high premium being paid for this particular watch.

you are right, at 400$ for a replica, there should definietly be QC involved! its a rep, okay, its illega, okay, but 400$ is more expensive than most GENUINE watches (like timex, seiko etc.).

[thomasng]

Thanks for the info Omni.

See it is this exact kind of thing that kills me about fake watches. You are lucky that you have an easy fix and a trustworthy relationship to take care of the problem, but most of us do not. Getting a watch with the second hand floating around the inside of the case does not exactly inspire confidence about the quality of the watch does it. Especially when you factor in the extremely high premium being paid for this particular watch.

But it kills you even more when the chrono hand on a $50,000+ Patek Philippe 5960 Chrono falls off a week after you bought it, and you hate it even more when it has to be sent to Switzerland for months!

[elprimerozen]

But it kills you even more when the chrono hand on a $50,000+ Patek Philippe 5960 Chrono falls off a week after you bought it, and you hate it even more when it has to be sent to Switzerland for months!

Yes and you hate when your Zenith Port royal V Elprimero(5500$) brakes the start button and wait for 3 months

[omni]

tvt:

I'm surprised, you of all people, having visited Guangzhou, would know first-hand because of the "millions & millions" of watches manufactured out of that City, there is not going to be the kind of QC you'd expect from a genuine watch, swiss or seiko. These I'm sure are not assembled in extremely clean lab rooms with technicians taking the time or care to assemble and to test every part as it is assembled. I know it kills you about the pricing, but, these are reps., plain and simple, you shouldn't expect the same as you get with a gen., even a timex. I've agreed with you on that on more than one occasion regarding "fakes." If a premium is paid its not because you are going to receive a better quality watch than the lesser priced watch, it means you are going to receive the best replication at that particular time in space. Opinions abound about what you should expect for the price, but really, individual expectations vary from person to person. Quite frankly, I think the way Angus packaged it for mailing was probably the main reason it arrived sans the second hand. It was just taped in bubble wrap in a flat EMS mailing envelope. Most of mine usually have come in a cardboard box.