By-Tor Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 What the hell? Didn't I just review an Explorer II? Yes I did. The review is available HERE. So you can call this part #2. My white ExpII developed a problem. The seconds hand got stuck with the minute hand once every 24 hours or so. Naturally Precious Time replaced it without any problems whatsoever. I've never been a fan of the black Explorer II and I still think the white version has more character. Rolex produces so many black dial watches and black Explorer II doesn't really offer anything original on the table. So it would be only natural to get another white ExpII to replace the defective one, right? But as always, we have our short honeymoons with the new reps, and during that honeymoon the flaws don't bother us so much. I'm not too anal about small flaws, but as excepted the weird grey hour markers on the white dial version started to bother me after a while. Most of the time they look correct, but when the light hits them from certain angle they simply look... well... grey. I should have listened to bklm1234, who owns the black version. The dial of the black version is a beauty. The print is extremely crisp and the finish is lovely. Strange that the GMT hand on my new black version now has the correct red color as well. Looks like the GMT hand is now a bit shorter too, but not enough to bother me. The EXPLORER II font is a bit off on all reps, but it's very difficult to notice without zoomed pics and straight comparison with the gen. The rep of the black version is very close to the genuine article. The only "noticeable" difference is the 6'o'clock marker which is placed a bit too low. However, there was a production run of this rep which has it placed correctly. The crown guards and winding crown aren't 100%, but close enough. HERE'>http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u214/tp2112/comp2.jpg]HERE you can see a pic of the genuine for comparison. I got lucky with this rep. Unlike my white version it even has the beautiful "bevel" on the lugs (as per genuine). Once again we'll see that these watches have subtle differences, even when they come from the same factory. I don't really bother going to the details with this review, because I already did it with the previous review of the white version. All I can say that this rep is most likely going out of production, since the correct hand stack GMT Master II has already disappeared. The movement apparently has 2 different versions: Good and bad. Or to be frank: "Working" and "non-working". The hand problem on my white version was somehow related to this modification, I'm sure. I'm again crossing my fingers with this one. I was willing to take another risk, because the rep is remarkably good and accurate. I seriously doubt the factories can surpass this replication, especially now that the correct hand stack modification seems to be a dying breed in the rep world. This "mini-review" took only about 2-3 hours to put together (including the pic post-processing). It's a record, and not bad considering that Puggy has now used a year to put his IWC Guide together. All pics were shot in one "take". I'm getting fast. Let's end this with a "pair shot". ExpII poses with another nice (although not quite as accurate) rep I recently reviewed: The "TW Best" GMT Master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Yes, 2-3 hours is a good performance but surely shows how much time you spend to educate us Thanks for your time and for sharing once again BT. Cheers Stephane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cableguy Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 good review.... My White Explorer II just started doing the same thing....when the min. hand is around 7-8 (14-15) the second hand would stop... =( i contacted my dealer who said i can pay for the repair myself and on my next order he would give me a MB rep pen free.... (thanks a lot paul=/ ) I've bumped it around to get the hands moving again and it seems to have fixed itself ...for now.... the crown on this one looks better then the one on mine as well. (so called perfect) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Thanks guys. This is completely unofficial, and Ziggy might say it wouldn't matter... but my white ExpII started to give problems as soon as I wound it by hand once. I usually NEVER hand wind my reps, because there is absolutely no need to do so. People who say you "have to" hand wind your watch when you receive it are full of shit. Because Paul says so it's not necessarily gospel. Gentle shaking and then just wearing the watch is enough to give it power reserve. I'm sure hand winding can put stress on the crown which is often the weak link in reps. Someone asked how the winding felt on my ExpII (was it stiff?) so I did it once. After 20 minutes I wound it... it stopped. The seconds hand got stuck with the minute hand. Of course it might be a coincidence, but if it was it was a weird coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 This is completely unofficial, and Ziggy might say it wouldn't matter... but my white ExpII started to give problems as soon as I wound it by hand once. My god I'm wounding my watches for 15 to 20 turns (up to when it starts to feel "harder") everytime I take them out of their box. Maybe I should stop to do so. Is it just for GMT watches you recommand this or for all ? Anyway, thanks for the tip. Cheers Stephane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 @Stephane: I can't recommend a thing. I know nothing about the movements. But after years of collecting I've never had a movement problem before this one. Because there's absolutely no need to hand wind them, why do it? 7750 and Asian 21J need a bit longer shaking to collect enough power reserve, but I never hand wind them, either. This is what Ziggy says about ETAs: ETAs and most Swiss models, 2824-2, 2836-2, 2892-2, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 ...until the watch starts running, then stop. I also wonder if all people who broke their UPO crowns were hand winding them all the time as well... mine still functions perfectly after 6 months. Again pure speculation from my part... Yes, I remember Ziggy's advice. Thanks for reminding the PO example to us. It's right that before the mvt itself, the crowns are the weakest point in reps. Cheers Stephane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalcranium Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 7750 and Asian 21J need a bit longer shaking to collect enough power reserve, but I never hand wind them, either. Operating chronos on genune or replica 7750 movements for the first time without a full power reserve can lead to re-setting alignment problems. It's always recommended that you operate the chrono function on a full reserve the first few times you use it. Other than that...winding is a convience. I have several non-winding Seiko 7S26 movement watches that have worked just fine for more than 10 years with a few gentle shakes before setting and wearing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Operating chronos on genune or replica 7750 movements for the first time without a full power reserve can lead to re-setting alignment problems. Yep, that is correct too. I should have mentioned that. I rarely use the chronos at all, so it's not an issue for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 (edited) Seems like this review got almost zero response. Worst ever, actually. Under 100 views after 24 hours. Weird. The interest in these writeups seems to be fading? Or maybe people just don't care about ExpII that much? I wonder if you guys realize how amazingly close this rep of the black version is? Here's two good pics of the gen: Edited July 4, 2007 by By-Tor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Thanks for the review, its a classic, this Exp II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasigi Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I'm just not keen on the black faced Explorer - To me it's too much like a Sub with the black face and the merc hands. I'd totally discounted the idea of owning an Explorer until I saw your review of the white faced one and bought that model immediately! Great review as always, just the watch does nothing for me I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nxuan Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Thanks for the excellent review. It is my daily beater. I have it serviced and sent it for relume. Hope to get it back soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 I'm just not keen on the black faced Explorer - To me it's too much like a Sub with the black face and the merc hands. I'd totally discounted the idea of owning an Explorer until I saw your review of the white faced one and bought that model immediately! Great review as always, just the watch does nothing for me I'm afraid. I absolutely agree with you. The white is much nicer and more original. Howeever, the black version is very good replica. I wonder if it would be possible to "paint" those markers and hands on the white version. The gen dial is rather expensive mod. People claim that Angus sold white ExpII with correct black markers, but I have never seen such rep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kollektor Posted July 8, 2007 Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 I have you to blame for wanting one of these now. Thanks for the great review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercury Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 I hate to bring back an old thred, but By-Tor, since you have both, which one would you choose if you could only have one. I am debating between the black Explorer II or the GMT II Coke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted December 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 I hate to bring back an old thred Why? I wish more people asked their questions in these threads, instead of sending me PM's. That's exactly what this forum section is all about... it has been very low traffic lately. Feel free to post to ANY of these threads. This particular review is very old, and the watch reviewed is inferior. See this updated new article about the best black Explorer II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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