deltatahoe Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 so early on in my rep collecting, i purchased a cartier santos 100 automatic. when i first received it, i liked it quite a bit. however, i quickly became frustrated with the crappy rep strap, the light color of the blue cabochon and the terrible clasp. so i eventually sold the watch in an effort to downsize my collection somewhat and get rid of watches i never wore. however, i have to say i missed having the santos 100 in my collection. i really liked to clean white look of the dial, which was a nice combination of sporty and dressy. after hearing "new and improved osteopath" raving about the santos 100 chrono, i figured maybe it was worth giving a shot. so when i was trolling the trading board one afternoon this summer and saw richard lawton was selling his santos 100 chrono for an unbeatable price, i jumped on it. given i was traveling for work for most of this summer, i didn't get to see the watch for over a month. but when i got back, i was in for a real treat -- the santos 100 chrono exceeded my expectations by a huge margin. so i figured i would post about it and give five great things about the santos 100 chrono. the dial. the dial on this watch is REALLY nice -- probably the most crisp print of any of my replica watches. there has been quite a bit of discussion about there being two versions of the santos 100 chrono dial available (one that is the correct color and one that is too beige/cream colored). to be honest, i'm not sure whether i got one of the more accurate versions (any expert opinions would be appreciated), but either way i really like the look of this dial. the high(er) quality strap. the strap on my standard santos 100 had a very dull, matte finish that looked just plain crappy. moreover, it cracked very easily and just screamed fake. so when i bought the santos 100 chrono, i figured i would need to get hktan to make me a nice strap to go with this one. but when i got the watch, i was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the strap that came on it. it has a nice sheen to it, and pretty convincing alligator-type grain. the cabochon (jewel in the crown) that is the correct (dark) color blue. for some reason the light color blue of the cabochon on the standard 100 chrono really bugged me (an obvious tell for anyone familiar with the santos 100). functioning clasp. the clasp on my standard santos 100 was really stubborn -- it would either get stuck and not want to come loose, or it wouldn't snap closed no matter how hard you tried (really frustrating). by comparison, the clasp on my santos 100 chrono opens & closes like a dream. use of the crown. the crownguards on my standard santos 100 were so big & bulky, i found it almost impossible to set the time or wind the watch to get it started. the chrono pushers on the santos 100 chrono have a smaller profile, which make winding and setting the time on this watch much easier. ok, enough discussion about the watch -- time for some pictures.... the nice dial two pics of the nice shiny strap the nice clasp & dark blue cobochon and finally the low-profile chrono pushers, rounding out a really nice watch one last thing i would mention about this watch is its size -- this is a big watch. the standard santos 100 is large, and this one is even bigger. square watches generally wear bigger than round watches of a similar size (anyone who's tried on a 46mm b&r knows this in spades), and this one is no exception. i hope you enjoyed the short review; many thanks to richard lawton for a great deal on a beautiful watch deltatahoe note: i edited this post when i saw rocket754's post about the correct standard santos 100 dial; i never intended this post to detract from his project or the standard santos 100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket754 Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 The chrono still uses the same clasp as the swiss santos 100. I also purchased the santos 100 as one of my very first reps and like I was frustrated with flaws. The dial on the santos chrono is basically spot on and the crown is very accurate. It's a great watch without a doubt but for me I still prefer the simplicity and elegance of the orginal santos 100. Also the chrono seems to have a better looking strap form your pics. Great watch and great pics! Isn't the crown on the chrono larger than the crown on the santos 100? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbscott Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Beautiful Watch! I have this watch in the two tone bezel and I'm considering getting this one as well....they wear very nicely and much larger than their size.... Cheers, rbscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CY0811 Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 This review makes me consider this piece...very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xyphis Posted October 17, 2007 Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 Love the review, just can't get used to the size of the watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce79 Posted October 17, 2007 Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 How does the size of the rep 100 chrono compare to the gen? I've seen the gen 100 chrono and it is a monster! Haven't seen the rep in person but all of the dealers descriptions put it at 44mm or at least that's what I remember when it first came out. Can anyone comment? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltatahoe Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 almost positive the rep is very close in size to the gen; this thing is surprisingly big. but with the clean white dial and the black alligator strap, it still looks relatively dressy. a good combination of sporty and dressy if you ask me... deltatahoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estaban Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Nice review. I too owned a Santos 100 as one of my first reps. I had two acutally (one ss, one tt). The watches were very nice and quite large. The pam bug bit and they never saw my wrist again. I liked the clasp, but the straps were pretty bad (one black, one bordeaux). The chrono looks pretty similar. I nice BIG dress watch for sure. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cntrl Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 quick question...is the blue jewel on the crown and crown accurate? is it a plastic jewel or the real deal? sorry for the newb question...but itching to buy the 7753 model. thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltatahoe Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 quick question...is the blue jewel on the crown and crown accurate? is it a plastic jewel or the real deal? sorry for the newb question...but itching to buy the 7753 model. thanks in advance. to be 100% honest, i'm not sure if the blue jewel is plastic or the real deal, but as i noted in the review they finally got the color of the jewel right. i'm not sure how you would tell if it is a real jewel or not, but it looks very accurate to me. good luck with the decision -- as noted by other members, it's unlikely you will regret picking this one up, particularly if you are comfortable with it's large size. cheers deltatahoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChronoKing Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Bump! Wondering if someone can chime in and let me know who carries this version? All the asian models I have found have the off-white colour dial.... Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChronoKing Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Bump! Wondering if someone can chime in and let me know who carries this version? All the asian models I have found have the off-white colour dial.... Thanks in advance. As a follow up, KING has this version currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Never been a Cartier fan (still not), but I enjoyed the well written review & pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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