Mickey Padge Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 (edited) Well there hasn't been a rep in my lifetime with acceptable lume, except for "modded" pieces that some dealers offer. So that one is pretty much a given, if you care. And, really, the SWISS MADE alignment issue isn't a big deal at all since he's going to mod the thing anyhow... he doesn't have to mod it, he wants to mod it. Me, I say that if a rotated bezel ring is the worst problem you've got, take it and be happy! I have never been too fussed about the lume glow etc.... but if it is applied in such a sloppy manner, it's just a no go for me. In fact that messy lume is quite hard to correct in some instances. I just think a watch should be good to go from the start, and so few actually are..... It is one of the reasons I was so chuffed about the porsche chrono Edited January 17, 2008 by Mickey Padge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Mine looks OEM. No regrets, just pure unadulterated pleasure each time I look at her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sye46 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 just got mine from Precious Time a few days ago. Watch is perfect (except lume, AR... which I expected). It might've taken slightly longer, but Precious Time has good QC to ensure the watches are perfect before going out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryaku Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 just got mine from Precious Time a few days ago. Watch is perfect (except lume, AR... which I expected). It might've taken slightly longer, but Precious Time has good QC to ensure the watches are perfect before going out. Can you confirm once more that AR coating is not so good and crystal needs a new better coating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 So yesterday one member's Iwc Aquatimer came for double AR: 1 no lume (at all!!!) on the inner bezel, hand after charging 20 min. under very strong light, glow for 5 sec.!!! 2 inner bezel sounds horrible when moving, or i should say if moving, becouse i need gloves to tourn it!it is extremly hard to move that thing, something stucking inside or keeping bezel in one place 3 Pusher felt off and spring jumped to other room, i spent 2h for searching it with rest of my family:))) 4 Chrono at '6' sometimes working, sometimes don't, most of the time don't Is anybody got similar problems with this one?t I'm the poor unfortunate that is the proud owner of this beauty. Damn!! It's gives you a terrible sinking feeling when your new watch turns up and there's problems with it which this had a few of. To be fair though, I contacted the with the problems and he was going to ship out a replacement to me as soon as I supplied delivery numbers from the returning watch k222 has which he doesn't have to do. To date I've only had 1 other problem with a watch I've bought (which was an IWC as well) which was a faulty strap and the dealer sent out a replacement strap to me straight away. It is disappointing when there's problems but these are replicas we're talking about here so there are bound to be some problems along the way. As for this one, I've asked k222 if he can get the faults repaired as it will probably end up cheaper not to metion the fact it will save another 2 weeks in waiting time to see my new purchase. When it's completed (ar and dw mods) this will be another 'very close to gen' looking rep for my collection so any issues prior to me getting it will all be forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magagne Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Can you confirm once more that AR coating is not so good and crystal needs a new better coating? On mine the AR is very good, you can live with it without problem. But mine will still go to Chief AR coating... I want the best of the best for this watch. It already look awesome like it is, it will look even more awesome after relume and AR coating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryaku Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Got it. I think i also will have it coated with chieftang or k2222 soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) I have mine for two weeks and I have checked it out carefully. Personally I didn't get it from anyone who promised me a custom QC. But so far it doesn't have any trouble..., only a very slight misalignment of swiss made type, but very slight, something like 0,5 mm off. No problems on the pushers at all and rotating bezel is very smooth and sounds a nice click every minute I can't believe somebody here is thinking bad of this rep! This is a very good piece indeed. Of course there are the same old mods to make, as re luming, new AR coat and ETA DW. But I also can't believe somebody saying it has a good enough AR. The AR on this one it's totally CRAPPY!!! It just gives some blue tint on reflections, but the reflections strength is exactly the same as on non coated crystal. Anyone here knows how to disassebling the inner bezel? I'm thinking to send it out for re lume as well. Actually I already shipped the dial & hands, as in beginning I thought I could stay without lume on bezel, but today I saw the video on IWC website and it looks great with the bezel lumed! What do you think..., any tips to remove it?..., or would you stay with it as it is? Edited January 18, 2008 by lello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 I agree Lello. I can't offer advice on how to remove the inner bezel but I know my watch is on the way to Ziggy and I will have him relume the inner bezel like he as done on the Cousteau's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 I agree Lello. I can't offer advice on how to remove the inner bezel but I know my watch is on the way to The Zigmeister and I will have him relume the inner bezel like he as done on the Cousteau's... Lucky you Don... You just ship the whole watch to the mod's master. I know that Rob makes really great re lume works. I'm actually a bit afraid that these nice and crisp numerals could be damaged by the re lume. Can the Superluminova be so shiny? Do you have any pic of your Cousteau new lume? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 I agree Lello. I can't offer advice on how to remove the inner bezel but I know my watch is on the way to The Zigmeister and I will have him relume the inner bezel like he as done on the Cousteau's... So The Zigmeister will relume this model? I spoke to vac and he said he wouldn't do this model so i assumed none of the modders would touch this model. Hmmmmmmm..... if I'm getting everything else done I guess it would make sence to get this done as well so when I finally have it in my hot little hands, it's about as good as you can get barring buying the real thing. Any idea on how much the relume would be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 My printer will make the re lume on mine. But I'm not sure yet if I will send him also the rotating bezel though... I don't have idea if The Zigmeister really make these, but I have to trust what Dluddy says. My printer in Italy charges around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 There are numerous examples of Ziggy's work on the Cousteau models. I believe a few were posted in the past. Ziggy thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 There are numerous examples of The Zigmeister's work on the Cousteau models. I believe a few were posted in the past. The Zigmeister thread Thanks Don! I'm going to show these pics to my relumer and I will warn him that I want it this way, otherwise better nothing on bezel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magagne Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 There are numerous examples of The Zigmeister's work on the Cousteau models. I believe a few were posted in the past. The Zigmeister thread Definitively, I'll no re-luming the bezel part, I prefer the factory finish, even if there's no lume on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magagne Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 My watchsmith start chrono functions and put the pusher back, there is no lume on the inner bezel, but the owner said that doesn't care so Slevin is staying, this is very nice watch, steel quality or the dial are looking awesome, i was at AD yesterday and only visible difference is in the case finish, genuine is polished on the sides, rep is brushed, but this is an easy fix I visit an AD today, and the aquatimer (the non-chrono model) side finish is exactly the same finish than chrono rep, i.e it's a up/down brush finish. There's no polish side there, exept for the groove in the bezel. So your observation wants to say the gen chrono and the gen non-chrono don't have the same side finish, I'm perplex about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 (edited) I visit an AD today, and the aquatimer (the non-chrono model) side finish is exactly the same finish than chrono rep, i.e it's a up/down brush finish. There's no polish side there, exept for the groove in the bezel. So your observation wants to say the gen chrono and the gen non-chrono don't have the same side finish, I'm perplex about this. No, Jakub means that he saw on a couple of video commercials of IWC, that the case side is polished. I went to see one of these videos on IWC site. The side is shown polished there, but it is a 3D digital animation and not a real video shot to the actual watch..., maybe this is the reason... He hypothesized that the latest production might have been changed from brushed to polished... Personally I will believe it, only when I will see an actual photograph about it, as on animations, they can make it different, or by mistake, or just because it was looking better... Sorry, I just realized that he is talking about having visited an authorized dealer...., mmhhh..., this is becoming enigmatic Edited January 19, 2008 by lello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2222 Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 browsing the web i found brushed only, but i visited 2 ADs and i seen only polished at 2 of them, so maybe its just depends of a production year, i will go there with my camera this week, only if they allow me to take shot i will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magagne Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 browsing the web i found brushed only, but i visited 2 ADs and i seen only polished at 2 of them, so maybe its just depends of a production year, i will go there with my camera this week, only if they allow me to take shot i will That is a great idea K2222, and helpful for those who want to MOD our rep. Check if the polish part include the lug part too. For my part, I'll stay with the brush finish (for that moment), cuz I find the fibish identical and perfect by comparing to the gen I saw (but it was NON-chrono version, important to specify). Good luck K2222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2222 Posted January 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 it look same as this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magagne Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 it look same as this Gosh !!! , so there's TWO versions just on this model (the non-chrono) by my observation and this photo, and there's TWO for the chrono version too with your observation. Ok, what the hell is going on at IWC? Anyway, that proof there's two version, so now, the question is, wish one is the latest one Maybe an Europe version, and a American/North American version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2222 Posted January 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 i don't like quality of the brushed case anyway, that was the first thing i notice, part of gen. are brushed for sure, but finish is way better than a rep. edit. This is chrono and look polished, but not sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 i don't like quality of the brushed case anyway, that was the first thing i notice, part of gen. are brushed for sure, but finish is way better than a rep. edit. This is chrono and look polished, but not sure Definitely polished even on this last pic! You wouldn't see those high contrasted reflections and you wouldn't see especially the skin texture so clearly reflected on the upper lug, otherwise. I agree with you Jakub, the brush finish on the sides, it's no so good on the rep. It will look surely much better with polished finish. We just need to find out which one is the right finish, on latest production. Do you know if the serial # can be indicating a certain period? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2222 Posted January 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I think that maybe older models are polished, it's hard to find them on the web now + old aquatimer was polished too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lello Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I think that maybe older models are polished, it's hard to find them on the web now + old aquatimer was polished too If you are right, what would be better: Having the better looking polished side, but older version, or keeping the less nice brushed finish, but having the latest version? :cc_confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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