Review & Side by Side Comparison Gen GMT IIc / CHS V1 IIc

[youpmelone]

1

Gen:

This is the IIc I got out of the deal with Justasgood, great transaction, solid guy.

Highly recommended. Kurt, I hope your luck will change soon. You deserve it.

About the watch: I can only say wow...

2

Gen Left, Rep right

From this angle they look similar on a picture

Only the Rolex Rolex Rolex engravings stand out.

3

Gen Left, Rep right

Small differences, the gen case back is fitting better.

Seems to be screwed in deeper. I don not have a burgeon opener to test the rep if there is enough thread left to screw it in deeper.

4

Gen

Bezel:

Colors of the bezel numbers are totally different.

Coffee cream on the gen, brownish grey on the rep.

Numbers on the rep are more bold (V1 bezel, CHS)

Loupe:

I tried to capture the "contra" magnifying effect (see the shap of the shade in the loupe)

I think it is not only AR but additionally a totally new loupe with a tunnel like effect.

Rep

5

Closer

Gen:

Rep:

6

Left Gen, Right Rep

Position of the crow is not that bad on the rep.

The rep crown is just looking good.

7

Clasp, closed they look similar

But the engravings are way off. I'd expect that it would be much harder to reverse engineer the clasp then getting the engravings right...

Seems like an not to difficult mod to get the engravings black

(edding stift anyone?, then the size of the rolex logo engaving is still off but that is not a big deal imho)

8

Solid end links, way off..

I've seen what tribal can do with SELs, these can be modded close enough

Final Verdict

Gen:

Wow. Non of the typical rolex issues (flimsy bracelet, 2 dollar clasp).

Every detail looks and feels good. Really really good.

I have some comparison material and this one is just in another league.

Is it worth the retail price?

No. I got a great deal, that makes it almost bearable. But this price for a bit of steel and a movement that is not much better then the top of the line eta's is just nuts. But I guess that is a part of the magic.

Btw in my country we pay 4,5 euro's / 6,5 USD for a coffee with some milk in a paper cup at starbucks which is even more insane..

Three years of not drinking Starbucks coffee but the excellent Nespresso office coffee and this thing is paid. I smile everytime i pass the Starbucks :-)

Rep:

If they can make such a good clasp, such a great watch why o why is it then for the rep gods so difficult to produce a good bracelet.

The difference in feel is surreal. The rep feels like a worn out vintage bracelet.

That they where not able to copy the loupe I can understand, this thing looks like some in house Rolex magic.

If you have tribals skills, and tools:

• work your magic on the bracelet
  
• mod the endlinks
  
• color mod the engravings on the clasp
  
• color mod the numbers on the bezel
  
• clean the movement (mine was a pos, but is totally reliable now...)
  
• give the rehaut a little polish to make the engravings less clear
  
• possibly install the chieftang loupe?
  
• Swap the date disc
  

If you don't have this then the ETA IHS version is imho still a great investment.

Compare those prices to what you get for the same amout in any department store. The rep really is good.

I have worn the rep more the gens i have.

[Tribal]

Great comparsion

Thank you

[Watchmeister]

Great review. And I love the analogy of passing up Starbucks for a couple of years to pay for the gen. I would happily drink office coffee as well. So now the question is which is going to get more wrist time - the rep or the gen?

[youpmelone]

Great review. And I love the analogy of passing up Starbucks for a couple of years to pay for the gen. I would happily drink office coffee as well. So now the question is which is going to get more wrist time - the rep or the gen?

Then rep is going into retirement. :-)

I have been at Starbucks twice since it opened almost three years ago..

I once saw something like that Oprah, how skipping Starbucks at young age could pay for your retirement.. that has stuck with me..

[TeeJay]

That's an absolutely fantastic review, thanks for taking the time to put it together I'm glad I'm not alone in my thoughts that the gen is not worth the ticket price, but is a really nice watch in it's own right

Having handled the gen, I knew what it was like (although I have to admit, even in the AD, I didn't notice the color-engraving in the clasp) but I couldn't really compare it to the rep, as I didn't have the 'visual memory' of a rep to make a comparison. An interesting point about the engraving on the rehaut, as I have to admit, it was not particularly noticeable on the gen. Depending on how noticeable I felt the engraving was when I see the rep 'in person', I might indeed sand the rehaut down a little to make it less noticeable, but, if I like how it looks, I might well keep it as it is. When I've seen the watches with ROLEXROLEXROLEX slapped around the rehaut, I have thought it was branding overkill, but, as before, on the gen, it wasn't actually an obtrusive detail, and quite ignorable. My only concern for sanding the rehaut, is increasing the diameter and exposing the edges of the dial... I guess I'll just have to wait and see and then decide

[chubbchubb]

Great to see both side by side. Thank you.

[jnkay]

Nice, detailed comparison of aspects not covered in previous reviews. Interesting that you thought the rep bracelet was subpar vs. gen. Even compared to my 2006 gen daytona bracelet, it feels like a quality bracelet IMO.

[Shundi]

Very detailed and some VERY high quality pics!! Yeah, the old statistic is something like if you were to take your expenses from Starbucks once or twice a day and place them in an account with compound interest (Think Roth IRA) for something like 35-40 years you'd have a million dollars by the time you were 65.

[Noel Fleischer]

thanx- great review. the $188 i paid for my asian ihs is a super deal!

the gen @ 7k is crazy. i bought the gen TT 1 1/2 yrs ago for $7500!!

[robertk]

That's a terrific review/comparison. I agree with TJ that the gen is overpriced (but so are all rolexe's) and the rep is pretty damn close.

thank you.

[freddy333]

Great review.

1 thing to keep in mind is that we (here) neurose over the merest of minor details, all of which go right over the heads of the typical gen (non-collector) owner, let alone the average non-Rolex owning guy on the street. Additionally, these minor differences are only noticeable (to non-WIS types) when you know what to look for, have rep & gen side-by-side for a close-up direct visual comparison & are sufficiently sensitized to the differences to care.

The GMTIIC, even with its slight warts, is a magnificent creation & remains as 1 of only 2 modern Rolex models that I would even deign to wear (the other being the Daytona).

[youpmelone]

Great review.

1 thing to keep in mind is that we (here) neurose over the merest of minor details, all of which go right over the heads of the typical gen (non-collector) owner, let alone the average non-Rolex owning guy on the street. Additionally, these minor differences are only noticeable (to non-WIS types) when you know what to look for, have rep & gen side-by-side for a close-up direct visual comparison & are sufficiently sensitized to the differences to care.

The GMTIIC, even with its slight warts, is a magnificent creation & remains as 1 of only 2 modern Rolex models that I would even deign to wear (the other being the Daytona).

thx and i do agree. but fussing over this stuff makes this fun. i keep wanting more reps of the gens i have , and the tools to mod them.. nuts.. i know..

but fun.. I build a house myself now i need the skills for the finer work :-) (ai.. and the ehh time... )

[PhilipM]

This is a pic taken from a gen/rep review over on RG

http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=22100

The most interesting point i have noticed is the height difference of the cyclops.

The gen is on the left.

I'm pretty sure it points to a different higher refractive index material used for the cyclops

[Demsey]

It's frustrating coming into these great reviews as the '11th' reply, all the obvious compliments have been paid already, so at the sure risk of sounding trite and redundant;

Great review and comparison. I know how time consuming the photog can be, then to go the extra mile to be creative? Just great.

[dluddy]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. It is fantastic to see how good this one really is

Like Freddy said, only us anal retentive WIS types would even see the differences.

I'm loving my Gen 1 ETA CHS even more now

Especially since it is still working flawlessly

[silvio]

Cool comparison (pun intended :-) ).... Great post.

Regarding modding the endlink: I have done it to my SSD, but as the center link of the GMT is polished instead of brushed it might require extra careful works to make the polished finish flawless... a bit more difficult than finishing brushed endlink of the SSD (the brushed finish kind of hides the imperfections / uneven surface) but doable nevertheless.

Pics: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=78988&hl=

You know this issue has been bugging me a lot: since known time the manufacturer has ever repped Rollie, they have never fix this issue once... even the high end quality ones such as WM9 or MBK. No one has ever made a correct Solid End Link in rep. ever.

And it also becomes an essential point where you can tell a rep from the gen. I guess it's kind of too trivial to be overlooked.

Anyway, Good luck modding yours and please post some pics if you can.

Thanks for sharing!

[youpmelone]

Cool comparison (pun intended :-) ).... Great post.

Regarding modding the endlink: I have done it to my SSD, but as the center link of the GMT is polished instead of brushed it might require extra careful works to make the polished finish flawless... a bit more difficult than finishing brushed endlink of the SSD (the brushed finish kind of hides the imperfections / uneven surface) but doable nevertheless.

Pics: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=78988&hl=

You know this issue has been bugging me a lot: since known time the manufacturer has ever repped Rollie, they have never fix this issue once... even the high end quality ones such as WM9 or MBK. No one has ever made a correct Solid End Link in rep. ever.

And it also becomes an essential point where you can tell a rep from the gen. I guess it's kind of too trivial to be overlooked.

Anyway, Good luck modding yours and please post some pics if you can.

Thanks for sharing!

To all:

Thx for the compliments, and yes it took some time.. but after hanging around here for 2 years i needed to give some content back.

This forum needs donations, and content..

Btw I will not mod the IIc now, need to get my skills op to par first so I opened an old Lange automatic rep..

Only to find out that the screws where fake.. And that I have no clue how to get the crown of the stem :-))

better to practice on rubbish

[chubbchubb]

To get a crown off a stem:

[youpmelone]

To get a crown off a stem: