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DavidAMcC

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bucherer Bronze

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DavidAMcC

My first tilt at this reviewing thing, so I hope you will accept any rough edges or critical details overlooked. I have recently received this rep of the Tudor BB Bronze Bucherer from Joshua at Perfect Clones and, given the lack of reviews I could find for this piece, I thought I would do my bit for the community.

This piece is probably under consideration for status as a AAA Super Clone. After handling this watch for the last week I can see why this XF 2017 1:1 rep is being considered. To qualify what I am about to write it should be noted that I do not own the genuine BB Bucherer. This is purely my own opinion as a watch lover and collector.

The visual quality of this rep is excellent. The bronze case appears to be a very good match for the gen in both size, weight and, importantly, the composition of copper and aluminium blend used. This is critical with a bronze watch and such an easy giveaway when it's wrong. The crystal, dial texture, applied numerals and indecies all look very done and the lume is generous and effective at night. The Asian 2824 movement, at 28,8k bph is appropriate to the watch, and my QC photos showed the watch to be just 7 seconds per day fast with a Beat Error of 0. All perfectly acceptable, and if not, this is an easy mechanism to regulate. The crown engraving looks pretty accurate and the crown itself screws smoothly into the crown tube.

The straps are not perfect representations of the originals, but unless you are handling this watch against a genuine example I defy anyone to say with great confidence that they are not gens. Such is the quality of the rep here.

Yes, if I were holding the real thing I would anticipate that I could tell the difference, albeit in somewhat amorphous terms. The leather strap is just a little too resistant, the weave of the fabric strap is slightly too tight and the gold threading not sufficiently sharp in its demarcation. The bezel (and dive watch lovers get very vexed about their bezels), well it has more play in it that I would find acceptable if this were a true BB Bronze. The click sound of the bezel may also be a little indistinct where Tudor bezels are noted for being very sharp and crisp in both sound and action. Probably the biggest criticism that I can lay at the hands of XF's rep is that the rotor noise doesn't match the rest of the piece. It's not terrible, but it does remind me of a low-end Orient rotor with that slightly weedy bearing noise creeping through. With a better bearing race or better suppression I would struggle to even be able to be critical of this.

In summary then: it's a superb rep. It's my believe that only the one percent of the one percent would be able to say with absolute conviction that you were wearing a rep, and even they would require to handle the watch to be able to make that distinction. That's high praise indeed. And, on the note of high praise may I take a moment to thank Joshua at Perfect Clones. This was my first ever purchase of a rep watch (the usual trepidation included), and I found Perfect Clone's service to be fast, accurate and extremely prompt in addressing my emails.

Now, I know that people here do love an image, or two, to wash down their reviews with, so I will do my best not to disappoint. Please note that I really wanted to take photos outside in ambient light. Unfortunately, this is England and, as you all know, it just rains here when it's not snowing. As such I was forced to shoot on the table with artificial lighting and flash. I can only apologise for the somewhat saturated colours of this photos. That said, I think they do show how the Bucherer blue used by Tudor alters in different lighting. It can be both slight and vivid, and then dark and inky. It is the most beautiful colour and I must stay that I (personally) much prefer it to the coffee-centric colour scheme of the original Tudor BB bronze. This was a happy case of achieving a great end result through collaboration.

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_9.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_1.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_2.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_3.jpg

Let me know when you get bored, but I just love the aesthetics of this watch. I also rather like bright and saturated colours when shooting with flash, my bad!

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_4.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_5.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_6.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_7.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_8.jpg

If you have remained with me this far then my thanks for putting up with my drivel and I hope you found something here both useful and helpful. David.

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GingerApple

 

:clap:Good review mate, great to see a new member contributing so generously! I hope for many more to come over the years.

Is this the same watch: 

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/tudor-black-bay-bronze-blue-bucherer-introducing

If so, does the colour of the rep case look more like the Hodinkee pics in normal lighting conditions?

If so, spankingly good first purchase I'd say. Enjoy!

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BM284

Great review there - this is one of those watches that is on my ‘like to have list’ and maybe later in the year I’ll pull the trigger. Great photos to!

Thanks for sharing :thumbsup2:

 

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DavidAMcC

Hi Ginger Bubba and thanks for your comments.

Yes, this is the same watch featured in the Hodinkee review. Your question about the bronze colour is difficult to address from photographs as even those featured on the Hodinkee site were professionally taken promotional shots and you can bet your life they were using some expensive studio lighting to achieve those results. Even the wrist shot (taken outside) shows clear signs of some additional bounce lighting being employed. The best answer I can offer is that these shots would have been taken using halogen strobe lights which offer a very clean "white" light. I was at my kitchen table under tungsten lights and these tend to be far warmer and more "yellow". The different lighting conditions will certainly affect the way the bronze appears in photographs. My opinion, as a professional graphic designer and retoucher, is that XF are pretty damn close with their blend of bronze. The copper/aluminium mix (similar to marine bronze) gives a more golden finish to the bronze and it patinas more slowly than the copper/zinc mix favoured by Paneria in their bronze watches. This is most clearly evidenced by the speed and nature with which which the Pans patina and their bronze starts out a darker, more red bronze from the outset.

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NCRich

Nice review, beautiful watch.

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GingerApple

Wow! I get the feeling YOU'RE going to be a valued member of this place! Thanks dude!

*Another watch goes on my 'Want' list.....

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PlanetZoom

Nice review and nice photos.

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MAJ75

@DavidAMcC Respect to you for taking the time to write this & furnish the post with some good pictures.

As already said in the thread, people like yourself will come to be valuable members of the community if this post is anything to go by.

Enjoy your new timepiece & thanks for sharing your view.

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Piccolo

Great review and great pics, enjoy it lots and thank you for sharing!

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Haltec

Nice review.  

 

Only thing  missing is orgin of the nato strap and fotosession with it on.

 

Very nice watch!!! Usually doesnt attract my atenttion. 

 

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_4.jpg&key=6f7951ad46b3

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Glaude

Nice review, very nice pics ! Thank you very much for sharing !

I can only agree with my fellow board members, you make a great entry on this forum with that review and I'll hope you'll feel confortable to partcipate in others topics, join the VIP club etc...

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GingerApple
1 minute ago, Glaude said:

Nice review, very nice pics ! Thank you very much for sharing !

I can only agree with my fellow board members, you make a great entry on this forum with that review and I'll hope you'll feel confortable to partcipate in others topics, join the VIP club etc...

I even like this guy's crockery!  #1

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Xpletiv

Nice work!

 

Remember, Tin is tin, aluminum is not tin.

Color balance may help with the lighting during the initial process. 

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MrAbc

Very nice review. I love Tudor!!! Thanks for sharing

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cansler1846

Are these reps Bronze Plated or Solid Bronze ?

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Foz001

Great review.   Considering purchasing 

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Devil
On 29/01/2018 at 15:46, DavidAMcC said:

My first tilt at this reviewing thing, so I hope you will accept any rough edges or critical details overlooked. I have recently received this rep of the Tudor BB Bronze Bucherer from Joshua at Perfect Clones and, given the lack of reviews I could find for this piece, I thought I would do my bit for the community.

This piece is probably under consideration for status as a AAA Super Clone. After handling this watch for the last week I can see why this XF 2017 1:1 rep is being considered. To qualify what I am about to write it should be noted that I do not own the genuine BB Bucherer. This is purely my own opinion as a watch lover and collector.

The visual quality of this rep is excellent. The bronze case appears to be a very good match for the gen in both size, weight and, importantly, the composition of copper and aluminium blend used. This is critical with a bronze watch and such an easy giveaway when it's wrong. The crystal, dial texture, applied numerals and indecies all look very done and the lume is generous and effective at night. The Asian 2824 movement, at 28,8k bph is appropriate to the watch, and my QC photos showed the watch to be just 7 seconds per day fast with a Beat Error of 0. All perfectly acceptable, and if not, this is an easy mechanism to regulate. The crown engraving looks pretty accurate and the crown itself screws smoothly into the crown tube.

The straps are not perfect representations of the originals, but unless you are handling this watch against a genuine example I defy anyone to say with great confidence that they are not gens. Such is the quality of the rep here.

Yes, if I were holding the real thing I would anticipate that I could tell the difference, albeit in somewhat amorphous terms. The leather strap is just a little too resistant, the weave of the fabric strap is slightly too tight and the gold threading not sufficiently sharp in its demarcation. The bezel (and dive watch lovers get very vexed about their bezels), well it has more play in it that I would find acceptable if this were a true BB Bronze. The click sound of the bezel may also be a little indistinct where Tudor bezels are noted for being very sharp and crisp in both sound and action. Probably the biggest criticism that I can lay at the hands of XF's rep is that the rotor noise doesn't match the rest of the piece. It's not terrible, but it does remind me of a low-end Orient rotor with that slightly weedy bearing noise creeping through. With a better bearing race or better suppression I would struggle to even be able to be critical of this.

In summary then: it's a superb rep. It's my believe that only the one percent of the one percent would be able to say with absolute conviction that you were wearing a rep, and even they would require to handle the watch to be able to make that distinction. That's high praise indeed. And, on the note of high praise may I take a moment to thank Joshua at Perfect Clones. This was my first ever purchase of a rep watch (the usual trepidation included), and I found Perfect Clone's service to be fast, accurate and extremely prompt in addressing my emails.

Now, I know that people here do love an image, or two, to wash down their reviews with, so I will do my best not to disappoint. Please note that I really wanted to take photos outside in ambient light. Unfortunately, this is England and, as you all know, it just rains here when it's not snowing. As such I was forced to shoot on the table with artificial lighting and flash. I can only apologise for the somewhat saturated colours of this photos. That said, I think they do show how the Bucherer blue used by Tudor alters in different lighting. It can be both slight and vivid, and then dark and inky. It is the most beautiful colour and I must stay that I (personally) much prefer it to the coffee-centric colour scheme of the original Tudor BB bronze. This was a happy case of achieving a great end result through collaboration.

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_9.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_1.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_2.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_3.jpg

Let me know when you get bored, but I just love the aesthetics of this watch. I also rather like bright and saturated colours when shooting with flash, my bad!

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_4.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_5.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_6.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_7.jpg

Tudor_BB_Bucherer_8.jpg

If you have remained with me this far then my thanks for putting up with my drivel and I hope you found something here both useful and helpful. David.

The links dont work anymore :(

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Hattricks

None of the images are loading for me..and yes I'm on PC

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Mkiv
11 minutes ago, Hattricks said:

None of the images are loading for me..and yes I'm on PC

This post is from January 2018, the images probably aren't hosted anymore.

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