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AP Royal Oak Tourbillon Openworked SS Mini-Review

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grill

This is a mini-review of my first skeleton watch, which is equipped with a tourbillon at the same time. A great start for skeleton timepieces, isn't it? You can read reviews about the 2012 original (Pl) and the 2016-2017 (YG, PG, SS) editions of the genuine watch here:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/hands-on-with-the-audemars-piguet-openworked-extra-thin-roya

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-tourbillon-extra-thin-openworked-yellow-gold

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/audemars-piguet-royal-oak-tourbillon-extra-thin-openworked-steel-pink-gold-introducing

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/audemars-piguet-royal-oak-tourbillon-extra-thin-openworked-steel-3

Here are some comparison photos of the SS genuine and of my replica watch. Sorry for the quality of my rep photos, they were taken with my smartphone. The gen photos are from the above-mentioned Hondikee reviews. Note: The rear barrel wheel of the rep is in silver color in reality (unfortunately my photos are not color-proof):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gU0FsUKK8MiYoyKksLOofxlWrV_3fgEp/view?usp=sharing

Also, you can see my hands-on video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12UKtQGZnhGv-ZpZXw0Y3-UDWwEGK-gjK/view?usp=sharing

Details of my replica:

Factory: JF? (not sure)

Dealer: TSwatch

Case diameter: 42 mm (without crown) (almost same as the geniune)

Case thickness: 12.5 mm (3.5 mm thicker than the genuine)

Front glass: sapphire with AR coating (tested with Diamond Selector II)

Back glass: sapphire (tested with Diamond Selector II)

Power reserve: 40+ hrs

Power reserve indicator: decoration only (not working)

Lume: 3/5 (in my subjective scale)

Frequency: 28.800 bph (4 Hz)

Accuracy: +1s/day (worn)

Issue: From the viewpoint of the bracelet shortening two bracelet screw links were defective. One of them was hardly removable, hammer hitting was necessary to remove it. The other defective link could not be removed.

Pros

This watch is a (time) piece of beauty. If you like the AP Royal Oak design, skeletonizing and tourbillon then this is your watch. I very like and appreciate how those Chinese replica watchmakers could handle those challenges that they must have faced with during the creation of this replica: skeletonizing and openworking with a tourbillon movement.

Openworking is almost perfect. You may criticize the relocation of one of the power train wheels from the right side to the left side (see the blue dot on the wheel of the rep back in my photo) but imho this hardly lessens the transparency of the left side of the replica. This minor difference might even be appreciated by those who dislike the void between 7 & 11 in the genuine watch (see eg. ASB's comment on the review posted at https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/audemars-piguet-royal-oak-tourbillon-extra-thin-openworked-steel-3).

My watch is damn accurate (+1s/day /worn), maybe it's the most accurate timepiece in my collection of ca. 15 mechanical watches.

Cons

The thickness: 12 mm vs 9 mm. I wish the thickness of this replica was max. 10 mm, however, I very know there are dreams that will never come true.

The bracelet: screw links may be defective, so shortening the bracelet may be challenging.

The tourbillon plate is ugly imho (see the green dot in my photo). It should have been better. This is the only part which I don't like in the replica design.

Power reserve indicator exists but non-functional.

One power train wheel is relocated which slightly reduces the transparency of the left side of the replica. Nevertheless, this can also be a gain as discussed above.


All in all, I think this watch is a great addition to my tourby watch collection and I hope it will serve me long :thumbsup:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r9vqX0ISsNtBESVD4y8Z02gIi6qbKvQx/view?usp=sharing

Edited by grill
case size corrected

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GingerApple

Thanks for sharing, lovely to see. I actually prefer the rep! The gold tourbillon makes it stand out more. It would be nice to have Gen thickness though! I've got the double balance wheel openworked and I think they've done a really good job on that too. There are differences of course, but overall they are just nice watches.

I've embedded a pic to assist others.

83o7CGc.jpg

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tecbarrera

Sweet review! Enjoy your new baby!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

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Glaude

Great post ! Thanks for sharing !

I agree with the Ginger, the gold flying tourbillon makes it stand out more, too much silver in the gen

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