My new ARF 126600 v3 has just arrived

[tamango 0]

Today I received my new ARF 126600 SD43 v3, bought from PT, with excelent communication and customer service as always, shipping to Spain took 17 days including a little detour to UK (scheduled)

Packaging was great, I like the ARF detail of providing the watch with the rolex service case, card with the s/n, etc.

After spending quite a bit of time removing all the protecting plastics, there goes my first impresions, specially comparing to a TC V6 maxidial that is (was) my daily beater

- The watch is simply amazing, couldn't be happier with it

- This is a heavy watch! I think it feels even heavier than my gen Tudor Big Block, maybe it is due to the "solid" feel of the watch, which brings me to the next point

- The feel is that this a solid watch, no looseness or rattling on the bracelet, most probably because it is new than anything else, but definitely the quality jump ahead from aluminum bezels to ceramic is more than noticeable

- At first sight it looked very tall, with the domed caseback and specially compared to the TC, and it is of course taller, but nothing outrageous at all, you get used to it in litteraly minutes.

- Size for me is perfect, I always had the feel that the TC, and the aluminum subs in general, looked small on my wrist at 39mm, and was a litlle afraid this one was going to be too big, but again my fears were totally unfounded

- Comparing to the TC side by side, the proportions on the SD43 looked much more "adequate" or "right", the TC looks like the dial/cristal is overly big and the bezel too thin, I also like the design of the lugs much more than the wider lugs of the regular ceramic subs

- As I prefer reliability over looks on the movement, I think the best choice is the A2824 I took, which will be replaced with a swiss 2824-2 -as it is a direct swap- when the asian movement fails

- Coming from the good ol' TC aluminum bezel's clasp, the new one is simply into another level, the feel, fit and finish, not too bulky, and the microadjuster, is, one word, perfect.

- The feel of the bezel teeth is a bit on the sharpy side, your fingers get a bit sticked to the bezel when you stroke it, dont know if this a thing of the ceramic subs, but I guess (hope) it will soften over time, clicking of the bezel seems spot on to me, but to be honest never touched a gen one

- Date font and lume looks ok to me, never been too picky about that, as this is something much more noticeable in pics than in real life, unless it is outrageosuly bad, of course 

- I dont know if it is because of my tired eyesight, or that we are looking all day to macro pictures scratching little tiny details, but on my wrist the watch looks sharp and flawless, it is incredible the level reached by the manufacturers nowadays, I wouldn't dare to walk into any AD with my SD43 anytime

- In conclusion, a watch that is indistiguishable of the real deal, at 5% of the price, for me, is the bargain of the century

Now onto the pics, please forgive the quality, they were taken with the phone and in less than perfect light conditions

[Jasonbaylee 192]

Glad u got yr order without any real custom issue. Be happy n wear it well. Buy more watches soon.


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[Zrolex 0]

Looks great to me but like you, never held a gen or seen one in person..cant wait for mine..enjoy your new piece my friend..

[tamango 0]

18 hours ago, Jasonbaylee said:

Glad u got yr order without any real custom issue. Be happy n wear it well. Buy more watches soon.


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Thanks!

17 hours ago, Zrolex said:

Looks great to me but like you, never held a gen or seen one in person..cant wait for mine..enjoy your new piece my friend..

Thanks!

[Sigg 106]

Great looking watch and thanks for all the comparisons. Enjoy buddy.

[Sergio 1]

Very Nice ..... You ordered a case also ?

New to this .... Who is PT ?

[Adit 642]

Very nice. The same as my recent M2M purchase.  I like it in box,with paperwork and tag too, perfect!  

[GingerApple 7,272]

A belter of a watch, brilliant straight out of the box. One of the best Gens out there. Congrats and thanks for the great review.

[Evan_k 2]

Gorgeous watch

[go000ob 0]

congratulations
could you please take pictures of it next to the TC sub
and a side picture of both to show each watch thickness

[RussP 22,125]

59 minutes ago, Sergio said:

Very Nice ..... You ordered a case also ?

New to this .... Who is PT ?

I'm guessing PT is Pure Time.

[Glaude 1,615]

Thanks for the review & nice accompanying pics !

[tamango 0]

Bad news guys, after just 4 days working good on my wrist, the watch stopped today, tried winding it, it offers usual winding resistance, moving date, it moves manually fine, hands also move manually fine, even tried hitting it softly, nothing worked, moving the hands manually with the crown and the date changes at 12 as it should, and I don't think hands are interfering each other also.

Well, I guess these things happens when you play this game, I'm not even thinking about sending it back to dealer, too much trouble and no real warranties, will go to a local watchsmith and hope is a simple fix, do a complete overhaul, or maybe just swap the movement for a swiss 2824-2, which will painfully add 200€ to the bill, dont know yet

will keep you posted on the outcome

[Mike R 1,336]

1 hour ago, tamango said:

Bad news guys, after just 4 days working good on my wrist, the watch stopped today, tried winding it, it offers usual winding resistance, moving date, it moves manually fine, hands also move manually fine, even tried hitting it softly, nothing worked, moving the hands manually with the crown and the date changes at 12 as it should, and I don't think hands are interfering each other also.

Well, I guess these things happens when you play this game, I'm not even thinking about sending it back to dealer, too much trouble and no real warranties, will go to a local watchsmith and hope is a simple fix, do a complete overhaul, or maybe just swap the movement for a swiss 2824-2, which will painfully add 200€ to the bill, dont know yet

will keep you posted on the outcome

I feel for ya, have had similar happen to me once , DOA

If your not sending it back  you can open the case back and see if anything got loose and worked into the mechanism. 

[CollieWobbles 236]

8 hours ago, tamango said:

Bad news guys, after just 4 days working good on my wrist, the watch stopped today, tried winding it, it offers usual winding resistance, moving date, it moves manually fine, hands also move manually fine, even tried hitting it softly, nothing worked, moving the hands manually with the crown and the date changes at 12 as it should, and I don't think hands are interfering each other also.

Well, I guess these things happens when you play this game, I'm not even thinking about sending it back to dealer, too much trouble and no real warranties, will go to a local watchsmith and hope is a simple fix, do a complete overhaul, or maybe just swap the movement for a swiss 2824-2, which will painfully add 200€ to the bill, dont know yet

will keep you posted on the outcome

That's a bummer alright, I would still let PT know about the problem even if you're not sending it back. He may give you credit for next purchase or something else. Hope you get it resolved soon, let us know the outcome and stay positive

[vbastos 127]

Bad news guys, after just 4 days working good on my wrist, the watch stopped today, tried winding it, it offers usual winding resistance, moving date, it moves manually fine, hands also move manually fine, even tried hitting it softly, nothing worked, moving the hands manually with the crown and the date changes at 12 as it should, and I don't think hands are interfering each other also.

Well, I guess these things happens when you play this game, I'm not even thinking about sending it back to dealer, too much trouble and no real warranties, will go to a local watchsmith and hope is a simple fix, do a complete overhaul, or maybe just swap the movement for a swiss 2824-2, which will painfully add 200€ to the bill, dont know yet

will keep you posted on the outcome

The 2824 is considered reliable, but it seems it also “dies”. It happened the same to me on my AP Diver 15703 V9.5.
Maybe 2824s are as reliable as SH3135s… until they all stop working.


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[JeagerX 0]

Nice pick up, hope you will be able to fix it. 

[Viking95 3]

Bummer about the movement. I think the arf and noob are both excellent options for the SD43. Noob uses the 2836, not sure if those are considered more reliable.

[GenTLe 1,496]

Most probably it will be just a screw that hot unscrewed and is blocking the balance, or another option (that I've seen personally) is that the mainspring barrel got open, but in such case you should be able to have it running for 1 min or so before it stops again.

[Adit 642]

Tamango,  have you discussed this with the TD yet? That would be the first course of action,  surely.

Hope you can resolve this satisfactorily

[kamo 0]

Sorry about your troubles :( . any development? I was planning to buy from PT but now... have you contacted them?

 

[tamango 0]

Sorry guys, forgot to update this, my watchsmith told me one of the  bolts holding the movement to the case was broken, and the bolt head wandering inside the watch made it to stop, broken bolt thread and head removed, new bolt in and everything is working fine for about a month now, in any case, as I love this gorgeous watch, next on the wish list is a gen ETA 2824, thanks guys for the interest

[deKev 3]

Have sold my V2 a while ago, the 43mm just doesn't suits me. However, it was the best out of the box rep I owned.




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[TourBYonder 0]

Sharp!