Cap'n 931 Posted July 20, 2019 I first tried the gen of this watch on in Dubai and instantly fell in love with it. So much so that I was about to pull the trigger there and then and buy it (especially with nearly £2k off UK prices), until any wife reminded me my daughter had just got engaged the day before and the money spent on this would go a long way to paying for the wedding - bloody kids!!! Anyway, promised myself I would make this my next rep purchase, and despite many temptations in M2M for some truly great watches, I kept my word. @kuvarsit put one of his famous Wednesday offers up for members to choose the watch. I asked about this and he duly obliged. This little puppy comes from the ZF factory and let's just say, it's a peach. I'm probably going to be hyper critical in this review, as it's watch I really wanted the gen, but have to say, right now I'm surprisingly happy with this rep. Let's have a pic, to remove the monotony of my typing! So let's start with the face. I'm a big fan of sun burst dials, and this one is great. A little bit like the Hulk, it can take on different colours in varying lights from a stunning dark blue to a light dazzler with sunbursts across the dial. The big question of course, is how close is it to the gen? Well sadly I don't have one to compare side by side, but to memory (and a subsequent sneaky visit to a UK dealer), I'd say near enough spot on. The printing is crisp and clear and all the right markings in the right places. The logo on these can be a little mis-aligned, but on this one it's spot on. (Here comes the first hyper-critical bit!) The numbers are very slightly thicker than the gen, but the chopped off 2&4 markers are perfect - again a common fault on these. How dark do you want that dial to go? Generally the date lines up OK, but for double digits starting with 1's the date is very slightly offset to the left of the date window - take a look at the 2 shots above as examples - but only major OCD and a very keen eye is likely to spot this. Attention to detail on the crown and buckle are spot on and one of the best crowns I've seen (certainly better than my macro photography skills!). With so much attention to detail, you'd expect the case back to be perfect and once again it doesn't disappoint. All the correct markings, Clear crisp engraving and no sharp edges (one of my complaints about some rep Rollies). It's incredibly comfortable on the wrist which is also thanks to the fantastically smooth deployment clasp and the strap (more about that coming). The movement in this is an Asian 23j Automatic and has the working Power reserve. It does work and you regularly see the changes. I have no idea whether the 7 indicated days is accurate (I doubt it) as it's only been off my wrist for bed, since I got it. When I finally decide to swap to one of my other watches I'll do a regular check on it. In terms of the rotor, it's nice and quiet and from an accuracy perspective, whilst I don't have a timegrapher, checking manually against Time.is, it's running approx 5 secs per day slow - pretty bloody good! Possibly my one gripe about this watch is the AR coating. It's fine indoors, but get this in bright outdoor light and you pick up all sorts of reflections and it has a sharp blue glaze to it (tried to capture this in the following pic). The redeeming feature however is the strap. I never have particularly high expectations of rep leather straps, and after reading reviews of this watch from ZF was expecting a poor one here, prepared to buy another, even considering a gen if the watch was good enough. However, this came with a really good quality leather strap, with all the correct colour scheme, stitching, rivets and all the stampings correct. It was a little stiff when I first got it, but it's softening up nicely now. I'll finish the review with a word (and pic) about the lume. It's certainly bright and strong, lasts pretty much the whole way through the night and best of all - it matches my car perfectly! If you have a bigger wrist, or just like bigger watches (this is 46mm) then this is a great watch. Certainly scratched my itch to not want to buy the gen for now, and if I can get a mod that fixes that AR issue I may even be persuaded not to buy it at all in the future. Signing off with a little sunburst shot to wet your whistle a bit more! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadApple 14,577 Posted July 20, 2019 What a beauty !!! I sold my Spitfire recently and immediately regretted it so I've ordered another. There is something of understated class with IWC as this watch shows. Whilst the emphasis of replica watches is firmly in the Rolex brand it is misplaced just as much as it is in the gen world. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BM284 1,637 Posted July 20, 2019 Great review - I thoroughly enjoyed reading through! I’ve never had an IWC watch, though the brand has been on my ‘one day’ list... and this is bumping it up to my ‘need to get one’ list .... thanks!!! Wear it in the best of health sir Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuvarsit 6 Posted July 20, 2019 16 minutes ago, BM284 said: Great review - I thoroughly enjoyed reading through! I’ve never had an IWC watch, though the brand has been on my ‘one day’ list... and this is bumping it up to my ‘need to get one’ list .... thanks!!! Wear it in the best of health sir Get it so you won’t be behind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glaude 1,617 Posted July 20, 2019 Great review and some very nice pics here ! Thanks for taking the time, that the sort of content that make a forum stand out ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuvarsit 6 Posted July 20, 2019 Great Review . Really enjoyed reading this review. amazing watch and shoots, this post definnitely can help many ppl take the right choice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BADBILLY 115 Posted July 20, 2019 Really good review ! Good Job and a stellar IWC choice! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simey83 2,266 Posted July 20, 2019 I really love these, but they are too big for me! Great pickup mate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GingerApple 7,318 Posted July 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Badapple said: I sold my Spitfire recently and immediately regretted it so I've ordered another. You are actually mentally ill. Great review OP, you've got to love a Big Pilot Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadApple 14,577 Posted July 20, 2019 5 minutes ago, TheFreckledTampon said: You are actually mentally ill. Great review OP, you've got to love a Big Pilot One day you will aspire to be like me........ To confirm my illness I have also ordered a Bronzo Blue one of which I have already had and sold. My illness is a scratch but I have applied ointment and it is vastly improving - my collection will be down to 5 all different makes, three with Nero straps, no Gates and my daily beater will be a GM Superocean. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n 931 Posted July 21, 2019 Thanks for all the positive comments. Hope to do more as my collection grows (‘time’ always seems to be my problem) so any constructive comments about ways to improve also welcome. Is there any easy way in the forum to list text at the side of images as well (assuming I make my images smaller) to make the layout flow better etc.? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n 931 Posted July 24, 2019 Quick update on the Power Reserve - took it off for two days (it's back on my wrist now - rapidly becoming my favourite watch!!) and the Power Reserve dropped from 7 days to 4 days, so it's certainly not going to be the full 7, as I suspected, but there's certainly going to be a decent reserve on it, if I ever take it off long enough to run down completely! Oh, and since the sun's out, perfect excuse for one of these shots! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Griffo 6 Posted July 24, 2019 Nice! Great review and pics (and watch!). Love these IWC. Do they do any pilots that are smaller? I know there’s the Mark XVIII, but it’s not the same without the big crown. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n 931 Posted August 2, 2019 On 24/07/2019 at 19:10, Griffo said: Nice! Great review and pics (and watch!). Love these IWC. Do they do any pilots that are smaller? I know there’s the Mark XVIII, but it’s not the same without the big crown. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks - I may be wrong, but think the large crown is only on the Big Pilots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n 931 Posted August 2, 2019 OK - update on accuracy and Power Reserve - just spent 4 days in the watch box whilst the Explorer II had an outing. Still running and Power Reserve showing towards the bottom of 1 day left - I’ll take that. However - upright, in the watch box and the accuracy has blown me away That’s better than my Gen Omega Seamaster (although waiting to see what it’s like when it comes back from service). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mrluwin 282 Posted August 5, 2019 Great review and a very nice watch, think I may need to add a big pilot to my collection at some point Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simonbolivar 1 Posted August 5, 2019 Nice review... and the ZF version is a great rep. I just bought another one on on RWI M2M, to replace one I regretted selling about 3 months back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bakerjin 0 Posted October 20, 2019 Thank you for your review! This is one of my dream watches haha Really appreciate your thoughts and pictures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
higginsd 0 Posted October 21, 2019 OK - update on accuracy and Power Reserve - just spent 4 days in the watch box whilst the Explorer II had an outing. Still running and Power Reserve showing towards the bottom of 1 day left - I’ll take that. However - upright, in the watch box and the accuracy has blown me away That’s better than my Gen Omega Seamaster (although waiting to see what it’s like when it comes back from service). A strange tool to measure the accuracy of a watch... Better use Timegrapher app.Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hettijo 0 Posted October 28, 2020 Great review and because of that I have ordered the same watch from TrustyTime. I will post pictures when it arrives. But thanks for your nice review! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
