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tribefan

Ebel 1911 Discovery Rep vs Gen

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tribefan

I was able to pickup the rep version of this in M2M last week and liked it, a lot. After some back and forth in PM's on a gen I wound up giving @fatarms the address of the Starbucks to meet at, I promptly drove to the wrong one and had to back track a couple of miles for the big meet. Despite his persona here, he is a true gentleman and a pleasure to converse with. Ginger would find him quite handsome, I'm sure.

I walked out of there with a gen 1911 in beautiful shape with box, warranty card, instructions (which do not include the actual model they sold) and a COSC certification.

The first thing both of us noticed holding them side by side was the color of the rep dial, definitely a cream almost champaign off white, whereas the gen is bright silver white. After that, they are remarkably similar. Bezel, case and bracelet are pretty spot on. Pushers seem to be a little longer on the rep, but that may be an illusion. It may just be they have a slightly smaller circumference. 

Here is how they stack up with the calipers:

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When fat arms and I were chatting before the sale, he said what he liked about it most was how comfortable it wore, which is exactly what I like about the rep. They wear virtually identical. I thought the gen might be a little heavier, and it is but only by 2 grams. 199 vs 201, they are both pretty hefty watches. I do think the gen bracelet might be a tad heavier, and the rep is a tad thicker than the gen, but the two bracelets are pretty spot on. If I mixed them up changing them, I'd never know which was which.

Here you can see the main differences in the watches. Starting with the case back, the shape is clearly more contoured on the gen, where the rep is curved then flattened. I did compare how they sit on the wrist and it is really negligible. The bottom of the caseback sits high enough on both that the lugs never touch the skin. SO it is really a nice cosmetic touch on the gen.

The dial is different color, not sure how that might have been when it was made back in 2013/14, it may have aged over time to that color. No lume in the markers on the rep and the sub dial color is gray on the gen and black on the rep. Bezel is spot on. Hands are accurate and the font on the day date is accurate as well.

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On the timegrapher neither are bad, but one is definitely COSC. Chrono works fine on both, pushers actually have the same feel. Given this is at least an 8 year old movement in the rep and it is running this well says something for whatever 'factory' made this back in the day.

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I did not get any shot of the clasp opened, but trust me, it is identical to the gen. You cannot tell them apart from the naked eye.

This is a really nice gen. EBEL has a great history, great story about a couple who built a watch business together. It is very much like my Tudor Hydronaut in the style and the way it wears, very comfortable on a SS bracelet. It is a good bit cheaper in price point and is a COSC chrono still running in spec many years later. It was nice to do a face to face no fee PP transaction and be done. Can't thank @fatarms enough for the offer to sell and the ride over.

Ironically, the rep is probably much rarer than the gen. I have not seen many of these around even in pictures and they don't come up for sale often, I would guess not many were made. But a lot of tooling had to go into the case and bracelet design because they are unique. I've read this is an early example of a NWBIG and it really does punch it's weight.

Pics porn.....

Gen

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Rep

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fatarms

Absolute pleasure meeting up with you sir!  Excellent comparison and review, and pretty much nailed all the details.  Especially the one about Ginger finding me handsome.

Thanks for the easy deal, I can't tell you how surprised I was when I saw that you were possibly looking for a gen.  I was actually going to PM you or @NCRich this week for the HVS :lol:

Enjoy the watch, and thank you again for the smooth transaction and conversation! 

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NCRich

Very cool.   I had that rep in my hands and its very, very good.

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johng1122

beautiful piece!

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brang1

fantastic summary on both- i got a gen because the reps are just too hard to find- only downside is you just cannot throw any old strap on these, special double screw fitting so limits what you can throw on it - i have found a brilliant guy who makes strap specifically for these though, i have seen his work and it is spot on

https://www.customhu.com/product-category/ebel-1911-beluga-strap/   

 

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deju

Possibly the most comfortable watch to wear.  Definitely the best replica I owned. 

Any macros of the SEL’s comparison?

Again sorry @fatarms you had to go through this, I would suggest shipping rather than F2F :rofl: 

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