KW 359 V1 - Complete Review

[Vbmrk 0]

I'm currently in the process of building a franken 359 (gen dial and hands). During my research of the kw and zf 359, I came to realize that the REG TM. location on kw cg was slightly off as compared to gen. On this matter, zf was more accurate. Also, having had the kw v1 359 for a while, the dial went from black to tobacco brown very quickly. Now this could have been just the one I had, so it may mean nothing. However I have a buddy who has a gen 359 for nearly a year now and his dial is still pretty black (slightly looks tobacco brown at certain angles in certain light).

The rep lume (kw or zf) is no match for the gen. In my experience this holds true for any Pam with the dirty dial numeral colors, however I don't consider this a deal breaker. It is a rep after all. The kw clone p9000 movement is much better executed then the zf however. Also, kw qc is much more consistent then zf which goes a long way.

 

While I'm a huge fan of kw watches, for my franken I went with the zf as there's no real way to mod the location of the REG TM. printing on the cg.

 

This is really interesting input. I did not see any differences when comparing the CGs but i will take a look again. I wish i had a gen 359 in my hands so i go do REAL side by side comparison shots.

 

I went with the KW mostly because of the movement decorations and the reviews which i read initially.

 

In regards to lume - the KW glows like a torch when charged - but it does die out very quickly. I compared this to my brother in laws gen 090 and when charged the 359 is just as bright. But the 090 holds the charge much longer. I am not a big proprietor in modding my watches but if anything, perhaps reluming would be a solution to this issue. But to be honest, i have been pretty happy with the lume thus far.

 

I have to say that for me the 2 most 'disappointing' aspects to this watch are really the soft inside edge of the CG and the neatness/sharpness of the decoration on the movement and case back. I say that with a big grain of salt because i am really happy with this watch and we really do not have the right to complain when we are buying a replica item that is a fraction of the cost, yet so damn close to gen.

 

But since you are doing a franken project - i think it would be awesome if you could take a few side by side shots of the dials and hands. I dont think we can add them to this review since mine is KW and yours is ZF but none the less im sure it would be incredibly helpful to see the comparison.

 

First off, thanks for the stunning pics and review. Really great job.

 

As for the lume, you're right. The lume is bright when fully charged but the rep can't keep that lume anywhere near as long as the gen.

One thing to keep in mind is that the dirty dial color lume doesn't last as long as the normal color lume when comparing gens. That being said, the rep lume has an even shorter "life" then the gen does with these "fauxtina" dials. A relume is tough. I looked into this and a lot of guys who do lume work weren't sure they could match the uncharged dial color exactly. Cwazy might be able to now as I've seen him do it on a few "vintage" subs, but a few months back when I asked him about it he wasn't sure as he'd never done it before.

As for the movement, I don't get too worked up about it. Until kw or ZF clone the p9000 movement perfectly this is something we'll live with. As for the cg, kw has a slight reputation for not getting the cg perfect. Now, keep in mind I say this lightly, as the only way to tell it's off would be a side by side comparison to a gen. But ZF is slightly more accurate in this regards. However, this is a detail for the OCD. If you have this watch on your wrist 99.99% of ppl would never see this.

I'm waiting to get my franken back from my modder. Once I do I'll be sure to throw pics up.

I'll also throw some pics of the gen dial on this thread a little later.

[Vbmrk 0]

Here's some quick shots of the gen dial I had taken. As you can see the rep dial is about as 1:1 to the gen dial as it gets. My biggest issue was that the rep dial turned a tobacco brown very quickly, which is not as per gen.