rc42 0 Posted November 24, 2008 Review - Omega Planet Ocean 45mm Rose Gold This watch just arrived today thanks to super fast shipping from Thailand by Narikaa, as this is a fairly new model to come out I decided to share my first thoughts about this watch and write a review for it. I'm not going into exact comparisons with the gen equivalent as a £60 rep is clearly going to fall short of a £20,000 gen but I will try to show how it compares to its closest relative,the UPO. I must comment on the quality of the protective wrapping, there were 7 layers to get through, it was like my own game of 'pass the parcel' to get down to the watch. Obviously, there was no damage from its long journey. Here's the spec for this watch from Narikaa's sales thread ( http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=21100 ) High Build Quality with Excellent Gold Plating 45mm Excluding Crown / He Release 14mm Overall Depth 20mm Bracelet with Deployant Clasp Split Pin Link Adjustment Sapphire Crystal with AR 'Functioning' He Valve Solid Case Back Asian 21j Automatic Movement The first thing that you notice with this watch is the strong blue tint to the single AR on the underside of the crystal. The convex outer shape means that there's always a reflection of something to be seen but the deliberate lamp reflection below shows the white reflection from the outer surface and the much larger blue reflection from the inside surface, this larger reflection suggests that the underside of the crystal is near flat but I have not removed the movement to check. The crystal is listed as sapphire but I have not been able to confirm this as I am not willing to try scratching it with a screwdriver, I have tried a bead of water and this behaves in the same way as the sapphire on the UPO but a side by side reflection test with the UPO shows a much brighter reflection from the outer face of the crystal on the UPO, as the refractive index of sapphire is higher than glass this suggests that this watch has a mineral crystal. The picture also shows how much thicker this crystal is (from the distance between front and rear reflections) which also suggests mineral. The jury is still out on this one. The dial on this rep is quite good, under the loupe you can see some very slight adhesive marks around the Omega logo and some slight roughness to the edges of the hands but to the naked eye these look perfectly OK. The date window is smaller than on the UPO and closer to the center of the dial so no easy swaps to ETA movements for this watch. The bezel pearl is quite respectable, not a good as the UPO but see for yourself. The lume on the dial is actually as good as the UPO which is one of the better reps in this regard, the pictures below show the UPO and this watch given the same 'charge' with an initial picture and then again 5 minutes later. The pearl is similarly poor on both and the dial is similarly good, the hands on this watch are no match for the UPO though and fade away rapidly in typical rep style. The bracelet on this watch did not fare too well, this is of no importance to me as I have already ordered a 20mm black leather deployant strap with Omega logo from Josh, this will not be rose gold on the clasp but I can change that later if it bugs me. As soon as I tried this watch on for the first time the divers extension opened and the rivet seperated from the pin and disappeared onto the carpet, never to be seen again fortunately, I had a suitable spare (not RG but its not seen where it is) so I effected a quick repair. I took some pictures of this so here they are for completeness. Here's the seperated divers extension and the pin with missing rivet, plus my spare rivet. I just put the pieces back into line and used a small hobby vice to push the rivet back into the pin, it all aligned perfectly and the fix was done. With the clasp closed the alignment is still not perfect but this seems to be a 'feature' of this clasp as the divers extension is tucked away as far as it can go. The engraved text claims 'stainless steel' as is typical of the plated bracelets. It is already well known that the clasp is taken from the '007' Seamaster but here is this tiny flaw. The one task that is not so much fun on these Omega reps is the resizing of the bracelet, I had to remove two full and one half link to fit my 7" wrist. If you don't have a propper tool to push the pins out then get one, they make the job virtually effortless with no risk of damaging the gold plating. The pins are solid with a spacer sleve running through the central section, interestingly, the two pins closest to the clasp on each side were split pins with no sleve, same removal refitting method applies though. The adjustable links are the same size as those on the UPO and have the same construction as thes two spares show. The end links are solid and fully plated. In fact, the entire bracelets have the same basic construction, although the clasp on the UPO is far superior. The bracelet links are quite stiff on this rep and it does not move very freely, even with the weight of the bracelet hanging below the links tend not to move. A quick bath in oil followed by drying with kitchen paper soon sorted that though. Continued later (no of images per post exceeded) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rc42 0 Posted November 24, 2008 Although the UPO has 22mm lugs, this watch has the 20mm lugs as advertised, this can be seen by placing it on top of an upturned UPO. The reduction of 1mm on each side is not really noticable but has to be considered if changing the bracelet. The caseback has the usual raised Seamaster markings and is quite good given the price of the watch. It is not the same as the UPO but both differ from the gen The caseback can be removed with a ball of Duck tape or your opener of choice but is tightly closed with a rubber sealing ring above the thread on the caseback, this watch would probably be fairly resistant to water although plated watches are not suitable for swimming due to the high risk of scratches or marks. The movement holder is plastic and the usual Asian 21j auto movement can be seen. This movement came complete with a thumbprint on the rotor, no doubt from some underpaid worker in a back room somewhere. The side view of the case and crown is very similar between this and the UPO, although the corwn itself is different with a finer grip pattern around its edge. This rep has some flaws as you would expect but for the price its better than you could reasonably expect, I would recommend replacing the bracelet with a black leather or gator strap but the same goes for the UPO and I will do exactly that on both of mine. Overall I'm very pleased with this latest addition to my collection and thanks go to Reg for his usual top quality service. Here are a few wrist shots of the watch after adjustment. EDIT: Just arrived today - a 20mm black gator strap with deployant clasp from Josh (http://www.pc-80108.com/omle10005-genuine-...sp-p-2363.html). The metal bracelet on these 45mm POs sits on the wrist with the bracelet end link at 90 degrees to the rest of the bracelet, this looks a little unsightly (to me anyway) and exposes the metal between the links. On the standard SS bracelet this is not too bad but on this RG model the plating is not 100% between links and a few grey/silver patches show through The look is transformed with the gator strap though and the weight of the watch is reduced from 176g to a mere 97g so it can be looser on the wrist whils still not moving around. Here is the new look for this watch: And of course a wrist shot Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
onzenuub 363 Posted November 24, 2008 Strap looks real nice on the Omega. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AllergyDoc 42 Posted November 24, 2008 I like that watch on the strap. And I'm a big fan of the UPO bracelet and clasp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rc42 0 Posted November 24, 2008 That watch has been sold on now, I did like the look of it in the watch box and on my wrist for a few minutes but I just didn't want to wear it more than that. No point keeping a watch that you dont wear. I hope it gets some use by its new owner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bene3 0 Posted December 20, 2008 the watch looks really elegant on the leather strap Share this post Link to post Share on other sites