- 17/12/13
- 72
- 2
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Just got my ALS tourby from Ryan a couple of weeks back, so thought I'd post a quick review of the piece.
I'm a recent fan of ALS watches, but I've truly fallen in love the more I've read about the history of the brand and their timepieces. They are superbly elegant watches. Unfortunately, as we all know too well they aren't as popular in the rep world because the demand isn't as high as the APs, Pams and Rolexes.
I really wanted to own a tourbillon: it's makes for a great conversation piece, plus this one looks really fantastic on the wrist. I missed Mr. Pap's deal when he had one of these for sale in the forums recently, so went to my go-to TD Ryan and asked him to source me a piece. I was expecting a pretty decent rep for the price I paid (close to $600), but when I got the piece in hand, was blown away by the quality and feel of this watch - this piece looks a lot more expensive than it is.
Look, feel and overall fidelity to the Gen:
The design and functionality are not faithful as you can tell from the picture, quite likely due to the difference in the movement. The most obvious tell is the lack of a 'bridge' across the exposed tourby on the dial face. I personally am a fan of the bridge; I think it gives a nice balance to the dial face, and allows the tourby mechanics to look more integrated with the dial face.
Here is the Gen:
And the rep
This rep is still a most beautifully elegant watch as is; it's my absolute favorite for business and formal wear. The AR is truly fantastic! The case is eye catching, but without being too shiny or tacky. Everything about the case exudes quality and elegance.
Note that this uses a Seagull tourby movement. Seagull is one of the new wave of Chinese watchmakers who have developed their own tourby movements. The company sells tourbys under its own brand name as well, with the identical movement. but at a higher price level than the reps. Will be very interesting to see whether at some point Seagull will actually start restricting movement sales for reps, viewing them as a potential sales threat.
Also, the functions are different: the gen has a 12hr indicator, while the rep has a day/night indicator and a second 24-hour hand. Finally, from the pic atleast, it appears the color of the hands is a deeper, almost blackish blue vs. a pure blue on the Gen
Functions
In addition to the hours and minutes, the moon-phase type day/night indicator is in the 3 o'clock sub-dial, and a second independent 24-hour indicator at the 9 o'clock sub-dial. I personally like the addition of the day/night indicator on the rep - I feel it gives the piece a classier look.
While the dial doesn't have a seconds indicator, the rotating tourby cage in the middle could double as one because it completes one rotation every 60 seconds. The second hour hand is set by first advancing the main crown forward until the small hour hand reaches the desired position (the primary hour/minute hands also move), and then rotating the crown back to set the primary hour & minute hands to the desired time (the second hour hand does not move back)
Structure of watch:
This is a large case (42.5mm and 12mm thickness), much larger than the Gen which is roughly 39mm diameter and 10mm thickness. The rep case is stainless steel, and this one wears quite large on the wrist because of the extended lugs. The lug to lug distance across the case is around 60mm, while the lug width is a reasonable 22mm.
One of the outstanding features of this watch is the crystal, or more specifically the AR. I have never seen such a good AR coating on any of my other reps, very high quality: legibility is superb at any angle. The case is primarily brushed stainless, but the bezel itself is polished to a high sheen, which gives it a truly elegant look.
The dial is also superb. The face is an elegant milky white, and the font contrasts beautifully with this color. The numbers are a darker, almost black color, the font is thick, and the numbers have a glossy sheen under the light at certain angles. The rest of the text is is printed on the dial in a lighter blue color. The day night indicator is beautiful, the sun/stars/moon are printed on in thick gold color set off against a navy blue background.
I have the say that the print quality is excellent.
The hour/minute hands set are a deep blue/black color; the hands look darkish, almost black indoors, but slightly navy blue in the sunlight. Certainly not as blue as the Gen, which is almost a sapphire blue. One note about legibility: when the hands are overlapping with the tourby cutout, the legibility is not great, this happens between 5:25 and 6:35, the rep factories could think about making the hand color closer to the Gen to improve legibility.
The caseback has a transparent plexi-glass to show off the movement and has six screws that hold the back in place. The text and font on the caseback is excellent quality as well, of course the completely different movement is a big tell from the Gen. The other mistake is the text that says 'GLASHUTTE1.SA' instead of 'GLASHUTTE 1.SA’, which also bugs me a little, not sure how the rep factories missed this.
The crown is a little stiff when winding, perhaps because this is a brand new piece and movement, but winds smoothly and with a very satisfying purr; it takes about 35 turns to get the main spring fully wound, and when wound the spring gives you a full 40+ hours of power reserve. This is a high beat movement, I would estimate 5-6Hz, and I think this is the base movement with 19 jewels, although some Seagull tourbys with additional complications have more. The one thing I haven't done is check for accuracy (+/- sec per day), but from Ryan's QC pics, it looks like this movement gains about 8 secs a day.
One note about the movement: it is very loud at certain angles, especially when placed on a sound conducting surface like wood. You can clearly hear the pallet fork engaging and disengaging within the escapement. This may be because the toruby is raised up to the face of the dial to show it off, and the tourby cage is open from both front and back faces, allowing more sound to escape.
As expected, the rep strap and even buckle are not great quality, so I did replace them with an newer dark brown alligator print strap I picked up from my local watch smith. The watch really looks fantastic now - a truly elegant piece for formal occasions, and honestly for casual wear as well. The number font and tourby ensures this one isn't as dressy as say a Breguet, or some of the other Lange models, so doesn't look too bad with denims either.
Finally, a word on the TD: This is my second watch from Ryan at intime, and once again I was blown away by the quality of service, responsiveness and speed. Jordan even sent me a QC video on request (in addition to pics) because I wanted to see the tourby working. Payment received to watch in hand in 10 days flat. Highly recommend Ryan for this, or any other pieces.
Will post more pics later, but for now am off to enjoy this baby !!
I'm a recent fan of ALS watches, but I've truly fallen in love the more I've read about the history of the brand and their timepieces. They are superbly elegant watches. Unfortunately, as we all know too well they aren't as popular in the rep world because the demand isn't as high as the APs, Pams and Rolexes.
I really wanted to own a tourbillon: it's makes for a great conversation piece, plus this one looks really fantastic on the wrist. I missed Mr. Pap's deal when he had one of these for sale in the forums recently, so went to my go-to TD Ryan and asked him to source me a piece. I was expecting a pretty decent rep for the price I paid (close to $600), but when I got the piece in hand, was blown away by the quality and feel of this watch - this piece looks a lot more expensive than it is.
Look, feel and overall fidelity to the Gen:
The design and functionality are not faithful as you can tell from the picture, quite likely due to the difference in the movement. The most obvious tell is the lack of a 'bridge' across the exposed tourby on the dial face. I personally am a fan of the bridge; I think it gives a nice balance to the dial face, and allows the tourby mechanics to look more integrated with the dial face.
Here is the Gen:
And the rep
This rep is still a most beautifully elegant watch as is; it's my absolute favorite for business and formal wear. The AR is truly fantastic! The case is eye catching, but without being too shiny or tacky. Everything about the case exudes quality and elegance.
Note that this uses a Seagull tourby movement. Seagull is one of the new wave of Chinese watchmakers who have developed their own tourby movements. The company sells tourbys under its own brand name as well, with the identical movement. but at a higher price level than the reps. Will be very interesting to see whether at some point Seagull will actually start restricting movement sales for reps, viewing them as a potential sales threat.
Also, the functions are different: the gen has a 12hr indicator, while the rep has a day/night indicator and a second 24-hour hand. Finally, from the pic atleast, it appears the color of the hands is a deeper, almost blackish blue vs. a pure blue on the Gen
Functions
In addition to the hours and minutes, the moon-phase type day/night indicator is in the 3 o'clock sub-dial, and a second independent 24-hour indicator at the 9 o'clock sub-dial. I personally like the addition of the day/night indicator on the rep - I feel it gives the piece a classier look.
While the dial doesn't have a seconds indicator, the rotating tourby cage in the middle could double as one because it completes one rotation every 60 seconds. The second hour hand is set by first advancing the main crown forward until the small hour hand reaches the desired position (the primary hour/minute hands also move), and then rotating the crown back to set the primary hour & minute hands to the desired time (the second hour hand does not move back)
Structure of watch:
This is a large case (42.5mm and 12mm thickness), much larger than the Gen which is roughly 39mm diameter and 10mm thickness. The rep case is stainless steel, and this one wears quite large on the wrist because of the extended lugs. The lug to lug distance across the case is around 60mm, while the lug width is a reasonable 22mm.
One of the outstanding features of this watch is the crystal, or more specifically the AR. I have never seen such a good AR coating on any of my other reps, very high quality: legibility is superb at any angle. The case is primarily brushed stainless, but the bezel itself is polished to a high sheen, which gives it a truly elegant look.
The dial is also superb. The face is an elegant milky white, and the font contrasts beautifully with this color. The numbers are a darker, almost black color, the font is thick, and the numbers have a glossy sheen under the light at certain angles. The rest of the text is is printed on the dial in a lighter blue color. The day night indicator is beautiful, the sun/stars/moon are printed on in thick gold color set off against a navy blue background.
I have the say that the print quality is excellent.
The hour/minute hands set are a deep blue/black color; the hands look darkish, almost black indoors, but slightly navy blue in the sunlight. Certainly not as blue as the Gen, which is almost a sapphire blue. One note about legibility: when the hands are overlapping with the tourby cutout, the legibility is not great, this happens between 5:25 and 6:35, the rep factories could think about making the hand color closer to the Gen to improve legibility.
The caseback has a transparent plexi-glass to show off the movement and has six screws that hold the back in place. The text and font on the caseback is excellent quality as well, of course the completely different movement is a big tell from the Gen. The other mistake is the text that says 'GLASHUTTE1.SA' instead of 'GLASHUTTE 1.SA’, which also bugs me a little, not sure how the rep factories missed this.
The crown is a little stiff when winding, perhaps because this is a brand new piece and movement, but winds smoothly and with a very satisfying purr; it takes about 35 turns to get the main spring fully wound, and when wound the spring gives you a full 40+ hours of power reserve. This is a high beat movement, I would estimate 5-6Hz, and I think this is the base movement with 19 jewels, although some Seagull tourbys with additional complications have more. The one thing I haven't done is check for accuracy (+/- sec per day), but from Ryan's QC pics, it looks like this movement gains about 8 secs a day.
One note about the movement: it is very loud at certain angles, especially when placed on a sound conducting surface like wood. You can clearly hear the pallet fork engaging and disengaging within the escapement. This may be because the toruby is raised up to the face of the dial to show it off, and the tourby cage is open from both front and back faces, allowing more sound to escape.
As expected, the rep strap and even buckle are not great quality, so I did replace them with an newer dark brown alligator print strap I picked up from my local watch smith. The watch really looks fantastic now - a truly elegant piece for formal occasions, and honestly for casual wear as well. The number font and tourby ensures this one isn't as dressy as say a Breguet, or some of the other Lange models, so doesn't look too bad with denims either.
Finally, a word on the TD: This is my second watch from Ryan at intime, and once again I was blown away by the quality of service, responsiveness and speed. Jordan even sent me a QC video on request (in addition to pics) because I wanted to see the tourby working. Payment received to watch in hand in 10 days flat. Highly recommend Ryan for this, or any other pieces.
Will post more pics later, but for now am off to enjoy this baby !!
