Review: ZF IW503502 from Jtime

[r0b9502]

My review of the above mentioned product.

I was very satisfied with my past purchase of the Noob Daytona from Intime (some 6 months or so ago) and was wondering what I should get with some inflated bitcoin. I fancied a full calendar, because, if one surprises me with "what day and date is it today" I am apt to be a bit off. Am ok with recalling the month and the year, unless it is the first month or two of the year. The full calendar had to be in windows, not dials, just so I can read it clearly. If I could read the stupid dials, then I would generally be able to tell the day, date and time instantly without recourse a gadget, be it a watch or a phone or whatever.

Anyways, somewhere around that time, this ZF IWC showed up as a new arrival. It might have debuted some months prior to that, but it showed up upon my scans of "new arrivals" on intime site. It had the exact functions I required from a mechanical watch. Full calendar, seconds hand, and power reserve. It had all that I required (practically speaking), anything more would have been superfluous, and hindered the aesthetics and readability.

I realized that I would like to get this. Reviews said ZF was aesthetically better than the other factory (forget). But by this time I had also realized that reliability of such a complicated functionality, especially from a smaller makers is suspect. The higher volume TDs do not really stress test the movement at QC. I had read that lucy does a little bit more than others, so I started communicating with her. After exchanging many emails, she pretty much advised me "no ZF for you". I let time pass, and I see jtime has been elevated to a full TD status due to his exemplary service. A few email exchanges, and he offers that he will perform "extended" QC tests to check out proper funtion.

I send bitcoin June24. Receive QC pics June 27 where he says he has inspected a few pieces and picked the best. The QC pics show a beauty. Those are HD and also include a video of the timegraph result! Worth posting. I dont even bother to inspect further, and approve.

A bynote here, picr.me seems down, so I use https://imgbb.com/ ---- no need to create an account, upload. Upon seeing image, select tab "bbcode full linked" copy the url and paste. Preview to verify.






Li says he is satisfied with his QC tests on movement July 18 and wants to re-regulate and ship. I agree. He ships July 26. He actually uses a full courier (at extra cost to him) to speed up delivery, but in my case, it was not the best option. Chinapost or EMS would have been better. I end up paying like $11 in customs, and have to submit my ID. Not his fault of shipping choice, and I thought about it for a bit and decided I just dont care.

Just received the watch this afternoon. As mentioned earlier, I dont care about the aesthetics as forum opinion is ZF is the best, and I already trusted Li's QC. Upon unpacking, the seconds hand was already ticking. 40 winding turns gets the PR meter to 4 days. I put it on the timegrapher.



Not bad, stable +4s/d in that position. I change positions and other positions it is worst -4s/d. Just to verify, I test my Noob Daytona, which has not really lost more than +/- 1s over a month, and it shows stable -1s/d in face up position.

After I check the PR, I will adjust calendar and post further.

 

[r0b9502]

Wow, 20 pages to find my post of about 24 hours ago in "latest activity". Activity has increased in the past year or two.

Some more photographs follow, and my observations:

Sitting overnight and more, the watch had gained like 2s. I set the calendar. First impression is that the crown is a bit tighter than other reps. Need to apply a bit more pressure/torque to move the hands. But hand movement is very smooth and precise, and this is for the better.

To set the calendar, pull out crown midway. Turning it one way advances the day and the other way, the date. As somebody else has already mentioned, to change the month set date to 31 and then turn the hands till month/date/date change. If one moves across the date-line at EOM, it will be a pain to get the calendar to show previous month. So, in such situations, best to stop the watch and wait for real time to catch up.

The flip of wheels is not instantaneous when time crosses 12. They slowly rotate and then click to correct position. Month starts flipping around 12 (if I remember right), date around 3 and day around 6. I am sure it is not gen-like function. People who know more are welcome to explain more, but I think this staggering of flipping pont is a Chinese invention to simplify movement, and hence make it more robust. Practically, this means one should set the hands to show afar away hour like 3-6pm prior to manipulating the day and date wheels.

I dont know what to comment about the quality of strap, but I generally hate leather with deplyoant clasp. The reason is leather is un-adjustable at both ends. The arc of the deployant finds its equilibrium on the wrist, the flat caseback slides so the watch might not be centered on wrist. If it were a link bracelet, move one link from this side to that, and everything is generally centered. Also, as it comes from factory, I dont think this watch will fit 7.5" wrist. Maybe just tightly, definitely not 8".

Satisfied, I remove all stickers etc and wear the watch around. Over a third of a day of wearing, PR shows increase by 1 day. So autowind functions. And its noise is not noticeable.

The caseback seems to be held by tiny screws. So for those like me, self regulation is not an option. I wont open the caseback. Am thankful Li tested and re-regulated at his facility. And finally, imagebb is definitely an improvement over picr.me

All in all, an exceptional piece for say $500 where the gen costs say $15k. Services provided by Jtime are beyond whatever one can expect from any another TD.

 

[TBK]

Thanks for the write up. Much appreciated!
It’s a very stylish watch.

Question though, you won’t do self regulation, but you do have a timegrapher?

 

[r0b9502]

Thanks for the write up. Much appreciated!
It’s a very stylish watch.

Question though, you won’t do self regulation, but you do have a timegrapher?

I will regulate if I can open the caseback with a rubber ball Wont attempt to remove those tiny screws. Thats one reason I never tried to regulate my APs, I disposd them. All my Rolexes have been self regulated.

Also, the regulation levers should be accessible and not under some deco plates.

 

[peterpl]

Are all the dates, days and months all aligned perfectly in the centre? Alignment is the biggest issues these days.

 

[r0b9502]

Are all the dates, days and months all aligned perfectly in the centre? Alignment is the biggest issues these days.

Probably not. But this is from my cursory look while adjusting time and moving dates. As of now I have would it fully wound watch (equivalent to about 70-80 winds) to show 7 day reserve and have let it lie to see power reserve

 

[TBK]

I will regulate if I can open the caseback with a rubber ball Wont attempt to remove those tiny screws. Thats one reason I never tried to regulate my APs, I disposd them. All my Rolexes have been self regulated.

Also, the regulation levers should be accessible and not under some deco plates.

Ah yes. I understand.
Modified movements can be a pain sometimes.

 

[r0b9502]

Power reserve is >60h. Lets say 65 hours as tested.

So around 12 hours ago, I set the time and wore it around. I had wound it 20 turns, showed somewhere between 2-3 days reserve.

Wearing the watch over that period, this is what its time and reserve show. Not bad at all. Will see how it performs further.

 

[r0b9502]

Timekeeping after about a week of wear - very good, better than +1s/d

However, there is a serious flaw: The date starts flipping at around 6:30AM and finishes with a click 7:30AM. Thats ok, but the date starts around 9:30 and finishes at 10:30AM !! So, if one has a meeting at 10AM, one cant wear this watch to that meeting!

I have to modify previous description of month flip. Month does indeed change with date crossing 31, perhaps this is genlike behavior.

 

[r0b9502]

I got some good advise from tripdog where he suggested repositioning hands so date changes around midnight. That is beyond my skill set, so this is where google comes to rescue. Put in "automatic watch repair service" in google maps and went to the nearest independent watch smith who showed good reviews. He asked me to sit around for a few minutes, and handed me back the piece where date starts switching around 10pm, clicks at 12:03AM. Day starts flipping around 3AM and clicks around 4AM.

These two gentlemen who run the place have worked on high end and low end pieces. After I got talking to them, they readily accepted that upon 1st inspection, they assumed it was gen and wondering why this 15k watch had incorrectly installed hands. The fella who was not working on my watch told me that this is such high quality rep that if they were not told it is a rep, would have taken them some 10 minutes to figure it out.

So, folks, Omagad , I will say this is a super rep. Open caseback, SCAFUBA, 31 Jewels and all :cheese::len:!!

 

[gnlp1964]

Hi and forgive my stupid question but I am a new user and do not do stupid things.
I really like this watch and would like to know if I bought it here:
https://jtimestore.net/us/portugues...-blue-dial-on-black-leather-strap-a52850.html
Thanks in advance

 

[r0b9502]

Hi and forgive my stupid question but I am a new user and do not do stupid things.
I really like this watch and would like to know if I bought it here:
https://jtimestore.net/us/portugues...-blue-dial-on-black-leather-strap-a52850.html
Thanks in advance

No - that link shows factory YLF, not ZF. The hour markers/indices are wrong. They are not centered between the outer 2 concentric circles which show minute markers.

Jtime does not show ZF on their website. Ask Li specifically for ZF make of this watch, he will be able to get it for you. Search around other TD sites to find the ZF version and send him the link.

 

[irawatch]

Does this account for 30/31 days in month or always goes to 31?