- 28/2/17
- 2,381
- 1,951
- 113
So you must of heard of the age old question, whats better than a tourbillon?
Well its obvious if you think about it:
Two tourbillons!
So here it is, the big dog! Officially the most expensive rep on the market at the time of review. I know jbf are working on a triple axis tourbillon, which obviously im going to have to get because i have a problem, but im hoping (preying) that its either cheaper than this one or my lottery numbers, that i dont actually play, come in.
Im not going to go into the brands history, that’s available in my review of the bbr single tourbillon found here:
https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...ubuis-excalibur-tourbillon-by-bbr-full-review
Admittedly, this review wont be as thorough in comparison with the gen, mainly because its bloody hard to find pictures of the gen! Its a rare bird, and unsurprisingly people who can afford a £250k watch don’t feel the need to post pictures of it on their instagram everyday.
So instead, all i can offer is many pictures of mine. Big thanks goes out to dadog13, without him I wouldn’t have the watch. I know his is in the post and he is also very excited to get it, i just happen to live closer to the guy we got them from
enough waffle, down to the good stuff.
The gen:
The roger dubuis RDDBEX0250. Yeah the one in the picture is gold and has a different reference number, but im trying to save the few pictures of the white gold/white dial combo for a slight bit of comparison!
The rep(s)
So there are actually two factories producing the watch at the moment. JBF and BBR. I really like BBR’s watches as you probably guessed from my previous review. But the fly in the ointment here was the tourbillon positions. They just look a tiny bit low (too much dial at the top of the tourbillon cages). Yeah i know its super anal but i made a comparison picture, and both myself and dadog13 agreed JBF was the way to go. The fact it was also cheaper, well thats just icing on the cake. They’re both wrong at the end of the day, your not getting a super rep of this watch. Just pick the one you like most and enjoy it!
Neither of the factories have a working retrograde minute function like the gen. Apparently this is the reason a lot of people weren’t rushing out to swap their family car for a fake watch. Id hazard a guess that the price is more of an issue but what do i know! I would also like to say i did not pay $5000 for a rep. Is it worth $5000? Thats your call!
So thats the bad point out of the way onto the good stuff! Gen pics are on top, incase you couldn’t tell...
The dial
Not a lot to complain about here. The engravings are all nice and tidy, printing is good and all preset. Only noticeable difference i can see, and it took me a while to notice, is that the two sets of squares at 3 and 9 line up on the gen, but are slightly offset on the rep. Slight sunburst is there, hard to capture but its definitely there.
The case
I mean its pretty close! Im not smoke and i have no idea if the cg’s are correct, but it looks good to me. The shape of the bezel teeth appears slightly off but it really doesn’t matter. Its well polished in all the right places, and brushed in the rest.
Case back
Deco plates are crap, we all know it. Still slightly more interesting to look at than the back of an asian tourbillon movement. I havent taken this one apart but i have taken an ap tourby apart, see below. Its got decoration, a fake pr indicator, not a lot else to say. If anyone says the fake pr is a deal breaker, we’re going to have disagree on that bs....
Stop complaining about deco plates, ive seen prison cells that are more visually appealing than this!
The strap
Its kind of thick which im hoping is adding to the stiffness, because with the state of the world at the movement, im not going to be able to get a custom strap made any time soon. It does the job though, its a decent length (adjustable from 7-7.5” give or take). Definitely not as nice as the bbr strap which i love and probably wont change, but its wearable for now. Ill give it a few days wrapped around a cushion to soften up and report back.
The clasp
Its a very nice clasp! Works well with the watch, nice and secure when it shuts. Still prefer the style of the bbr single tourby one, but i have no idea what the gen for this watch looks like. Its well finished and it stops the watch from falling off. What more do you need!
The tourbillons!
Finally, you’ve read all the crap above this, time for the good stuff! A word of warning, when i got the watch this morning and wound it up, only one tourby sprang to life... you have to give the watch a little rotation to make the other one jump into play. Is this the case with all double tourbys? No idea. I only own this one and i don’t know anyone else with one! Regardless the both work, and if you particularly wanted to you could go about aligning the two tourbillon arrows using some good timing. One of my only requirements from qc was that the arrow in the cage lined up with the screw on the cage. 7 watches later we just gave up and accepted the watches with them slightly out of line. Is it as noticeable in real life as it is at 21x zoom? Or course not. But I’ll probably get them lined up when i get the watch serviced. The actual balance wheels on the rep are slightly larger than on the gen, i actually prefer that slightly. Hard to put into words why but it just looks cool! Yeah the part that frames the cage isnt quite as nice as gen, and the finishing is no where near a £250k watch, but guess what, its not £250k! No macros of the gen sorry
Overall
Its not for everyone, thats for sure. There are a number of factors that will stop people wanting to get one. But im telling you now, one watch nerd to another, if you do get one, you will not regret it! As with most roger dubuis watches, it wears a lot smaller than the dimensions sound on paper, 47mmx14mm!
Heres a bit more watch porn just to round out the review
Well its obvious if you think about it:
Two tourbillons!
So here it is, the big dog! Officially the most expensive rep on the market at the time of review. I know jbf are working on a triple axis tourbillon, which obviously im going to have to get because i have a problem, but im hoping (preying) that its either cheaper than this one or my lottery numbers, that i dont actually play, come in.
Im not going to go into the brands history, that’s available in my review of the bbr single tourbillon found here:
https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...ubuis-excalibur-tourbillon-by-bbr-full-review
Admittedly, this review wont be as thorough in comparison with the gen, mainly because its bloody hard to find pictures of the gen! Its a rare bird, and unsurprisingly people who can afford a £250k watch don’t feel the need to post pictures of it on their instagram everyday.
So instead, all i can offer is many pictures of mine. Big thanks goes out to dadog13, without him I wouldn’t have the watch. I know his is in the post and he is also very excited to get it, i just happen to live closer to the guy we got them from
enough waffle, down to the good stuff. The gen:
The roger dubuis RDDBEX0250. Yeah the one in the picture is gold and has a different reference number, but im trying to save the few pictures of the white gold/white dial combo for a slight bit of comparison!
The rep(s)
So there are actually two factories producing the watch at the moment. JBF and BBR. I really like BBR’s watches as you probably guessed from my previous review. But the fly in the ointment here was the tourbillon positions. They just look a tiny bit low (too much dial at the top of the tourbillon cages). Yeah i know its super anal but i made a comparison picture, and both myself and dadog13 agreed JBF was the way to go. The fact it was also cheaper, well thats just icing on the cake. They’re both wrong at the end of the day, your not getting a super rep of this watch. Just pick the one you like most and enjoy it!
Neither of the factories have a working retrograde minute function like the gen. Apparently this is the reason a lot of people weren’t rushing out to swap their family car for a fake watch. Id hazard a guess that the price is more of an issue but what do i know! I would also like to say i did not pay $5000 for a rep. Is it worth $5000? Thats your call!
So thats the bad point out of the way onto the good stuff! Gen pics are on top, incase you couldn’t tell...
The dial
Not a lot to complain about here. The engravings are all nice and tidy, printing is good and all preset. Only noticeable difference i can see, and it took me a while to notice, is that the two sets of squares at 3 and 9 line up on the gen, but are slightly offset on the rep. Slight sunburst is there, hard to capture but its definitely there.
The case
I mean its pretty close! Im not smoke and i have no idea if the cg’s are correct, but it looks good to me. The shape of the bezel teeth appears slightly off but it really doesn’t matter. Its well polished in all the right places, and brushed in the rest.
Case back
Deco plates are crap, we all know it. Still slightly more interesting to look at than the back of an asian tourbillon movement. I havent taken this one apart but i have taken an ap tourby apart, see below. Its got decoration, a fake pr indicator, not a lot else to say. If anyone says the fake pr is a deal breaker, we’re going to have disagree on that bs....
Stop complaining about deco plates, ive seen prison cells that are more visually appealing than this!
The strap
Its kind of thick which im hoping is adding to the stiffness, because with the state of the world at the movement, im not going to be able to get a custom strap made any time soon. It does the job though, its a decent length (adjustable from 7-7.5” give or take). Definitely not as nice as the bbr strap which i love and probably wont change, but its wearable for now. Ill give it a few days wrapped around a cushion to soften up and report back.
The clasp
Its a very nice clasp! Works well with the watch, nice and secure when it shuts. Still prefer the style of the bbr single tourby one, but i have no idea what the gen for this watch looks like. Its well finished and it stops the watch from falling off. What more do you need!
The tourbillons!
Finally, you’ve read all the crap above this, time for the good stuff! A word of warning, when i got the watch this morning and wound it up, only one tourby sprang to life... you have to give the watch a little rotation to make the other one jump into play. Is this the case with all double tourbys? No idea. I only own this one and i don’t know anyone else with one! Regardless the both work, and if you particularly wanted to you could go about aligning the two tourbillon arrows using some good timing. One of my only requirements from qc was that the arrow in the cage lined up with the screw on the cage. 7 watches later we just gave up and accepted the watches with them slightly out of line. Is it as noticeable in real life as it is at 21x zoom? Or course not. But I’ll probably get them lined up when i get the watch serviced. The actual balance wheels on the rep are slightly larger than on the gen, i actually prefer that slightly. Hard to put into words why but it just looks cool! Yeah the part that frames the cage isnt quite as nice as gen, and the finishing is no where near a £250k watch, but guess what, its not £250k! No macros of the gen sorry
Overall
Its not for everyone, thats for sure. There are a number of factors that will stop people wanting to get one. But im telling you now, one watch nerd to another, if you do get one, you will not regret it! As with most roger dubuis watches, it wears a lot smaller than the dimensions sound on paper, 47mmx14mm!
Heres a bit more watch porn just to round out the review
