• Tired of adverts on RWI? - Subscribe by clicking HERE and PMing Trailboss for instructions and they will magically go away!

Roger Dubuis Easy Diver I review

KOT1917

Put Some Respect On My Name
26/7/19
3,296
5,170
113
Russian federation
Good day to all.

I am mainly a fan of panerai but have interests in some other brands. One of the special, I think Roger Dubuis.
Now the brand has taken over the development of ultra-expensive sports watches. If now, he plays in the RM field, it was a while earlier, it seems, it was closer in FM. I had a number of adolescent associations plus several meetings with a generation in my life, because this brand cemented for me the idea of ​​something extremely high quality and expensive, from which they tried to remove this multiple cost of manufacturers, while clearly undervalued now.

The representative of this watch is good these days because it is not very expensive watches on the secondary market. ... Like many others, I do not seek to tell others that I wear a Chinese watch for $ 300-500, but I will not pretend that I can pay 100 times more either.

From here, I formed the opinion that ROGER DUBUIS EASY DIVER I is a good choice for a lover of non-trivial watches, and at the same time a replica. I will say right away, my home is PAM because 48 mm is not a problem for me, even taking into account the large wrist. This is a really large, albeit elegant watch that looks even larger due to the protrusions and bracelet mounting structure.

Nevertheless, reading the forum, I learned only that they are not very interested in him, and those who are interested - love him very much. I bought a rep in good condition on the local market on 4 attempts, some time ago, and now I'm ready to share my humble opinion with the brand lovers.

1. Dial.


- This watch has many versions with different functionality (second at 6 @, tourbillon, chronograph, 2 hands), different metals or combinations thereof, and different dials. I got the black one, which should actually be made of carbon. This is not the case with a replica. Both silver, white and black are absolutely identical. The pattern is identical in the pattern, but the arrangement of the dial elements by the sectors of the pattern is violated, for the reason that I will describe below, and the grooves of the slots themselves are noticeably wider.

- The most noticeable is the location of the constant second and the accumulators. They should be a few mm closer to the center, and this would make it possible to make the markers 3 @ and 9 @ longer, in accordance with gen. But, unfortunately, the existing st19 imposes its own limitations, however, this arrangement suits me, and given the size of the case as a whole, it seems more organic. - Markers are identical in shape, have a greenish luminescence, which glows very conditionally. - The marking of the seconds fully corresponds to the required one, even the fonts of numbers and labels separating their two-digit value.

- The sub dials are a bit fatter and lack some subtle elements like sharpening long sticks inside a circle, but that's not the level of pickiness I want to showcase.

- I have no comments on the ROGER DUBUIS and SPORTS ACTIVITY WATCH fonts, as well as the indication of the degree of water resistance. At the bottom, in addition to the usual SWISS MADE, there are also abbreviations GQ (which I assume I mean Geneva Quality) and KM (instead of which, I would expect to see HM as an abbreviation for hand made), however, this inscription is extremely small.

- I have no complaints about the shape, size and design of the handss, everything is done beautifully and correctly.

- The inner side of the bezel under the crystal is satin-finished in a circle, but there is no circular inscription on it. It's a pity, because the crystal does not have a fish-eye effect, and this area is perfectly visible.

- The crystal itself has a slightly different shape and weak (or absent AR), which makes it difficult to photograph the dial, and the watch as a whole, and certainly not naked, in the presence of direct light sources. I think AR is not close to gen, but I cannot specify it, because the photographs of the original watches are too contradictory in this regard.

3. Case.



The most interesting thing about this watch is of course the case. It has an interesting and sophisticated design idea, at the same time overloaded with an insane amount of details, elements and types of finishes. Apparently, the RD masters wanted to show what they are capable of in design and quality of finishing, and the masters of replica factories, having accepted the challenge, decided to show that they are ready to repeat all this, in one form or another. It turned out interesting.

4. Bezel.

- Rotary, unidirectional, 60 clicks.
- High-polished, except for the recessed numerals background, which has a matt sandblasted finish. In fact, if you look at the knurling from the profile, then in the areas corresponding to the indentations for engraving numbers, the knurling is thinner, and should also have a matte finish, unlike the polished edge of all other teeth.
- The numbers should expand from the base to the top, and they do, but not as strongly as on gen. Also, they should reach almost to the edge of the bezel, but on rep, they don't reach a couple of mm.
- By itself, the engraved flashlight cutout should also have slightly more aggressive charcoal expansion from the base to the top, but on the replica its sides are parallel.
- In general, the bezel has a slightly more beveled profile, from the edges to the crystal, and the crystal complements it very well with a light dome. However, this is all not true. The bezel should have minimal tilt and the crystal is practically flat. I don't know the reasons why this condition was not met, but in the end it turned out quite harmoniously, albeit with a loss of some massiveness.


5. Movement.

- Replica has the Chinese well-known st19, hand-wound, chronograph, constant second at 9 @ and 30 minutes drive at 3 @. The accuracy is within the normal range, I do not detect, but during one winding cycle, there is no need to correct the time. The power reserve is about 2 days, which is also normal for this mvt.
- Outwardly, it resembles GEN to a degree, but it differs in processing and does not have engravings. For me, this is not such a significant drawback, given the overall complexity of the watch, and yet a rather complex rear view of the st19.
- Although, I must admit that the mvt itself is not at all big, and despite the fact that the sapphire (?) Window corresponds to its size, if you look at an angle inside the case, there is a lot of free space there and it looks very lonely there.

6. Strap.

- The clasp has the same design, but it does not have all the engravings, it is not sufficient either in depth, or in sharpness, or in the type of processing, or, as I believe, in terms of the weight and thickness of the metal. Well, at least the marking corresponds to the model, I will be grateful for what it is, especially since the gen alternative costs about $ 300, as does the gen rubber strap.

7. Carbon fiber inserts.


- The case has 8 carbon inserts, one on the outer side of each strap attachment tab and 2 on the top and bottom between the case and the strap. All inserts are well polished and cut to the size of the grooves in which they are located.

- I'm not an expert on carbon fiber panels, but it looks like real carbon fiber. - One of the inserts on the side of the protrusion fell off when the screw was unscrewed, as a result I saw that they were extremely thin and glued everything just in case.

- The thickness of the inserts is one of the main problems, especially when you move the strap into the insert, where they should be on the same level, but in fact there is a depression. Perhaps it makes sense to glue a spacer made of some material onto the steel plane of the case, and then glue a carbon insert on top so that it is flush with the height of the projections.
-, it should be noted that 2 inserts between the case and the strap should be not only on the surface, but close the grooves on both sides. This is obviously a more complex piece, and the factory reasonably chose to glue only 2 sheets on the front of the case.

Unfortunately, all inserts should be carefully cut with a razor, removed, and glued again, because they are not glued well. It’s not just a great risk to break them, but it’s worth it, because this is 4 watches that you decided to buy, from those that I found on sale, and the only ones for which the mentioned inserts were present.


In the end, I want to say that the watch looks spectacular, expensive, beautiful and brutal.
To be honest, I wrote a template for this post a long time ago, but my hands didn’t get there. I'm sure, from today, I could add something else as in the description rep or gen, or photos.
If you are interested in something, do not hesitate to write, I will gladly tell and show you.

Thank you for your attention to my story and this amazing hour of the present day. Thank you all, and here are some photos that for some reason seem pretty good to me.


I'm sure I don't have the most weighty opinion, and everything I know is limited to what I read and could see, maybe something is wrong, or there are other gen models, or versions of factories (I doubt the latter), but I just I decided to share what I know.

With respect to everyone who was not too lazy to read and see how looking at my English. :)
 

klockjohan

El Patron
5/12/15
361
120
43
EU
Thank you for a great review of a different rep. I really like this model in gen, and appreciate a thorough review like yours!

As always with special models it is difficult to make a 1:1 rep as you point out. However, it is a good effort.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KOT1917

KOT1917

Put Some Respect On My Name
26/7/19
3,296
5,170
113
Russian federation
Thank you for a great review of a different rep. I really like this model in gen, and appreciate a thorough review like yours!

As always with special models it is difficult to make a 1:1 rep as you point out. However, it is a good effort.

Glad that someone was interested in it! By the way, it turns out that I did not insert all the text. I will add a little later, I wrote it too late, apparently, I missed something.

For me, the main thing is that they did the right complex and beautiful full face midcase. I have only two main complaints. The intermediate panel between the midcase and the bezel has a shape that does not exactly follow the midcase, and at the corners it seems slightly displaced, but in general, this is at the level of the norm, but the bevel angle is smaller, so if you look at the watch from the front, this is a repetition of the shape of the case by the panel, which is not so noticeable, which is a pity. This is a beautiful effect and could be done. The second point is the crown and pushers without thread. This would complicate the already difficult and expensive case work, but it is an obvious drawback without a doubt.

All other points and specifics, either not so significant for my eye, or too difficult to fix technically. However, given that this watch is 10 years old, and if we compare the complexity of manufacturing with pam111, it is quite obvious why it was a couple of times more expensive.
 

Accord11

Renowned Member
DO NOT TRADE WITH ME
2/12/20
791
379
63
This is wonderful. Whic TD did you buy this from because I can’t find the easy diver anywhere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KOT1917

KOT1917

Put Some Respect On My Name
26/7/19
3,296
5,170
113
Russian federation
Thanks for reading, but TD sold this many years ago. They have not been produced for a long time. I think about 10 years old.
 

Dr Fun Socks

I'm Pretty Popular
Supporter
Certified
28/2/17
2,297
1,742
113
Nice review and a tasty little time piece! Glad to see roger dubuis getting the love it deserves. Far and away my favourite watch manufacturer. I wish i could afford a gen, but in reality i love the skeletonised models and they are not cheap... £10k is affordable (sort of). £50k+ is a lot less affordable. I hope we see more factories producing roger dubuis in the future. Unfortunately they will never sell like a rolex submariner so it seems unlikely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Swiss_goupil

fire007

I'm Pretty Popular
Supporter
1/3/13
2,935
223
63
KOT1917 Hey an thank you so much for your detailed review and effort you put into this. That is certainly what this forum is about .

I am also looking for different pieces at times so glad to read a review of a "different" one...

Wear her in good health !
 
  • Like
Reactions: KOT1917

KOT1917

Put Some Respect On My Name
26/7/19
3,296
5,170
113
Russian federation
Thank, friends!
Glad that someone is interested in this, I will definitely tell, when I get something else interesting!
A watch is about individuality, and this brand, this model, clearly has it. For this I love them!