KMF Aquanaut 5167A Unboxing and small review

[nipe]

So I finally got my Aquanaut from KMF.

God damn it's nice.

The rubber strap has enough 'links' to fit around a fat mans leg. Use a small nail scissor to cut it to fit. Tried a few different scissors but a quality nail scissor did the best job for getting the strap cut evenly across.

Unboxing experience is amazing, although I could immediately hear the loud miyota rotor. It's definitely louder than my JF AP.

Thickness (or lack of) is amazing. 8.4mm. Just wow. Will definitely pick the KMF over ZF for the extra half mm. Decoration on movement is fine. ZF is incorrect anyways (nobody can copy the patek 1:1, so I'd rather choose a thinner case)

Quality is great. Clasp locks beautifully with a strong snap. Feels like quality. I was a bit worried about the dial missing brown tones, but the KMF definitely has that, just hard to capture with my phone camera and its automatic colour/white-balance. Only thing this needs is a DW but I already ordered the DWO, so hopefully that should come soon and I'll get it fitted.

I'll just list up the only cons I have with this piece:

1. Loud rotor OOTB (could be fixed)
2. Looks like there are a few dust-spots on the inside of the crystal, not a big deal though and will be cleaned when swapping DWO.
3. DWO, font is too small - as mentioned.
4. Lume isn't applied as well as on ZF. Could be a QC issue, but I also noticed that on the dealer websites, so I just approved since everything else looked great.

Amazing piece. Unboxing experience was superb inside the patek box.

Again, in real life the dial has a lot more brownish tones to it, but the camera doesn't pick that up. Camera also added a lot of unnecessary sharpness in the photos below. Haven't had a chance to take some with my DSLR yet. If/when I'll post them somewhere.

 

[nipe]

Lumeshot:

 

[5t3f4n]

Great! thanks for the review!!! Really a wonderful piece!!

 

[Caesar]

Beautiful watch and an excellent review. Thanks nipe !!

Definitely one on my list. If you don't mind me asking, where do you get the datewheel, and how do you know which one to get?

 

[5t3f4n]

Beautiful watch and an excellent review. Thanks nipe !!

Definitely one on my list. If you don't mind me asking, where do you get the datewheel, and how do you know which one to get?

Here i suppose

https://forum.replica-watch.info/forum/patek-philippe/6736261-nautilus-date-wheel-project

 

[nipe]

Beautiful watch and an excellent review. Thanks nipe !!

Definitely one on my list. If you don't mind me asking, where do you get the datewheel, and how do you know which one to get?

I ordered one of these, they fit right on the KMF as other members have shown: https://forum.replica-watch.info/for...-wheel-project

It's sitting at customs right now so I guess it could land any time within 1-4 weeks from now.

 

[dashindark]

Do you mind if I ask for a close-up photo of the movement? I wanted to see the overall finish.

By the way, about oiling the rotor to silence it, does it still sound loud or obtrusive in a quiet environment after oiling?

Thanks in advance!

 

[nipe]

Do you mind if I ask for a close-up photo of the movement? I wanted to see the overall finish.

By the way, about oiling the rotor to silence it, does it still sound loud or obtrusive in a quiet environment after oiling?

Thanks in advance!

I don't really have a good macrolens, so for the finish you should check out the other review comparing the KMF with ZF, there are some good shots there. Movement decoration is fine I think, better than expected. Really doesn't look as good in pictures as it does in real life.

Gen should have a somewhat noisy rotor as well so I wouldn't put too much into it. I've never oiled a miyota movement before, but I'm guessing it does help as far as I've understood. Not a huge dealbreaker for me and it's certainly not 'too loud', just definitely louder than ETA clones when it's free spinning

 

[burning]

I assume this is the grey dial one?

 

[nipe]

I assume this is the grey dial one?

Yes this is the grey dial. Black is fantasy.

 

[Caesar]

I ordered one of these, they fit right on the KMF as other members have shown: https://forum.replica-watch.info/for...-wheel-project

It's sitting at customs right now so I guess it could land any time within 1-4 weeks from now.

Thank you. Looking into getting one.

 

[nipe]

Thank you. Looking into getting one.

I got mine a few days ago. Looks very good. Now just waiting for a bunch of watchmaker tools I've ordered so I can put it in. Will add some new pics once installed

 

[LuminorReptar]

The watch looks great man, congrats!

For the curious, here's my KMF with Spongbob / Keylogs DWO installed...



I agree that the two biggest issues with KMF is the noisy rotor (easily fixed), and the dial markers on KMF are lacking compared to ZF and Gen (not enough lume applied). I'm currently trying to get my hands on a ZF dial to see if its possible to swap the markers. If successful will share results

 

[nipe]

The watch looks great man, congrats!

For the curious, here's my KMF with Spongbob / Keylogs DWO installed...



I agree that the two biggest issues with KMF is the noisy rotor (easily fixed), and the dial markers on KMF are lacking compared to ZF and Gen (not enough lume applied). I'm currently trying to get my hands on a ZF dial to see if its possible to swap the markers. If successful will share results

Looks really good mate! I got the DWO lying around here, just waiting for some tools to replace it.

For the hourmarkers I think it's easier to just fill up the lume, rather than swapping the hourhands? no?

I just don't know which lume to buy :/

 

[LuminorReptar]

Thanks man!

I'm actually not sure about the lume material.. I have someone in mind who might be able to add lume, but I dont know if it's possible to just 'add' without first removing the old lume. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in on how it's done.

As far as my understanding goes, you need to remove the old lume before applying new lume. In this case, given the delicacy of the markers, I fear they would be at risk of getting scratched when attempting to remove the lume.

Conversely... I definitely feel that removing and swapping all the dial markers will be a pain in the ass.. Further it might risk damaging the dial (since the markers are glued in place). I'm going to look at both options

 

[nipe]

Thanks man!

I'm actually not sure about the lume material.. I have someone in mind who might be able to add lume, but I dont know if it's possible to just 'add' without first removing the old lume. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in on how it's done.

As far as my understanding goes, you need to remove the old lume before applying new lume. In this case, given the delicacy of the markers, I fear they would be at risk of getting scratched when attempting to remove the lume.

Conversely... I definitely feel that removing and swapping all the dial markers will be a pain in the ass.. Further it might risk damaging the dial (since the markers are glued in place). I'm going to look at both options

Definitely keep me updated regarding the markers, I'm kinda set on trying to just add lume on top of the old lume. I honestly don't see why it wouldn't work like that. It would ofc just be a tiny tiny layer to get the lume filled up all the way.

I made a topic in the tech-section a few days ago, but until now I haven't had any replies. Most importantly I'd just need to know what lume application I should buy. C1/C3/etc. It looks like the lume on the hourmarkers is a different (more white) colour, than on the hands and lume-markers (more yellowish/greenish).

Did you apply the DWO on your own?

 

[LuminorReptar]

Nah I havent yet taken the plunge to modding my own watches but I am curious to learn. I have all my work done by Spongebob.

From what I've been told, the lume you need is C1.. Might suggest to have it verified before proceeding though.

I'm not very technical so I couldn't tell you why you need to remove the old lume. In this case perhaps you wouldn't need to since its so shallow and as you mentioned youre only adding a very thin layer to "top up".

If you manage to work on it please share your results!

 

[nipe]

Nah I havent yet taken the plunge to modding my own watches but I am curious to learn. I have all my work done by Spongebob.

From what I've been told, the lume you need is C1.. Might suggest to have it verified before proceeding though.

I'm not very technical so I couldn't tell you why you need to remove the old lume. In this case perhaps you wouldn't need to since its so shallow and as you mentioned youre only adding a very thin layer to "top up".

If you manage to work on it please share your results!

Will do! As soon as I figure out which lume I need, I'm going to try it out

 

[Genta2014]

So the KMF with the new DWO is the overall better choice then the ZF?

 

[nipe]

So the KMF with the new DWO is the overall better choice then the ZF?

Personally I think so. But I also give a lot of points for the thickness. It definitely needs a new DWO, that's for sure. OOTB ZF is better but I think with some slight modding the KMF has the better potential. I guess we will only know if someone is able to compare both of them next to a gen.

The dial has completely different colours depending on the lighting so it's impossible to compare with gen photos found online. Sunburst is also different. I think the KMF sunburst effect is better than ZF - colourwise the ZF might have a slight advantage but I honestly don't know.