- 17/4/15
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Hello people, please excuse any English mistakes as it's not my first language.
After lurking for a very long time in this sub, I decided to pull the trigger on a 5165A by ZF from M2M (from the gentleman mayflower ). First impressions of the watch were incredible. I've had the pleasure of holding in my hands various gen Pateks from friends and ADs, and I completely in love with the brand. Its history and its purity of design make it one of, if not the most desirable brand from a collector's point of view. As my age and personal finances don't allow for a gen yet, I bought this older, smaller, yet exceptionally beautiful piece. I had never even seen the 5165A when I saw its posting, but I fell in love with the smaller proportions, but modern appeal to it, which I like better than the 5065.
I am beyond happy with this, and will attach photos. The only flaws I could encounter with this piece are definitely invisible even to first hand owners of other Pateks.
While there might be many "out of control" flaws regarding Quality Control or manufacturing prices as it usually is with reps - which to be honest both seem pretty well managed here - my only cause of inexplicable anger is as to why ZF keep screwing up tiny details on the dial on purpose, like the protruding lines of the world guilloche under the 5 hour marker (being even longer of the 7 line, therefore being completely made on purpose) and the 9 (even if for the slightest bit). Or the Serif font on the logo, which simply never existed on the 5165A - from what I have gathered online, but I might be wrong about this one.
The DW is a pleasure to look at. Even if a tiny bit misaligned, I couldn't care less. Gens have these flaws as well. The movement is well replicated and will be enough for uneducated people, which many times include gen owners. The 324 from 3KF on the 5167A would have been a better replicated movement, but from my point of view it's still too early to call it a finished product (I'm looking at you printed movement and tiny DW). In particular, the Series 9 Miyota chosen by ZF is a champ of reliability and ease of working on, if I ever needed touchups. The all-out red jewels, though, really do look bad, especially beside a gen movement.
The lug-to-lug width is 20 mm, making the rubber strap extremely hard to find since the 5167A is 21 mm. For now I am using a nice black leather strap that I had lying around at home, but it's definitely not the one I want to use. Does any of you happen to know where I can source a replacement strap under $90? Puretime quoted it for me at around $90-110.
Gen for reference
After lurking for a very long time in this sub, I decided to pull the trigger on a 5165A by ZF from M2M (from the gentleman mayflower ). First impressions of the watch were incredible. I've had the pleasure of holding in my hands various gen Pateks from friends and ADs, and I completely in love with the brand. Its history and its purity of design make it one of, if not the most desirable brand from a collector's point of view. As my age and personal finances don't allow for a gen yet, I bought this older, smaller, yet exceptionally beautiful piece. I had never even seen the 5165A when I saw its posting, but I fell in love with the smaller proportions, but modern appeal to it, which I like better than the 5065.
I am beyond happy with this, and will attach photos. The only flaws I could encounter with this piece are definitely invisible even to first hand owners of other Pateks.
While there might be many "out of control" flaws regarding Quality Control or manufacturing prices as it usually is with reps - which to be honest both seem pretty well managed here - my only cause of inexplicable anger is as to why ZF keep screwing up tiny details on the dial on purpose, like the protruding lines of the world guilloche under the 5 hour marker (being even longer of the 7 line, therefore being completely made on purpose) and the 9 (even if for the slightest bit). Or the Serif font on the logo, which simply never existed on the 5165A - from what I have gathered online, but I might be wrong about this one.
The DW is a pleasure to look at. Even if a tiny bit misaligned, I couldn't care less. Gens have these flaws as well. The movement is well replicated and will be enough for uneducated people, which many times include gen owners. The 324 from 3KF on the 5167A would have been a better replicated movement, but from my point of view it's still too early to call it a finished product (I'm looking at you printed movement and tiny DW). In particular, the Series 9 Miyota chosen by ZF is a champ of reliability and ease of working on, if I ever needed touchups. The all-out red jewels, though, really do look bad, especially beside a gen movement.
The lug-to-lug width is 20 mm, making the rubber strap extremely hard to find since the 5167A is 21 mm. For now I am using a nice black leather strap that I had lying around at home, but it's definitely not the one I want to use. Does any of you happen to know where I can source a replacement strap under $90? Puretime quoted it for me at around $90-110.
Gen for reference
