Long time listener, first time caller. Since this is my first rep watch, I wanted to post my initial impressions of the BP Factory Explorer 214270 as compared to a gen 214270.
I picked up this BP 214270 here on RWI, and this watch looks amazing based on visual impression alone (I had a gen 214270 a few years ago, sold for some medical expenses unfortunately, so I'll be doing this comparison by memory). I'll be examining the looks and feel of the watch compared to gen.
TLDRs:
• Fantastic dial and hands, bad lume.
• Accuracy is spot on.
• Bracelet links feel silky smooth, edges are super sharp.
• Fantastic clasp.
• Rotor noise/and noticeable rotor movement.
• Screwing/unscrewing the crown feels rough.
• Crown doesn't "pop out" immediately after unscrewing.
• Crown ghost date crown position.
• Winding feels a little "sand in the gears-y."
• Screwing down the crown sounds like it's still winding the watch.
DIAL
Inky black and super smooth polished indices and numerals. The rehaut engraving looks aligned to my eye. The sapphire crystal sits at the correct height and is a total fingerprint magnet, which is *very* true to gen.
HANDS
Highly polished just like gen, and the sweep is smooth at 8 beats per second just like gen (although this is the easiest part to replicate since every 2824 clone ticks at 8bps too). Hands are highly polished and only when using my loupe can I see any edge imperfections.
LUME
The lime isn't filled all the way on the dial markers, although it is on the hands. The lume intensity is pitiful, as has been described in other reviews of the BP Explorer. At least the numerals aren't overfilled?
CROWN
The crown feels *smaller* somehow. It's harder to manipulate than a gen. Screwing in it takes a bit more effort to catch before screwing down, but screw-down it doesn't feel gritty. It does sound like it's still winding the watch as it's being screwed in. My old gen's crown aligned with the two dots facing forward, this aligns at about a 45% angle, but I've heard that most gen model crowns don't align either.
MOVEMENT
The movement is the heart of the watch, and naturally this is the part that diverges most severely from the genuine 3132 caliber. The asian 2824 has the ghost date position, and winds fairly smoothly - I'd say it's not as gritty-feeling as some ETA 2824-2/SW-200 movements I've wound, but nowhere near as buttery smooth as a gen 3132 or even an ETA 2892.
The rotor noise is also significant, much louder than the dead-silent 3132 or any 2824s I've owned which tend to be both silent and well balanced. When moving the watch around you can definitely feel the rotor movement. Interestingly enough, the movement *sounds* just like gen - it's a 4hz movement echoing inside an all-steel case, with the gen pinging sound and everything.
BRACELET
The bracelet is decent enough, well machined and polished sides, although the bracelet with this watch had a burr on one link that took some filing and sandpaper work to remove. End links are well machined, the top feels a little more loose than the bottom. The outside of the bracelet has that same silky-smooth feeling as gen, but the inside edges (including the edges of the middle links, somehow) are quite sharp to the touch. The links aren't rattly, but they are a bit stiff, and the easylink extension is especially stiff. I gave it an ultrasonic cleaning and oil bath which improved the stiffness somewhat, but not on all the links.
The clasp itself feels exactly the same as gen - it's satisfying and has a solid hold, and the safety clasp is smooth and has a deep click to it.
TIMEKEEPING
I don't have a timegrapher but it doesn't seem to be gaining or losing any time at all. Very impressed with the regulation out of the box.
CONCLUSION
Overall, this watch passes as gen easily on visuals and some of the bracelet feel. However, anyone hearing the rotor noise, or unscrewing the crown to wind it or set the time would know immediately that something was very off.
Still, I'm incredibly pleased with this watch and my first foray into the rep world.
I picked up this BP 214270 here on RWI, and this watch looks amazing based on visual impression alone (I had a gen 214270 a few years ago, sold for some medical expenses unfortunately, so I'll be doing this comparison by memory). I'll be examining the looks and feel of the watch compared to gen.
TLDRs:
• Fantastic dial and hands, bad lume.
• Accuracy is spot on.
• Bracelet links feel silky smooth, edges are super sharp.
• Fantastic clasp.
• Rotor noise/and noticeable rotor movement.
• Screwing/unscrewing the crown feels rough.
• Crown doesn't "pop out" immediately after unscrewing.
• Crown ghost date crown position.
• Winding feels a little "sand in the gears-y."
• Screwing down the crown sounds like it's still winding the watch.
DIAL
Inky black and super smooth polished indices and numerals. The rehaut engraving looks aligned to my eye. The sapphire crystal sits at the correct height and is a total fingerprint magnet, which is *very* true to gen.
Impression: 100% of gen
HANDS
Highly polished just like gen, and the sweep is smooth at 8 beats per second just like gen (although this is the easiest part to replicate since every 2824 clone ticks at 8bps too). Hands are highly polished and only when using my loupe can I see any edge imperfections.
Impression: 95% of gen
LUME
The lime isn't filled all the way on the dial markers, although it is on the hands. The lume intensity is pitiful, as has been described in other reviews of the BP Explorer. At least the numerals aren't overfilled?
Impression: 30-40% of gen
CROWN
The crown feels *smaller* somehow. It's harder to manipulate than a gen. Screwing in it takes a bit more effort to catch before screwing down, but screw-down it doesn't feel gritty. It does sound like it's still winding the watch as it's being screwed in. My old gen's crown aligned with the two dots facing forward, this aligns at about a 45% angle, but I've heard that most gen model crowns don't align either.
Impression: 80% of gen
MOVEMENT
The movement is the heart of the watch, and naturally this is the part that diverges most severely from the genuine 3132 caliber. The asian 2824 has the ghost date position, and winds fairly smoothly - I'd say it's not as gritty-feeling as some ETA 2824-2/SW-200 movements I've wound, but nowhere near as buttery smooth as a gen 3132 or even an ETA 2892.
The rotor noise is also significant, much louder than the dead-silent 3132 or any 2824s I've owned which tend to be both silent and well balanced. When moving the watch around you can definitely feel the rotor movement. Interestingly enough, the movement *sounds* just like gen - it's a 4hz movement echoing inside an all-steel case, with the gen pinging sound and everything.
Impression: 30% of gen
BRACELET
The bracelet is decent enough, well machined and polished sides, although the bracelet with this watch had a burr on one link that took some filing and sandpaper work to remove. End links are well machined, the top feels a little more loose than the bottom. The outside of the bracelet has that same silky-smooth feeling as gen, but the inside edges (including the edges of the middle links, somehow) are quite sharp to the touch. The links aren't rattly, but they are a bit stiff, and the easylink extension is especially stiff. I gave it an ultrasonic cleaning and oil bath which improved the stiffness somewhat, but not on all the links.
The clasp itself feels exactly the same as gen - it's satisfying and has a solid hold, and the safety clasp is smooth and has a deep click to it.
Impression: 70% of gen
TIMEKEEPING
I don't have a timegrapher but it doesn't seem to be gaining or losing any time at all. Very impressed with the regulation out of the box.
Impression: 100% of gen
CONCLUSION
Overall, this watch passes as gen easily on visuals and some of the bracelet feel. However, anyone hearing the rotor noise, or unscrewing the crown to wind it or set the time would know immediately that something was very off.
Still, I'm incredibly pleased with this watch and my first foray into the rep world.
