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Ulysse Nardin El Toro - Review

krispee

Active Member
1/5/12
294
23
0
This is my latest watch and I thought I`d do a review of sorts, given the scarcity of this watch around rep forums.
Firstly some photos, starting with the rep:

ElToro_1.jpg

ElToro_2.jpg

ElToro_3.jpg

ElToro_5.jpg


This is a Ulysse Nardin El Toro. It has a gold plated Asian 2813 23 jewel movement with calendar complications. So far I`ve enjoyed the watch. It is beautifully finished off, one of the most sharply polished rep watches I`ve had. The pushers and crown are firm and feel nice to use. The rubber strap feels smooth and nicely bendable to a point. The only issue I have with the strap is where it connects with the lugs. Just after the lug it is very stiff, there becoming unbendable, and it creates a gap at the wrist unless your wrist happens to be on the larger side.
ElToro_gap.jpg

The intention is to buy a new leather strap that will allow it to bend at that point and be more comfortable to wear. It wears ok, but isn`t as comfortable as my other watches to wear. Plus I have issues with deployment clasps, never did like them. It`s an issue on the gen as well as a video I recently saw on youtube pointed out.
The watch itself has several functions. Your standard time in hours and minutes and seconds (the second hand has a nice two-tone colour, that seems to follow the gen) and also a two digit date. It also has a day function, a month function, and also a year one. The year pusher is bottom left and sometimes gets activated by accident by the movement of the wrist. This is a bit annoying as to correct it you have to depress the pusher all the way up to 99 and then back to 17. The day disk is also a bit odd. you have to depress the pusher twice to obtain the correct day. There must be a gap between each of the days, the only way they could get the gearing to work I guess. Also when you are setting the time and you go passed 12 and change the date, the day only moves the one position, which shows only a gap, until you pass 1:30 am and then the day changes again to show the correct day. It`s a minor annoyance as at least it does change and you wouldn`t notice it unless you are a night owl. Lastly it has an extra hand for a 24 hour display. Really annoying on the rep I have that the 24 hand is off by 12 hours, easy enough to fix I guess, once the hands are off.


Now for the gen and a side by side:

ElToro_net1.jpg

ElToro_net3.jpg

ElToro_dual.jpg


Rep on the left, gen on the right.
As you can see there are some differences. The date box is a little different in size and slightly to the right on the gen. Obviously the colours are different, don`t know why they couldn`t have got the grey dial colour right instead of the blue, makes quite a lot of difference. Also the hands on the gen have a blind hole, on the rep is a through hole. The are also two more pushers on the rep, one on either side at the top of the watch, for actuating the functions. On the gen almost all the functions are accessed through the stem. It has three or four positions and on each position a function can be set. Pretty clever of them, making it very easy to set, also makes it a quite complicated movement from what I`ve heard. It also avoids having too many pushers.
You may noticed that on the gen picture above (the side by side pic) the bevel is actually the wrong way around on this particular watch, not sure why, the moon is supposed to be at the bottom. The bevel on the rep is a little crudely painted and marked compared to the gen and on mine very slightly off. My fault entirely as I never noticed it during QC. The hands are a kind of matt finish on the gen, but the general dial layout is pretty close, some extra work on the colours and they wouldn`t be far out.


To finish this isn`t a bad watch at all. I need to get a new strap, but that`s pretty much a given with reps really, I`ve never had a good strap yet. Also you need to do a little more work on the functions to make sure they read correctly. It could do with an auto winder, which I`m looking at buying, along with a box, but given the problems with the functions it isn`t as much of an absolute necessity as it should be. As far as value for money goes, well, the gen is 30 thousand odd (for the complicated movement probably), while the rep is $240, so I guess for the money it`s pretty good.
 
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d4m.test

Guest
Very nice review. That´s a beautiful watch (rep or gen), great pics. Thanks:)
 

krispee

Active Member
1/5/12
294
23
0
Very nice review. That´s a beautiful watch (rep or gen), great pics. Thanks:)
Thanks, Daywatch. It is a nice watch, such a pity that they couldn`t go the extra few yards with the few smaller things they got wrong. Take the deployment clasp. I had to do quite a bit of work tidying that up as it was very sharp, lots of burrs I had to file off and polish a little. I`m looking at getting a new strap but it`s quite a complicated affair so it`s probably going to be a special, ie. - expensive. Still will be nice when it`s done, and will make it much more wearable.
 
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d4m.test

Guest
Hey Guys!
I got this exact watch in Black which actually resembles the gen more than the blue one, for just $100 at a local rep market!
thats probably why josh isn't a TD
 

PeteB

Known Member
11/1/16
161
62
0
Just came up to this review as I am preparing to get an El Toro myself. Nice job OP - good to see this interesting, if eclectic, watch reviewed.

My one comment is that the grey face of the gen that you referenced is for another model, not the one you have. Both gen models are shown below.

ulysse-nardin-el-toro-gmt-silver-dial-18kt-rose-gold-blue-rubber-mens-watch-326-00-3--_2.jpg

ulysse-nardin-blue-toro-limited-edition-watch-3.jpg


So, apart from the funky electric blue on the bezel, your rep is more gen-like than you thought! Will post photos when mine arrives.
 
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krispee

Active Member
1/5/12
294
23
0
Just came up to this review as I am preparing to get an El Toro myself. Nice job OP - good to see this interesting, if eclectic, watch reviewed.

My one comment is that the grey face of the gen that you referenced is for another model, not the one you have. Both gen models are shown below.

ulysse-nardin-el-toro-gmt-silver-dial-18kt-rose-gold-blue-rubber-mens-watch-326-00-3--_2.jpg

ulysse-nardin-blue-toro-limited-edition-watch-3.jpg


So, apart from the funky electric blue on the bezel, your rep is more gen-like than you thought! Will post photos when mine arrives.

Ah, yes you're right, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out. I look forward to seeing your photos. It is a nice looking watch.

I'm currently looking at building my own new strap as I've just taught myself how to build straps, mainly because I can design my own style, but also because there aren't many straps out there for this UN watch. It won't be easy but I'll post when I have found a way.