- 16/5/19
- 100
- 70
- 28
I ordered a 6542, my Dream Watch, from TS Station in May. The first one got seized by U.S. Customs, and one of their sales people told me tough luck. Then, after much back and forth, they sent me a new watch (I've written about all of this here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...eviews/7834749-tswatch-6542-siezed-by-customs). Needless to say, I have a lot on my mind when it comes to this piece, so instead of hijacking the current 6542 threads, I figured I'd post a review of my own.
On Friday, I received notice that the new watch had been delivered to my brother's house across town. At first, I couldn't believe that it was actually here. In fact, I had resisted every urge to post updates on the forums while it was being re-sent, lest the Federales found a way to nab this one too. I wanted to have watch-in-hand before I wrote anything about it.
So, I raced down, picked it up, and tore it out of the box as soon as I got home. It was in that very nice little brown leather box, just as I expected. And under all the cellophane, there was the watch, my 6542. It looked great. Then I unwrapped it, and the disappointments began.
Here it is. The Dream Watch. First thing I do is unscrew the crown, pull it out to first click, and ... nothing happens. THE TIME WON'T SET. Sure, the date wheel and GMT hand adjust easily – that's great! But what good is that IF I CAN'T SET THE F@#%ING CORRECT TIME?!? If the watch came from a TD, I would've sent it right back. But after the hassle of getting this watch to me, I'm just going to crack it open when I have the time and figure out what's wrong with it myself. I bought this one (aged, with the Asian 2836) after the prices went up a bit, but luckily before they hit the Rep stratosphere with that Vintage Power crap. Still, for the price I paid, I don't think it's too much to, you know, expect a working watch.
Onto the aesthetics. The dial accomplishes the rare feat of looking about 10 times better in photos than it does in real life. I can't quite put my finger on it, but to me, it just looks flat and lacks any real contrast. It looks cheap. The lume looks nice, but it isn't enough to redeem the dial for me. I was thinking about splurging for a Ruby's 6542 gilt dial when I ordered this one. After spending some time with this watch, that's a necessity; I'll be ordering one as soon as I have the funds. Also, can we talk about these lugs? I expected them to be long, but the overhangs after the end links are just ridiculous. Once I get this one sorted, I'll be looking for a CONUS modder who would be willing to reshape them as much as they can be reshaped.
Then there's the bracelet. I don't expect much from your baseline Rep bracelet, but man, this thing is chintzy. The jewel of my collection is my Gen '72 5500 Air King with a rivet bracelet, so I had the rare opportunity to compare 1:1 here. Next to the Gen, this thing is a freaking joke. Like the dial, it looks okay, but I'm not sure how long I'm willing to live with it rattling on my wrist in the real world. Well, when it's on my wrist in the real world, that is.
This bracelet is freaking huge and there are only two removable links. I'm a man with big hands and small wrists, which means that I'll be spending a lot of time with a loupe, an Exacto knife and jeweler's screwdriver prying rivets out of about three additional links. If that fails (or if I end up accidentally gouging my hands enough), I'll probably just buy a good Jubilee from Ruby's. But as it is now, the lack of easily removable links is another thing that makes the watch unwearable for me.
For scale, here's a photo of my Gen Speedy Reduced nesting comfortably inside the 6542's mammoth bracelet.
So there's a lot of bad here, but I don't want to sound like I'm completely trashing the watch. Believe it or not, there's actually a lot I like about it. For starters, the bezel looks great. Yes, it does feel chintzy and sharp, but here, it's good-looking enough to actually redeem it – especially the insert. And luckily, mine came attached nice and tight, unlike many of the reviews I've read. The roulette date wheel is absolutely gorgeous too (those open 6s and 9s...), and the plexi crystal looks good and is nicely aligned. I may want to upgrade it in the future, but for now, it'll do nicely. Ditto the hands. They look nice and I'll probably keep them around for a while.
I also really like the crown (apologies for the blurry photo). Compared to a lot of vintage Reps I've seen, it feels good here and has a nice vintage look. The Coronet isn't too far off to my eye either. The caseback is nice too. And as much as the lugs bother me, the stampings/engravings between them look pretty good to the naked eye and at least have a Gen-ish vibe. Still, look at the overhang of those lugs in the photo above – yeesh...
So I own a fairly good looking Rep of the Dream Watch. If the thing actually worked, I would've just thrown it on a NATO strap as soon as it came out of the box, dealt with the bracelet later, and would probably have a much higher opinion of it. But as of now, it's an expensive paperweight that I'm more than happy to pick apart. Kudos to TS Station for sending me a replacement watch. But my other Rep, a 6263 ROC (I've written about that one here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/forum/eyecandy-wristshots/7820669-first-rep-first-review-my-6263-pn) came out of the box ready to go and I've had over a year of happy, trouble-free wrist time with it. I would think that for nearly $500, I should be able to expect the same from TS. As it is, I'll need to perform surgery on this watch to set it to right. Then, I'm looking at maybe another $400 (more or less) to get it the way I like it. For that kind of money, I' could've just spent a little more and had a builder put one together to my specs.
I'm sure I'll be posting a lot more about my star-crossed (snakebit?) 6542 in the future. But from here, it has a long way to go before it enters any kind of regular rotation.
On Friday, I received notice that the new watch had been delivered to my brother's house across town. At first, I couldn't believe that it was actually here. In fact, I had resisted every urge to post updates on the forums while it was being re-sent, lest the Federales found a way to nab this one too. I wanted to have watch-in-hand before I wrote anything about it.
So, I raced down, picked it up, and tore it out of the box as soon as I got home. It was in that very nice little brown leather box, just as I expected. And under all the cellophane, there was the watch, my 6542. It looked great. Then I unwrapped it, and the disappointments began.
Here it is. The Dream Watch. First thing I do is unscrew the crown, pull it out to first click, and ... nothing happens. THE TIME WON'T SET. Sure, the date wheel and GMT hand adjust easily – that's great! But what good is that IF I CAN'T SET THE F@#%ING CORRECT TIME?!? If the watch came from a TD, I would've sent it right back. But after the hassle of getting this watch to me, I'm just going to crack it open when I have the time and figure out what's wrong with it myself. I bought this one (aged, with the Asian 2836) after the prices went up a bit, but luckily before they hit the Rep stratosphere with that Vintage Power crap. Still, for the price I paid, I don't think it's too much to, you know, expect a working watch.
Onto the aesthetics. The dial accomplishes the rare feat of looking about 10 times better in photos than it does in real life. I can't quite put my finger on it, but to me, it just looks flat and lacks any real contrast. It looks cheap. The lume looks nice, but it isn't enough to redeem the dial for me. I was thinking about splurging for a Ruby's 6542 gilt dial when I ordered this one. After spending some time with this watch, that's a necessity; I'll be ordering one as soon as I have the funds. Also, can we talk about these lugs? I expected them to be long, but the overhangs after the end links are just ridiculous. Once I get this one sorted, I'll be looking for a CONUS modder who would be willing to reshape them as much as they can be reshaped.
Then there's the bracelet. I don't expect much from your baseline Rep bracelet, but man, this thing is chintzy. The jewel of my collection is my Gen '72 5500 Air King with a rivet bracelet, so I had the rare opportunity to compare 1:1 here. Next to the Gen, this thing is a freaking joke. Like the dial, it looks okay, but I'm not sure how long I'm willing to live with it rattling on my wrist in the real world. Well, when it's on my wrist in the real world, that is.
This bracelet is freaking huge and there are only two removable links. I'm a man with big hands and small wrists, which means that I'll be spending a lot of time with a loupe, an Exacto knife and jeweler's screwdriver prying rivets out of about three additional links. If that fails (or if I end up accidentally gouging my hands enough), I'll probably just buy a good Jubilee from Ruby's. But as it is now, the lack of easily removable links is another thing that makes the watch unwearable for me.
For scale, here's a photo of my Gen Speedy Reduced nesting comfortably inside the 6542's mammoth bracelet.
So there's a lot of bad here, but I don't want to sound like I'm completely trashing the watch. Believe it or not, there's actually a lot I like about it. For starters, the bezel looks great. Yes, it does feel chintzy and sharp, but here, it's good-looking enough to actually redeem it – especially the insert. And luckily, mine came attached nice and tight, unlike many of the reviews I've read. The roulette date wheel is absolutely gorgeous too (those open 6s and 9s...), and the plexi crystal looks good and is nicely aligned. I may want to upgrade it in the future, but for now, it'll do nicely. Ditto the hands. They look nice and I'll probably keep them around for a while.
I also really like the crown (apologies for the blurry photo). Compared to a lot of vintage Reps I've seen, it feels good here and has a nice vintage look. The Coronet isn't too far off to my eye either. The caseback is nice too. And as much as the lugs bother me, the stampings/engravings between them look pretty good to the naked eye and at least have a Gen-ish vibe. Still, look at the overhang of those lugs in the photo above – yeesh...
So I own a fairly good looking Rep of the Dream Watch. If the thing actually worked, I would've just thrown it on a NATO strap as soon as it came out of the box, dealt with the bracelet later, and would probably have a much higher opinion of it. But as of now, it's an expensive paperweight that I'm more than happy to pick apart. Kudos to TS Station for sending me a replacement watch. But my other Rep, a 6263 ROC (I've written about that one here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/forum/eyecandy-wristshots/7820669-first-rep-first-review-my-6263-pn) came out of the box ready to go and I've had over a year of happy, trouble-free wrist time with it. I would think that for nearly $500, I should be able to expect the same from TS. As it is, I'll need to perform surgery on this watch to set it to right. Then, I'm looking at maybe another $400 (more or less) to get it the way I like it. For that kind of money, I' could've just spent a little more and had a builder put one together to my specs.
I'm sure I'll be posting a lot more about my star-crossed (snakebit?) 6542 in the future. But from here, it has a long way to go before it enters any kind of regular rotation.
