Well, I wrote this one as an exclusive, many parts articles and with pretty good pictures on our sister's site RWcc. I would love to share this on this forum as well. <--- which makes not so exclusive anymore... but hey! It's worthy, no?
First and foremost, I hope that this comparison review will clear up some questions with regards to both IWC Aquatimer models, namely 3719 "Slevin" and Cousteau Divers 2006 edition. Eventually, the decision to get/appreciate/sell these replica watches is entirely yours.
Today I have received 2 pieces IWC Aquatimer 3719 rep from my friend, guru. These 2 watches come with defective daywheel quickset/set function. Simply that daywheel didn't move when you use quickset from the crown and it didn't advance to the next day when you set the time via the crown too. It appeared that the daywheel was stucked in the middle. This is a very similar problem from what I have on my Tag Heuer Aquaracer chronograph. Solution is pretty simple, we have to remove the hands and dial and set the daywheel properly. In addition to that a retainer ring is added between the dial and the daywheel. This retainer ring comes from an ETA7750 movement. Most of the reps doesn't have it. That's probably the reason why the daywheel slipped off from its position.
However, that's not the highlight of this article. I am going to make a side by side comparison of IWC Aquatimer Slevin and its so called another replica IWC Aquatimer Cousteau Divers 2006 which was released about half a year ago.
Initially I thought that these 2 reps come from the same factory. However, later on many said that the Slevin is made by the same factory as Omega "Ultimate" Planet Ocean replica. In contrast, Cousteau Diver rep is made by the same factory as HBB (I don't know how true is this claim) but it's highly probable that both reps are manufactured not by the same factory.
Without further ado, let's start this comparison.
Case diameter: as stated on the specs, Aquatimer 3719 has slightly smaller case diameter than Cousteau Divers 2006.
Movement: Both comes with Asian 7750 hi beat movement. An upgrade to ETA7750 is available out of box for both models... However, this is gonna cost you twice/2.5x of initial price for both watches.
Dial size: they are the same size. This makes the watch looks almost similar in size.
Chronograph function: they are the same. Both has traditional 7750 layout.
Day and date function: As you can see, they are also the same. Day and date functions come with both reps. However, please take note that both rep come with wrong date and dayfont out of the box. Upgrade to ETA7750 is possible. Of course an ETA day and datewheel is possible too.
Inner rotating bezel: This is probably an interesting area to be observed. Both comes with similar functionality of inner rotating bezel set by the crown/chronograph pusher at 4 o'clock position. Just by the feel, inner rotating bezel turns pretty easily and smoothly on Aquatimer Slevin with relatively firmer and louder click sound than Cousteau Divers. Both have a total of 60 clicks. On Aquatimer 3719, inner bezel can centre at 12 o'clock position pretty easily. Whereas, many have experienced difficulty to centre inner bezel ring on CD. In this regards, I should give Aquatimer Slevin a good mark. (Remarks: this is just the beginning... don't be too happy that I give Aquatimer Sleving a good mark). Some of you may ask, why is it easier to turn the bezel on 3719? Reason is... A different retaining plate! IWC CD has relatively thicker retainer plate for inner rotating bezel's teeth.
This is on Aquatimer Slevin:
Crystal: As many would expect, this forms a key consideration for buying today's rep. On both models, certainly they have shown vast improvement over rep watches released 2-3 years ago. However, this is the area where Aquatimer Slevin falls short. This replica comes with only single sided AR coating. Although it exhibits "blue tint", it's barely effective to reduce reduction. Meanwhile, Cousteau Divers shows a good edge in this regard. Very nicely done double sided AR coating on the crystal. It fends off reflection pretty good and most importantly, the tint looks very close, if not similar, to genuine article. Crystal thickness: It's noticeable that CD rep has thicker crystal than 3719. However, when viewed from the side (at a large angle), the crystal on CD exhibits bottle effect, where the dial is not visible anymore. However, this is the characteristic of this crystal. You can see this effect on genuine Panerai watches as well. On 3719, it doesn't have this effect. Most likely it's closely related to crystal thickness.
Rotor: Stickers on CD but engraved on 3719.
====== Part 2
Let's get started with whatever we have left last time.
Rotor:
I have seen a few posts raising concern about stickers on the rotor of IWC CD 2006 falling off. This is however not the case on my piece. On the day I swapped the movement on CD2006 to ETA7750, the stickers on the rotor were/are perfectly intact. However, just to play safe, I agree that sticker on the rotor is not the best idea. I would recommend removing these letterings on the rotor or just replace the rotor with ETA7750's rotor (they are interchangeable and genuine ETA7750 OEM rotor doesn't cost much). Slevin has gained another plus point here...
Rotor on CD2006:
Rotor on Slevin:
Rehaut:
This is an interesting issue and is closely related to crystal thickness. Another tell tale sign which I am very sure that Slevin comes with a thinner crystal than CD2006. Rehaut depth! You can just from the picture below, the 2 watches have different rehaut depth. The dial on CD2006 appears to be closer to you than it really is (you can see from the picture to get what I mean). Thicker crystal makes the appearance that the dial is really near to the crystal.
This one is another point of view, you can see that different rehaut depth. I have confirmed this on the genuine article. Cousteau has really spot on rehaut thickness.
Cousteau:
3719:
At the same time, the picture above confirms non seriousness of glass bottle effect which is present on the CD2006. It is different from Omega SMP rep or Panerai rep glass bottle effect. This effect only appears at very steep angle. I can say that it's really more like Breitling SFSO rep(sapphire, double AR). Mind you, the Breitling Steelfish replica/genuine has 5mm thick sapphire.
Crown and Chronograph Pushers:
They leave clues that these 2 replica watches come from a different factory. It's not that straightforward to see from the following pictures but the feeling is different. Cousteau has a relatively excellent "cut"/mold on both crown and chrono pushers. Having said that, the crown and pushers on Slevin has its own merit too. They feel more "sharp" and well defined but the crown on Slevin has inferior feel to Cousteau's. A good test will when you are winding the movement via manual wind and screwing out/in the crown from the crown tube. Simply Cousteau has that butter smooth and genuinely sturdy feeling.
Slevin has an advantage when turning inner bezel ring. However, this has got nothing to do with the pushers; the issue lies on inner bezel click plate which I have described earlier. Another simple test will be; turning in the pushers when the plate is removed.... It feels solid and the gear on another side of the pusher has done its job wonderfully for both model.
Half watch head view of CD2006:
Half watch head view of Slevin:
Stacked Slevin and CD2006:
Pushers at 4 o'clock position on CD2006 (you can notice the bottle effect here):
Pushers at 4 o'clock position on Aquatimer 3719:
======
Part 3
Rubber Strap:
This 2 watches have different rubber strap quality. The strap on 3719 is pretty thick on the lug but it's very flexible. On another hand, the strap on CD2006 is thinner on the lug (perhaps this is due to the design) but it has stiffer material and is better finished than the strap on Slevin. I have done a small test. I would like to call it a "chalk test". I put a small amount of chalk powder on both rubber straps. On CD2006, it's really easy to remove this chalk, without using any amount of water. However, on Slevin, it's not that straightforward to clean this chalk. I just used my hand to clean it on CD whereas on Slevin, I used a wet cloth to get the chalk of.
I would say that this test is a reflection on how effective the rubber strap in repelling dust.
Here you go for your comparison (sadly I have no pictures with the chalk):
Buckle:
Again, buckle aren't on these 2 watches. It's a tough call here really but I have a feeling that both are close to the genuine thing. I would give them a draw here:
=====
Part 4
Case Construction:
On the left hand side of the watch, these watches reveal more differences. It's however very difficult to see from the following picture. You need to have the watch on your hand and feel it yourself. CD2006 has much better/tighter tolerance than Slevin. You can feel that there's actually a gap between outer bezel (holding the crystal) and the watch case itself. On Slevin, this part is really sharp. You can feel it with your hand. In contrast, Cousteau joined these 2 parts gracefully, without sharp edges.
The part which is I am talking about is the polished and brushed bezel on the watch.
====
Part 5
Lume:
What's a diver's watch replica without a good lume? A dead giveaway.... Cousteau Divers 2006 achieves really high mark in this regard. I agree the lume on the bezel is not perfect (weakest on this watch) and one of the culprit of "dust problem" on CD2006. This problem doesn't really exist on CD2007 though. However it is, lume on the hands and dial are really good on Cousteau Divers 2006/07. It comes to a point that reluming this piece isn't really necessary but I really leave it up to you.
In contrast, Slevin comes with disappointing lume job. First of all, the dial has less surface area for the lume. Secondly, the hands have inferior lume than CD. Lastly, the worst of all... Bezel doesn't come with any lume. Please bear in mind that the hands are actually the same size for both model. Neglecting surface area of the lume on the dial, CD still emerges as a superior product here.
IWC CD 2006 dial and hands relumed:
IWC CD 2006 dial and hands original:
IWC Aquatimer 3719 Slevin:
=====
Well... So far these are the areas which I feel worthy mentioning. Please feel free to ask me any questions/more parts of this comparison if necessary.
I will write my conclusion soon at the next post.
First and foremost, I hope that this comparison review will clear up some questions with regards to both IWC Aquatimer models, namely 3719 "Slevin" and Cousteau Divers 2006 edition. Eventually, the decision to get/appreciate/sell these replica watches is entirely yours.
Today I have received 2 pieces IWC Aquatimer 3719 rep from my friend, guru. These 2 watches come with defective daywheel quickset/set function. Simply that daywheel didn't move when you use quickset from the crown and it didn't advance to the next day when you set the time via the crown too. It appeared that the daywheel was stucked in the middle. This is a very similar problem from what I have on my Tag Heuer Aquaracer chronograph. Solution is pretty simple, we have to remove the hands and dial and set the daywheel properly. In addition to that a retainer ring is added between the dial and the daywheel. This retainer ring comes from an ETA7750 movement. Most of the reps doesn't have it. That's probably the reason why the daywheel slipped off from its position.
However, that's not the highlight of this article. I am going to make a side by side comparison of IWC Aquatimer Slevin and its so called another replica IWC Aquatimer Cousteau Divers 2006 which was released about half a year ago.
Initially I thought that these 2 reps come from the same factory. However, later on many said that the Slevin is made by the same factory as Omega "Ultimate" Planet Ocean replica. In contrast, Cousteau Diver rep is made by the same factory as HBB (I don't know how true is this claim) but it's highly probable that both reps are manufactured not by the same factory.
Without further ado, let's start this comparison.
Case diameter: as stated on the specs, Aquatimer 3719 has slightly smaller case diameter than Cousteau Divers 2006.
Movement: Both comes with Asian 7750 hi beat movement. An upgrade to ETA7750 is available out of box for both models... However, this is gonna cost you twice/2.5x of initial price for both watches.
Dial size: they are the same size. This makes the watch looks almost similar in size.
Chronograph function: they are the same. Both has traditional 7750 layout.
Day and date function: As you can see, they are also the same. Day and date functions come with both reps. However, please take note that both rep come with wrong date and dayfont out of the box. Upgrade to ETA7750 is possible. Of course an ETA day and datewheel is possible too.
Inner rotating bezel: This is probably an interesting area to be observed. Both comes with similar functionality of inner rotating bezel set by the crown/chronograph pusher at 4 o'clock position. Just by the feel, inner rotating bezel turns pretty easily and smoothly on Aquatimer Slevin with relatively firmer and louder click sound than Cousteau Divers. Both have a total of 60 clicks. On Aquatimer 3719, inner bezel can centre at 12 o'clock position pretty easily. Whereas, many have experienced difficulty to centre inner bezel ring on CD. In this regards, I should give Aquatimer Slevin a good mark. (Remarks: this is just the beginning... don't be too happy that I give Aquatimer Sleving a good mark). Some of you may ask, why is it easier to turn the bezel on 3719? Reason is... A different retaining plate! IWC CD has relatively thicker retainer plate for inner rotating bezel's teeth.
This is on Aquatimer Slevin:
Crystal: As many would expect, this forms a key consideration for buying today's rep. On both models, certainly they have shown vast improvement over rep watches released 2-3 years ago. However, this is the area where Aquatimer Slevin falls short. This replica comes with only single sided AR coating. Although it exhibits "blue tint", it's barely effective to reduce reduction. Meanwhile, Cousteau Divers shows a good edge in this regard. Very nicely done double sided AR coating on the crystal. It fends off reflection pretty good and most importantly, the tint looks very close, if not similar, to genuine article. Crystal thickness: It's noticeable that CD rep has thicker crystal than 3719. However, when viewed from the side (at a large angle), the crystal on CD exhibits bottle effect, where the dial is not visible anymore. However, this is the characteristic of this crystal. You can see this effect on genuine Panerai watches as well. On 3719, it doesn't have this effect. Most likely it's closely related to crystal thickness.
Rotor: Stickers on CD but engraved on 3719.
====== Part 2
Let's get started with whatever we have left last time.
Rotor:
I have seen a few posts raising concern about stickers on the rotor of IWC CD 2006 falling off. This is however not the case on my piece. On the day I swapped the movement on CD2006 to ETA7750, the stickers on the rotor were/are perfectly intact. However, just to play safe, I agree that sticker on the rotor is not the best idea. I would recommend removing these letterings on the rotor or just replace the rotor with ETA7750's rotor (they are interchangeable and genuine ETA7750 OEM rotor doesn't cost much). Slevin has gained another plus point here...
Rotor on CD2006:
Rotor on Slevin:
Rehaut:
This is an interesting issue and is closely related to crystal thickness. Another tell tale sign which I am very sure that Slevin comes with a thinner crystal than CD2006. Rehaut depth! You can just from the picture below, the 2 watches have different rehaut depth. The dial on CD2006 appears to be closer to you than it really is (you can see from the picture to get what I mean). Thicker crystal makes the appearance that the dial is really near to the crystal.
This one is another point of view, you can see that different rehaut depth. I have confirmed this on the genuine article. Cousteau has really spot on rehaut thickness.
Cousteau:
3719:
At the same time, the picture above confirms non seriousness of glass bottle effect which is present on the CD2006. It is different from Omega SMP rep or Panerai rep glass bottle effect. This effect only appears at very steep angle. I can say that it's really more like Breitling SFSO rep(sapphire, double AR). Mind you, the Breitling Steelfish replica/genuine has 5mm thick sapphire.
Crown and Chronograph Pushers:
They leave clues that these 2 replica watches come from a different factory. It's not that straightforward to see from the following pictures but the feeling is different. Cousteau has a relatively excellent "cut"/mold on both crown and chrono pushers. Having said that, the crown and pushers on Slevin has its own merit too. They feel more "sharp" and well defined but the crown on Slevin has inferior feel to Cousteau's. A good test will when you are winding the movement via manual wind and screwing out/in the crown from the crown tube. Simply Cousteau has that butter smooth and genuinely sturdy feeling.
Slevin has an advantage when turning inner bezel ring. However, this has got nothing to do with the pushers; the issue lies on inner bezel click plate which I have described earlier. Another simple test will be; turning in the pushers when the plate is removed.... It feels solid and the gear on another side of the pusher has done its job wonderfully for both model.
Half watch head view of CD2006:
Half watch head view of Slevin:
Stacked Slevin and CD2006:
Pushers at 4 o'clock position on CD2006 (you can notice the bottle effect here):
Pushers at 4 o'clock position on Aquatimer 3719:
======
Part 3
Rubber Strap:
This 2 watches have different rubber strap quality. The strap on 3719 is pretty thick on the lug but it's very flexible. On another hand, the strap on CD2006 is thinner on the lug (perhaps this is due to the design) but it has stiffer material and is better finished than the strap on Slevin. I have done a small test. I would like to call it a "chalk test". I put a small amount of chalk powder on both rubber straps. On CD2006, it's really easy to remove this chalk, without using any amount of water. However, on Slevin, it's not that straightforward to clean this chalk. I just used my hand to clean it on CD whereas on Slevin, I used a wet cloth to get the chalk of.
I would say that this test is a reflection on how effective the rubber strap in repelling dust.
Here you go for your comparison (sadly I have no pictures with the chalk):
Buckle:
Again, buckle aren't on these 2 watches. It's a tough call here really but I have a feeling that both are close to the genuine thing. I would give them a draw here:
=====
Part 4
Case Construction:
On the left hand side of the watch, these watches reveal more differences. It's however very difficult to see from the following picture. You need to have the watch on your hand and feel it yourself. CD2006 has much better/tighter tolerance than Slevin. You can feel that there's actually a gap between outer bezel (holding the crystal) and the watch case itself. On Slevin, this part is really sharp. You can feel it with your hand. In contrast, Cousteau joined these 2 parts gracefully, without sharp edges.
The part which is I am talking about is the polished and brushed bezel on the watch.
====
Part 5
Lume:
What's a diver's watch replica without a good lume? A dead giveaway.... Cousteau Divers 2006 achieves really high mark in this regard. I agree the lume on the bezel is not perfect (weakest on this watch) and one of the culprit of "dust problem" on CD2006. This problem doesn't really exist on CD2007 though. However it is, lume on the hands and dial are really good on Cousteau Divers 2006/07. It comes to a point that reluming this piece isn't really necessary but I really leave it up to you.
In contrast, Slevin comes with disappointing lume job. First of all, the dial has less surface area for the lume. Secondly, the hands have inferior lume than CD. Lastly, the worst of all... Bezel doesn't come with any lume. Please bear in mind that the hands are actually the same size for both model. Neglecting surface area of the lume on the dial, CD still emerges as a superior product here.
IWC CD 2006 dial and hands relumed:
IWC CD 2006 dial and hands original:
IWC Aquatimer 3719 Slevin:
=====
Well... So far these are the areas which I feel worthy mentioning. Please feel free to ask me any questions/more parts of this comparison if necessary.
I will write my conclusion soon at the next post.
