I can't comment on ZF rubber compared to 3K but I can comment on KMF, 3K, and Gen..
My base watch is a KMF and I still have the original rubber strap. I also sourced a genuine rubber strap directly from the Patek boutique in my city. The 3K made its way into my possession for comparison from
Spongebob who is working on a replacement date disc for the movement. (similar like the overlay developed with Keylog, only this time my understanding is it will be a full disc to be replaced, not overlayed).
Anyway, here are some pictures of the KMF strap and genuine strap including macros of the details. The gen strap is uncut, and in all macro pics the gen strap is shown first (I feel like I've posted these somewhere before, but I couldn't find the post so here they are again.. apologies if this is redundant):
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Visually there are some very subtle differences, not easy to notice, and certainly impossible with the naked eye at a wrists distance. Even quality wise, I would say the KMF strap is very good (I imagine ZF is similar). There are subtleties to the hand feel and the 'bounce' of the rubber on gen. The replica strap feels more firm and stiff, whereas the gen is more pliable, and frankly more comfortable. Again this is subtle, the jump to gen is not necessary and only if you're a partial lunatic like myself who wants as close to gen experience as possible.
Now moving onto the 3K strap. I am sorry to say but I have no idea what Supergoose is talking about if he says 3K is
anything remotely close to gen.. If you ask me, the 3K strap is offensively bad considering the price of this watch.
The rubber itself is cheap and flimsy. It has no structure to it at all. It's such a cheap cheap garbage material, even the color isn't a proper hue of black - It has a white "powdery" surface finishing that you only get from the most low level synthetics available.
I took a pic solely of the strap because I was so taken aback at how horrible it was:
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I'm Including some additional pics of the 3K watch below because I had a few other observations when handling the watch up close.
The photos below are the 3K next to a KMF hybrid build with genuine dial & Spongebob / Keylog DWO.
Firstly the lume on the 3K hands is too yellow.. However the 3K dial itself is really impressive comparing side-by-side with gen. The dial indices are a tad bit 'thicker' but they are nicely beveled and give the dial a very refined and elegant look. The lume color is not as much of an issue here. The geosphere pattern is also very nicely executed; the grooves are not as 'deep' or wide as the ZF dial. Lastly the sunburst and color is very very good. A bit too much sunburst IMO but better than any other dial available. The only minor gripe I had with the 3K dial is the printing of the "Patek" logo under 12:00 could have been better executed. The print is a tad bit sloppy.
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The movement was very impressive, and beautifully executed - its just a shame that they did not bother to engrave it. I understand why they did this, and before anyone takes offense for me saying this, I'd like to iterate I'm only speaking from a subjective perspective: To me, its a wasted clone movement to miss out on the engravings. Why? Because these are reps. At the end of the day if I didn't care what the movement looked like I'd go with a proven reliable Miyota 9015. It will be easier to service, maintain, and replace parts in the long run. However, since this model has an exhibition caseback,
I do care if the movement looks accurate.. Besides the argument of pushing the envelope for more advanced development in replica movements (which is indeed impressive!), the idea of having a cloned movement with an exhibition case back is so that the movement itself will appear gen. Unfortunately for 3K they didn't do that.. its close, but still deeply and obviously flawed. So in my mind the entire execution of a cloned movement is a moot point. Again. Please dont attack me for thinking this way, in the pursuit of perfection we all have our tolerances and this is just where I personally can't accept 3K's execution of the movement. I'm still incredibly impressed that we've come this close, and I have high hopes that a V2 is on the horizon.
Lastly, and a pretty big observation, the case proportions from 3K seem to be off.. The bezel in particular when compared side by side to KMF is much larger. I also went to an AD that has gen and had a look at the real thing, which confirmed my observation that the 3K somehow messed up on this detail - the genuine Aquanaut bezel does not appear to be as wide as their version... I will need to find time to get pics of the gen again as I didn't last time I was there.. But I've included the pics above and will add some more photos below.
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To those that have made it this far down throughout my ramblings, I appreciate you taking the time to read.
Overall I still feel the 3K is a gorgeous watch that holds its own against the competition. It has tremendous value for how good it looks, with a functioning cloned 324SC at a fraction of the price of gen as well. Had I not sourced a genuine dial I would most definitely have attempted to source a 3K dial for my build.
