6542 case study - TS Station rep and the vietnam high end case

[kilowattore]

TS watches 6542 - review and comparison

There has been a lot of talk around this release from TS watch lately, so I finally managed to get my hands on one.
Since I accidentaly also have a complete vietnam case set on hand I thought it would have been interesting to see how they compare.
The following pics have been taken at my desk under a strong light I use for working. I had to take a huge number of pics, excuse some dust and fingerprints I did not have the time to remove.

THE WATCH



First and foremost it's interesting to see how the assembled watch looks like.

The goods

At first sight it's a nicely made rep.
Bezel has nice shades of red and blue, numbers have that special 3d effect due to the plexiglas bezel.





Dial has a deep glossy black finish, prints are sharp and all in all the gold graphics look good. Pity for that Serpico y Laino inscription though...
Datewheel is roulette (alternated red and black) like gen with nice fonts.
Lume application is not perfect as sometimes it covers the golden contour, lume texture is very grainy too. At least it looks applied by hand and has nice colour.



Hands shape is good, and the small GMT hand is a very welcome feature. An aftermarket one will be quite expensive even at rafflestime. Sorry I cut the tip of the hand out of the pic



Engravings between the lugs and inside the case back are very nice, they're punched and not laser-etched like your usual cartel /JKF reps.




Movement is a solid and reliable asian 2836 clone with GMT complication. Check the thick brass movement holder.




The flaws

The worst feature of the watch has to be the bracelet.
It looks like your usual cartel riveted bracelet, but I have to warn you guys: tighten up your screws!
Bracelet literally tore itself to pieces on me while wearing it, watch almost fell off my wrist. Two different links detached at the same time. It never happened to me.

Crown tube hadn't been completely screwed in, that's another thing that needs to be checked. Tube lacks an inner o-ring and crown is wobbly anyway. Not a big issue but worth to mention.



Lugs... They are slightly too long (compared to the vietnam case this watch is around 1 mm longer), more than this the lug holes are placed incorrectly and this leads to the bracelet end-links having a ridicolous fit.



Detail of bracelet engravings





Bezel does not turn on my watch. After disassembling it I realized the problem was the plexi insert being glued on the retaining ring. Most likely fixable.
The insert itself, although looking good, is really too thick and cannot easily be thinned down properly. I think it would just be better to smoothen the edges down.
Bezel ring edges are really too sharp and need to be sanded down and smoothened.

COMPARISON SHOTS



In all pics rep is on left and vietnam is on right.

Dial







I hope I managed to depict clearly the difference between the printed rep dial and the true gilt negative relief vietnam dial. As I already said it looks like a slight difference in pics, but it's quite evident in real life.
Dials are the same exact size so a vietnam dial will fit the TS watch case perfectly.

Rep









Viet









Caseback

They are very similar, except font on engravings. Rep CB fits vietnam case and vice versa.





Case sets - front view

Biggest visible differences are in bezel inserts. Vietnam has deeper, darker colors and fatter fonts. TS watch rep looks the part anyway imho.







Case sets - Side view

Here you can clearly see how the TS rep is thinner and has longer lugs.
Bezel shape is slightly different. Rep crystal is thinner than vietnam crystal.















Bezel assembly

Bezel assembly is the same. Only the outer bezel has a slightly different profile as shown later.





Crown area

Crown tube position is the same in both cases.
Tube size is the same, rep crown screws on vietnam tube perfectly.
You can see a detail of the thicker TS watch bezel insert as well.





Engravings between the lugs

Engravings are deep on both the rep and vietnam case. Fonts on rep are a little worse.





Rep




Viet




FINAL COMMENTS

This release from TS Watch represents the first proper attempt to a vintage 6542 and the result is pretty good imho, especially considering it comes way cheaper than a vietnam build. The correctly sized dial is a great feature that allows this watch to be upgraded with a true gilt dial. On the other hand the lugs shape and bracelet fitting is awful and hard to fix. The other issues with the assembly of parts are easy to forgive.



That's all, I hope you find the thread a useful reference.

 

[SuperTopGun]

kilowattore Very appreciated

 

[CartoonZombie]

What an unbelievably informative and well put together review! I've been looking at these since I sparked a passion for vintage watches and this will certainly help me decide. Thanks

 

[gigi77]

Nice thanks!

 

[grandhotel]

Amazing! thanks for sharing with us

 

[nsk2135]

Really insightful stuff as always, thanks for taking the time to write this up, take the pictures and better inform the community.

My takeaway was, while there are notable differences between the TS and a more expensive vietnam caseset (especially the bracelet; thanks for the tip on tightening the screws!), you get a lot more than what you paid for with the TS.

Getting a TS 6542 in soon, and this post psyched me up even more!

 

[Kolohekeki]

Great write up, thank you!

 

[GingerBubba]

Thanks OP, super thread. By way of additional comparison, could you include the total price of the two watches please?

 

[yodog]

Assembly on the TS watch is horrific - since each is "modded by factory" the QC isnt great.

I worked on one that had a lot of issues.

1 - The insert wasn't even properly stickied to the bezel ring, they forgot to peel off the 3M sticker on the double sided tape. it was friction fitted on and would have fallen off.
2 - the movement tabs were not tight, the guts of the watch shifted everytime you pull out the crown.
3 - the dial spacer is too thick, which caused the GMT wheel to float up and the GMT hand not engaging at random intervals.

A good look over and buttoning up each area, this is a solid watch for the money.

 

[ADINVA]

What a thorough review。 Thank you so much for generously sharing.

 

[369mafia]

A FINE review brother....its nice to get a comparison like this.. I like the engravings on the TS case more. I prefer the font and colours of the ts insert more also.

a good entry point into vintage.

The Viet case set cost more than the entire watch. do you think its justified??

 

[Rugino]

Thankyou..nice thread....TS is affordable but what about Viet??...where to buy dial and case??

 

[djulink]

Many Thanks for that hell of a comparison review.

I really appreciate the actual hype here around the 6542 because it’s one of my favorites watches and because it was the one that was missing in my collection. To me, the « tiercé gagnant » in the Rolex Sport Watches Family would be - in that order - references 6538, 6542 and 6239.

To give an hint about total cost, I think a VN 6542 caseset would be between 650$ to 850$ (depending on your exigence level and negotiating capabilities) ; 150$ to 250$ for a decent dial and handset; the movement can be from so many origins that the price range would be very large (between 50$ to more than several K$ for a gen one working properly) ; a good VN 7206 bracelet can be had for around 150$. And so forth (gen crown/tube, gen clasp, etc.) if you want to frankenize your build.

So that is at least 1000$ for the pieces only, than you’d have to be able to put them all together or find someone to do it for you.

Try Ruby first, than you have others (MQ, Phong’son - I guess) but they are harder to deal with, imho.

 

[Rugino]

djulink ....interesting suggestion: Ruby??? Have contact link or Ruby is the name in RWI???
I am trying to have best franken of 5512 fuor LINE and the gen case is rare and definitely NOT CHEAP!!!!

 

[djulink]

djulink ....interesting suggestion: Ruby??? Have contact link or Ruby is the name in RWI???
I am trying to have best franken of 5512 fuor LINE and the gen case is rare and definitely NOT CHEAP!!!!

Google “Ruby’s Watches”

 

[ADINVA]

Many Thanks for that hell of a comparison review.

I really appreciate the actual hype here around the 6542 because it’s one of my favorites watches and because it was the one that was missing in my collection. To me, the « tiercé gagnant » in the Rolex Sport Watches Family would be - in that order - references 6538, 6542 and 6239.

To give an hint about total cost, I think a VN 6542 caseset would be between 650$ to 850$ (depending on your exigence level and negotiating capabilities) ; 150$ to 250$ for a decent dial and handset; the movement can be from so many origins that the price range would be very large (between 50$ to more than several K$ for a gen one working properly) ; a good VN 7206 bracelet can be had for around 150$. And so forth (gen crown/tube, gen clasp, etc.) if you want to frankenize your build.

So that is at least 1000$ for the pieces only, than you’d have to be able to put them all together or find someone to do it for you.

Try Ruby first, than you have others (MQ, Phong’son - I guess) but they are harder to deal with, imho.

Any suggestions on where one can acquire a decent 6542 GMT dial for USD$150? Also, where is a good source to acquire a good VN 7208 bracelet? Does Ruby offer both items at that pricing point? Many thanks for sharing.

 

[hanski]

kilowattore great comparison and write up! Now you just need to pick up a gen and do a three way comparison.

Oh, and kinda funny how you distinguished them in shorthand, rep vs VN. Hahahaha, they’re both reps.

 

[Mendota]

^Yeah, but the Vietnam case set is actually made per OEM spec (to a varying degree), so it will accept a gen movement and other gen parts. So I consider these types of things to be aftermarket replacements, not replicas per se. I know it can be semantics, but when buying car parts, there are varying degrees of tolerances and such that you can choose from, but they aren't labeled as replicas. They are aftermarket replacement parts based on OEM specs. I think there's a big difference between a replica and an aftermarket case. The replica is cheap, way out of tolerance, and just for fun while the aftermarket case set is for reproducing (or restoring) the watch. Just my humble opinion and how I am looking at these things as I map out my vintage project list for gen movement builds.

 

[djulink]

Any suggestions on where one can acquire a decent 6542 GMT dial for USD$150? Also, where is a good source to acquire a good VN 7208 bracelet? Does Ruby offer both items at that pricing point? Many thanks for sharing.

Maybe the "decal" dial road would be the best for this kind of budget.

Don't think there is a 7208 bracelet reference (at least in Rolex catalogue), but if you want one for Ref. 6542, 6538 or 6541 you'll want a 7206 (from Yuki, Ruby's or M2M here). And yes, they do provide many items you could need.

 

[kilowattore]

Well put yodog and @Mendoza, that's the correct perspective imho. This case is mainly good for fun projects, while for the serious builder a Vietnam case is still the only option imho