A short review of the APSF 15500 A4302 clone caliber

[josephag94]

Hey mate, my above post wasn’t to suggest black is the most accurate colour but more my own personal preference

Apologies for some reason i thought I was replying to the thread itself and not your quote. It was directed to @legend himself. Apologies for the confusion

 

[legend]

As someone who held both this rep and gen.
How far this $500 rep from gen? I mean what will be an “instant tell” or is there any mods you would recommend.

In real life, for the black dial at least (I have not seen the APSF silver, grey or blue dials), there is no "instant tell".
The finishing of the watch case/bezel/bracelet, dial and movement can be improved, and dial can be swapped out for gen but it can really be purchased and worn straight out of the box. Of course there are other concerns like improving movement reliability and such but it is the best Royal Oak replica IMHO currently, this is my opinion.

 

[legend]

Beautiful review @legend thank you for this! I do have a question about the automatic rotor though... I recently serviced my ZF AP 15400, and noticed that the automatic rotor on the clone 3120 movement had a weight that was peened into place on the underside of the rotor:



I was wondering if the APSF clone 4302 caliber is using the same trick? I can't really see the rotor well enough in your initial review pic. But I'd be curious to see if APSF was able get away without using an additional weight.

For the benefit of other members wondering about your question, the gen rotors of luxury watches typically use 18-22k gold for the weight, so that it can oscillate/rotate effectively to gain power reserve when the watch is worn.

@dogwood yes the 4302 rotor is constructed in a similar way.

 

[g00n]

Apologies for some reason i thought I was replying to the thread itself and not your quote. It was directed to @legend himself. Apologies for the confusion

Nothing to apologise for mate, I’m the one that got confused

 

[Star70]

Im new to the AP world and got into the APs after I saw a gen 15500 with grey dial a couple of weeks ago(it was love at first sight).Since then I’ve been following the AP forums and thoroughly enjoying it! I have learnt so much already from you guys especially Legend who certainly lives upto his name.It’s really becoming addictive and I’ve caught myself checking every 5-10 mins for the next posts .I have now ordered the Apsf 15500 (grey dial and can’t wait.Anyway thx for all your inputs especially to Legend and keep it up guys
Cheers from a new AP enthusiast.

 

[dogwood]

The caliber plates have been cleaned and refinished lightly, and is pretty decent after the work without the dirt stains.

When you "refinished lightly" what process are you referring to? How do you refinish the plates? I assume you're not re-doing all of the pearlage? Do you polishing them with a cape cod cloth? Or would that destroy the pearlage / geneva striping? Also, if I wanted to get a better finish on the exposed screw heads, would I simply put those screws in a pin vise and take the heads to a wool wheel? Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, but I'm still learning watch repair, and am super curious about methods.

 

[Micha-808]

Thank you for the Great review. Now I will buy one.

 

[majwilliams0308]

@legend thank you for the excellent review. How was the mainspring barrel? It was a straightforward disassembly and reassembly? I know the VS3235 can be squirrelly, so just wondering how that was for you. Mainspring clean? Oiled okay or not enough?

 

[asanibal]

Wow!! I didn’t even realized this was launched. Since RWI is not in Tapatalk it is hard to follow as before … thanks Legend for the instructive information as always !!

 

[JimmyWW169]

Awesome, this is the kind of info new members need when starting out in the rep game….
Cheers

 

[legend]

@legend thank you for the excellent review. How was the mainspring barrel? It was a straightforward disassembly and reassembly? I know the VS3235 can be squirrelly, so just wondering how that was for you. Mainspring clean? Oiled okay or not enough?

The mainspring is robust, and clean enough for the specimen I worked on.

 

[Trell1114]

Ordered based off this review. Truly good stuff!

 

[kokikoki]

Ordered based off this review. Truly good stuff!

Same here

 

[PAPA_WHALE]

First off I have to say that this is an independent review of the watch in terms of absolute quality.
If you do not wish to read my rambling, the short and succinct takeaway from my post is that this is the best Royal Oak rep movement (and watch) released to date IMHO.
No gen parts are needed to enhance it IMHO, except perhaps the upgrade of the datewheel to gen. Minute differences exist between the two datewheels but nothing which will worry anyone in real life. Do take note that the date font is less than 2mm tall and there is no magnification cyclop on it.

This watch belongs to an owner who sent in the watch for a service due to movement stoppage.

Upon inspection of the parts, I would need to comment that the movement is very well put together. The finishes of the individual parts are a little rough, and of course not as well finished as the gen. But I need to reiterate that this movement is fully comparable to the 4130 clone movement, and it is amazing for the price. The date change mechanism replicates the AP 4302 caliber one perfectly, you can expect instant date changes which work as well as the gen one.
This movement arrived dirty and dry (reason for the stoppage) and needed a movement overhaul and regulation.

This is what the timegrapher shows after the service. Not shabby at all and a joy to work with. The watch runs very smooth after the service, starts easily and autowinds like a dream.

The caliber plates have been cleaned and refinished lightly, and is pretty decent after the work without the dirt stains. Note the date change mechanism in the pic. It looks and works 100% like the gen (yes I took one of my gen 15500s apart)

All in all, for the AP royal oak afficionados, get this watch while you can. It is the Noob Daytona movement for the AP ROs, and is an evolutionary gem for the community. I will recommend you get the movement serviced and regulated by whichever watchsmith is in your vicinity, as the two which I have worked on so far both arrived dry and dirty. The movement alignment and machining for the parts used are very well done, compared even with the cal 9015 from Miyota. This movement is a lot more robust as well. Power reserve tested for this specific movement after the service is 70.5hrs after a full wind.

Thank you for yet another amazing review!
Not too sure what we would do without your knowledge.

I was wondering if you have taken apart the ZF 15500 v3 with the clone 4302 movement and compared it to this APSF 15500 4302?
From what I've read, the ZF v3 is pretty new still, so not sure if you got your hands on one yet.

Thanks,

 

[legend]

Thank you for yet another amazing review!
Not too sure what we would do without your knowledge.

I was wondering if you have taken apart the ZF 15500 v3 with the clone 4302 movement and compared it to this APSF 15500 4302?
From what I've read, the ZF v3 is pretty new still, so not sure if you got your hands on one yet.

Thanks,

Is the v3 using a movement which is changed or upgraded in any way?

 

[Trell1114]

I’m not sure it’s the same movement as the APSF, I know the V3 misspelled Jewels, on the back theirs say “Jeweels”

 

[legend]

I’m not sure it’s the same movement as the APSF, I know the V3 misspelled Jewels, on the back theirs say “Jeweels”

Thank you. If the change is aesthetical or non-functional, then my review will remain the same. I have not gotten my hands on one to say for sure.

 

[DustyDude]

thank god I bought the ZF V2 with blue dial....and this one with black
I will take some pics and compare them once I have them with me.

Simply put, the ZF blue dial is better in terms of sunburst and finish.

 

[trtr]

Any chance you'll be getting a ZF15500 clone in hand. Curious to know which one you think is a better one out of the box.

 

[legend]

Any chance you'll be getting a ZF15500 clone in hand. Curious to know which one you think is a better one out of the box.

Movement pending, I already think the ZF one is better out of the box, based on observation of pictures.
But do note this is a preliminary assessment and not one cast in stone. No member who has ordered this and offered to send it to me yet.
I will update accordingly.