About to place an order of IW377709 green

[StateQuieta]

This will be my first acquisition, and after months of research, I think I’m going for a green IWC. I haven’t seen much of this reference with a green dial here on the forum, so I was wondering if anyone could share photos or comments about it. I’m pretty sure I’ll get it from the ZF factory, and I understand that the movement might have issues with the chronograph, so it’s recommended to go for the version with the second hand at 6 o'clock. Could someone confirm if I’m on the right track?

Lastly, could anyone advise me on where to get a good leather strap? I’ve read that the one it comes with is usually of quite poor quality. Also, I’d love to find one with the two rivet detail that I’ve seen on some IWC leather straps.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[StateQuieta]

Typo: I wanted to say avoid the second hand at 6 o'clock, and should be at 9.

 

[aguida]

This will be my first acquisition, and after months of research, I think I’m going for a green IWC. I haven’t seen much of this reference with a green dial here on the forum, so I was wondering if anyone could share photos or comments about it. I’m pretty sure I’ll get it from the ZF factory, and I understand that the movement might have issues with the chronograph, so it’s recommended to go for the version with the second hand at 6 o'clock. Could someone confirm if I’m on the right track?

Lastly, could anyone advise me on where to get a good leather strap? I’ve read that the one it comes with is usually of quite poor quality. Also, I’d love to find one with the two rivet detail that I’ve seen on some IWC leather straps.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

First of all welcome. Glad you are ready to pull the trigger. I remember the feeling of having reasearched the first replica for month and then ended up buying from the wrong TD and got some crap! FIrst lesson learned, always use one of the TDs listed here

I have had this model from ZF, seconds at 9', and never ever had any problem with it.




About the strap, to be honest I did not have any issue with the original strap. So wait to receive it and judge for yourself.

Having said that I experiment a lot with straps, and sure enough I have also bought one with the two rivets. This is a matter of personal taste. I ended up never using it as I find it to hard (visually). But that's just my visual esthetic sense. Yours might be different.

But as I said I experiment a lot with straps and here is how I go to it:

1. Check on Chrono24 or eBay if you can find the genuine strap you want, used at a bargain price. If you want the original quality there is no other way, and you can be surprised, with some patience, what bargain can you pull off.
2. Have one hand made. There some extremely skilled strap makers, where you can exactly choose the what leather to use and really make it as you like in top quality. This is a medium expensive solution but high quality. There are many out there but I have used for years one called LigerStrap
3. Buy a replica strap. Usually I go to Etsy.com for that. All things equally the quality (sometimes) is a little better than the one you get other places and shipping is usually faster. Prices are also much better than one and two, leather still being leather.
4. Ask the TD where you are buying the watch. Ofthen they can source also straps alone
5. Finally you can try your luck at AliExpress. If you are patient with shipping time, you might be lucky (or sometime get fake-leather). I have not used it in many years, but many here do.

Have fun with your new hobby and don't forget to not overthink it and enojoy your new watch.

 

[StateQuieta]

Thank you so much for the advice and good words. I'm really excited about the purchase. Since the moment I got my first (and unique) gen (bulgari scuba diver) I got in love with the joy of good watches. Now that I have discovered a proper way of purchasing good reps, I know I should take control of myself

One thing I got to disovered, and didn't properly find before purchasing is about the references of this watch.

Theoretically speaking, the gen models employing green dial are:

IW388103 - Produce in 2024, 41mm.
IW377726 - Produced in 2020, 44mm.

However, in many TD websites (like theonewatches) the reference employed is IW377709, using the "green" postfix to specify the dial colour (otherwise it would be just black).

Point is: is there a rep being produced of the chrono with green dial of 41mm dial?

I mean, I'm ok with the 43mm. I'm actually waiting for the QC and would not deny a good unit of 43mm, but I wanted to understand the references.

Last but not least: do I really need to take the watch to the service upon receival to lubricate it? I have read some stories about its lack of lubrication.

Thanks!

 

[aguida]

Thank you so much for the advice and good words. I'm really excited about the purchase. Since the moment I got my first (and unique) gen (bulgari scuba diver) I got in love with the joy of good watches. Now that I have discovered a proper way of purchasing good reps, I know I should take control of myself

One thing I got to disovered, and didn't properly find before purchasing is about the references of this watch.

Theoretically speaking, the gen models employing green dial are:

IW388103 - Produce in 2024, 41mm.
IW377726 - Produced in 2020, 44mm.

However, in many TD websites (like theonewatches) the reference employed is IW377709, using the "green" postfix to specify the dial colour (otherwise it would be just black).

Point is: is there a rep being produced of the chrono with green dial of 41mm dial?

I mean, I'm ok with the 43mm. I'm actually waiting for the QC and would not deny a good unit of 43mm, but I wanted to understand the references.

Last but not least: do I really need to take the watch to the service upon receival to lubricate it? I have read some stories about its lack of lubrication.

Thanks! I'm

How big iß your wrist in circumference? Usually I would recommend 42 and more if the wrist is 18 cm or more. But of course is a matter of taste too.

I think you are right, that doesn't seem to be a good replica of the 41 mm. You could try to search on RWI for Fat Panda and ask him. If the watch exists on this planet he can find it.

Finally, about sending the watch immediately to service after receiving it is a a question with as many answers as there are members on RWI.
In my opinion, no. I don't send my new watches to service before is needed. I have bought many reps, some are over 3 years old, and I send them to service only when needed or when it has gone more than 3-4 years since last time. For me is a no brainer as having the watch sent abroad to service will all in all cost at least 1/2 of what I paid for the watch.

 

[StateQuieta]

Bad news. TD told me that ZF is out of stock. She offers me a different colour (blue dial) but I don't think I'm convinced... So I asked her about getting the OF version (remember that WMBG actually shows that OF version is supossed to better off the ZF version): price is actually double, 4500 CNY.

I'm really in a dead end here cause in one hand there is very little information about this model with green dial, so I can't verify if there's really scarcity of it. On the other, I can't imagine any particular interest of TD not fulfilling the demmand.

Any experiences with OF rep? I'm going to deep dive in the forums and see if I can get any comments about both reps and its differences... Thanks!