Hello everyone,
I have been following this forum for the last couple of weeks when I first decided to try and get my hands on a replica 5167a-001 PP. I've been following several threads closely to decide on which factory to get the time piece from and with the combined knowledge of everyone here, I pulled the trigger on the 3KF version which has just arrived today. So far, I've been pretty impressed with it. Some noteworthy observations:
1) [Dial] Date wheel appears to be relatively okay as far as font weight is concerned, but it's still a tiny bit off center. What's also interesting is that the dial now has the Swiss Made text at the bottom, which I'm not sure is a good thing. Reason here being that some folks have mentioned that the earlier versions of this piece (pre-2009 and without the Swiss Made text) have greenish lume on the dial markers, but in instances where the hands have been replaced with service ones, you'd end up with whitish hands and greenish dials; the ones with post 2009 and with Swiss Made on it, however, would have whiter dial marker which matches the 3KF hands - this in part due to the newer lume that is applied on the later versions.
2) [Case back] Movement is engraved in this version, but on closer inspection, the engraving is rough around the edges - nothing the naked eye can pick up though.
3) [Steel bracelet] I went for the SS bracelet version just to ensure I didn't get the one with the gold markings at the lugs, so I ended up with.. well.. the bracelets. There hasn't been much coverage about the quality of the bracelets so I figured that I may as well provide some first hand insights on it: on comparison to the gen bracelet, it appears that the rep one does not suffer the same issue as the Nautilaus reps where the end links are too big.
3KF Rep
Gen
4) The clasps are a bit of a disappointment for me, but didn't come as a surprise as many have left the same feedback about it being loose. The bright side of this, however, is that the engraving and alignment is relatively well done.
My biggest gripe on the above observations right now is just on the dial, specifically the lume. I'm keen to get this replaced (vs. doing a relume cos... why not?) and then move on to acquiring other gen bits (hands, datewheel and possibly rubber strap and clasps) to franken this baby up.
And on that note, I would like to seek your kind advice as to whether a gen 5167a dial would fit nicely into into the 3KF case. I'm about to place my order for a gen dial that I've spent weeks finding, but am incredibly nervous that it wouldn't fit.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you guys! :thumbsup:
I have been following this forum for the last couple of weeks when I first decided to try and get my hands on a replica 5167a-001 PP. I've been following several threads closely to decide on which factory to get the time piece from and with the combined knowledge of everyone here, I pulled the trigger on the 3KF version which has just arrived today. So far, I've been pretty impressed with it. Some noteworthy observations:
1) [Dial] Date wheel appears to be relatively okay as far as font weight is concerned, but it's still a tiny bit off center. What's also interesting is that the dial now has the Swiss Made text at the bottom, which I'm not sure is a good thing. Reason here being that some folks have mentioned that the earlier versions of this piece (pre-2009 and without the Swiss Made text) have greenish lume on the dial markers, but in instances where the hands have been replaced with service ones, you'd end up with whitish hands and greenish dials; the ones with post 2009 and with Swiss Made on it, however, would have whiter dial marker which matches the 3KF hands - this in part due to the newer lume that is applied on the later versions.
2) [Case back] Movement is engraved in this version, but on closer inspection, the engraving is rough around the edges - nothing the naked eye can pick up though.
3) [Steel bracelet] I went for the SS bracelet version just to ensure I didn't get the one with the gold markings at the lugs, so I ended up with.. well.. the bracelets. There hasn't been much coverage about the quality of the bracelets so I figured that I may as well provide some first hand insights on it: on comparison to the gen bracelet, it appears that the rep one does not suffer the same issue as the Nautilaus reps where the end links are too big.
3KF Rep
Gen
4) The clasps are a bit of a disappointment for me, but didn't come as a surprise as many have left the same feedback about it being loose. The bright side of this, however, is that the engraving and alignment is relatively well done.
My biggest gripe on the above observations right now is just on the dial, specifically the lume. I'm keen to get this replaced (vs. doing a relume cos... why not?) and then move on to acquiring other gen bits (hands, datewheel and possibly rubber strap and clasps) to franken this baby up.
And on that note, I would like to seek your kind advice as to whether a gen 5167a dial would fit nicely into into the 3KF case. I'm about to place my order for a gen dial that I've spent weeks finding, but am incredibly nervous that it wouldn't fit.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you guys! :thumbsup: