AMF 5712 review (and comparison vs. PPF v1)

[riverSF]

Yeah I’m aware, I have a lot of experience with moissanite and that’s one of its downfalls. Lab diamonds would’ve been a perfect alternative. The watch looks amazing though, can’t wait to see more angles of it! Is it plated platnium or just SS?

You’re building up a great AMF collection. Seems like you’re ordering all the watches I’m on the verge of pulling the trigger on so I’m excited to see your reviews

Its just SS, I asked AMF about plating with platinum and they didn't think it would come out well or be significantly better looking than well-polished SS

And I agree with you on the lab-grown diamonds, I should have asked them about that . The fire is quite noticeable (as you know)...

 

[riverSF]

Wow! That REALLY IS NICE! Who made it for you please? And I'm guessing it's in SS?

I've asked AMF to find out for me the cost of a RG case back in tungsten + the cost to do a RG case in tungsten (these will be used to replace the SS RG case and back |I have now on a Rolex rainbow. They said they can do it but I need price before I start.

So I'm thinking that if the prices aren't too dear I could also get YOUR watch in tungsten (including bracelet i.e. "the lot") and get it plated in WG?

AMF did it; and correct, it's in SS. I do wish I had done lab-grown diamonds instead of the moissanite but alas

Interested to hear how the tungsten search goes; I've always run into 'the plating doesn't come out well' or 'the case shape is off' (hard metal to work with). I imagine they could do the platona as you say (although the WG would technically look different than the gen platinum)

 

[BlossomboofyBoofystewie2]

AMF did it; and correct, it's in SS. I do wish I had done lab-grown diamonds instead of the moissanite but alas

Interested to hear how the tungsten search goes; I've always run into 'the plating doesn't come out well' or 'the case shape is off' (hard metal to work with). I imagine they could do the platona as you say (although the WG would technically look different than the gen platinum)

Thanks! Do you know "about" how much extra lab grown diamonds would have been as against moissanite? And I'm guessing, you think lab grown look a LOT better?

I once got an s/s oyster band plated in platinum and, like AMF said, I couldn't tell the difference and if there was one not worth whatever I paid for it.

 

[riverSF]

Thanks! Do you know "about" how much extra lab grown diamonds would have been as against moissanite? And I'm guessing, you think lab grown look a LOT better?

I once got an s/s oyster band plated in platinum and, like AMF said, I couldn't tell the difference and if there was one not worth whatever I paid for it.

I asked AMF, will DM you once they get back to me

I do think you'd notice a difference w/ diamond vs moissanite, especially with that many around the bezel. Check out this video around the 0:43 mark (and you can search for other comparisons of diamond vs. moissanite). Moissanite has a much more pronounced disco ball / rainbow reflection to it

 

[riverSF]

Update here -- I bought the SW version of the 5712 from ChazingTime (custom dial only, not the custom movement). That watch is disappointing (the moonphase pusher didn't work when it arrived and I had to mail it back to have it fixed). The dial color from AMF is substantially better (more reflective, better gradient, more black around edges) and the crystal is clearer. See pic below

The biggest difference is the text printing and font, which is thinner on the AMF and the incorrect font. The SW dial gets this right and much closer to gen, and the text does look better (esp the red of the power reserve). You can also barely tell that the lume is more green in the hands in the AMF version. From a distance though, the AMF wins hands down with the dial color

I wouldn't recommend the ChazingTime custom version as a comparable substitute for a fully custom version elsewhere

 

[Ac1013]

Update here -- I bought the SW version of the 5712 from ChazingTime (custom dial only, not the custom movement). That watch is disappointing (the moonphase pusher didn't work when it arrived and I had to mail it back to have it fixed). The dial color from AMF is substantially better (more reflective, better gradient, more black around edges) and the crystal is clearer. See pic below

The biggest difference is the text printing and font, which is thinner on the AMF and the incorrect font. The SW dial gets this right and much closer to gen, and the text does look better (esp the red of the power reserve). You can also barely tell that the lume is more green in the hands in the AMF version. From a distance though, the AMF wins hands down with the dial color

I wouldn't recommend the ChazingTime custom version as a comparable substitute for a fully custom version elsewhere

Amf use vsv dial , which the thickness of the stripes on dial is already incorrect.. the hands more green because its a whole set of stock ppf hands…moon disc also looks closer on that sw.
gen 5712 dial doesnt have a very dark black surrounding as well..

 

[TagHeuerFan1963]

Are the sunburst on the subdials accurate? I mean the date + moonphase / seconds subdial. To me they look like an exaggerated feature from the actual genuine dial.

 

[riverSF]

Are the sunburst on the subdials accurate? I mean the date + moonphase / seconds subdial. To me they look like an exaggerated feature from the actual genuine dial.

I think they are exaggerated, but they appear in some of the gen videos I’ve see:

 

[CptnDeadpool15]

Link to full-res images

Background​

I ordered this modded 5712 from AMF back in October ‘22 (back when the build was a PPF v1, and they would try to thin out the case and had to shave the crown down). It did take an extremely long time to come (I received it in July ‘23, although they were upfront about it taking a ‘long time’ but I didn’t think THAT long). That said, it was worth the wait, and I’m very happy with it and wanted to share this review + a comparison vs. an older PPF 5712 I have (v1 with no working PR, A230, protruding crown, etc etc, although better moonphase color vs. v2).

I realize this would be better vs. a PPF v2 or the modded VSV (doesn’t it look too blue in the pics?) or even a gen to compare to, but alas (if anyone wants to loan me their gen, I’d be happy to take new photos ).

Also, my camera had trouble fully focusing on some points that weren’t in the same plane, so there is a little blur in some of the images. In the images, the PPF is always on the left and the AMF is on the right.

Descriptions​

The AMF build is custom (basically just PPF v2 w/ SW dial, custom moonphase, and some case / bracelet work), and the PPF is v1 stock w/ fake PR.

AMF​

• Base: PPF v2
• Dial: SW dial w/ custom moonphase sourced by AMF (non-SW)
• Movement: A240 clone
• Thickness: ~8.8mm
• Weight: 117g (missing 3 links)
• Other: Extra polish work on case and bracelet (especially edges of bracelet)

PPF​

• Base: PPF v1
• Dial: Stock dial
• Movement: A230 w/ non-working PR
• Thickness: ~9.9mm
• Weight: 129g (missing 3 links)

Overall Thoughts​

Positive​

• The SW dial is beautiful, and I agree that it's the best avail dial as discussed elsewhere (I don’t know what version it is)
• Text on the SW dial is markedly better than the PPF (thinner and more crisp)
• The custom moon disc is beautiful and very close to gen. I was also surprised at how bad the PPF v1 moon disc is when up close (even beyond the noticeable gap)
• The sunburst on the subdials is very striking, and almost too much. I’ve seen discussions about new 5712 dials w/ ‘less sunblast’, so maybe people know this. More on this below

Negative​

• There is a noticeable difference in the thickness of the lume area on the hands and markers between both watches (PPF thinner, AMF thicker). From what I understand, there is variance in the thickness in gen depending on year, etc, but the photos of the 5712 online generally appear thinner, which is trivial but bothers me
• Both movements look terrible IMO (laser printing on the 240 is bad), but I don’t really care how they look
• I think the 6 o’clock hour marker on the new AMF watch is *very slightly* crooked and I can’t unsee it

Dial​

Color​

• The color of the SW dial on the AMF watch is beautiful. Nice dark grey / blue / steel color with no green tint. PPF has the greenish tint
• The sunbursts on the subdials are very obvious and distinctly different from the PPF. I thought they are almost too much vs gen, so I tried to find videos that somewhat replicated the sunburst in the gen (see video 1 and video 2). It's there, just maybe not to the degree in the SW dial. Also, note that the metal on the markers in both gen videos appears thicker than on the SW dial
• Here is a video of each watch showing the degree of sunburst and reflectivity on the dial:

PPF

AMF

Text / Printing

• AMF text is much thinner and sharper vs. the PPF, closer to gen
• Dots are much smaller and the AMF correctly has the larger dots at the 25 and 35 min markers like gen (PPF dots are all the same size)

Pattern

• This is hard to describe, but the definition in the valleys running across the dial pattern is much 'harder' / more angular and more similar to gen in the AMF / SW dial
• Spacing between the AMF subdials is better and nothing like the huge space on the Buff dial
• The transition between the pattern and the subdials is also much smoother / less rounding at the edges in the AMF

Moonphase​

• The custom moonphase dial that AMF used is really beautiful, with sharp, reflective, uniform ink and a star pattern like gen (right star sizes / arrangement)
• If you want to get crazy, from what I can tell the AMF star orientation / rotation also correctly matches gen and the pattern on gen is subtly different between each of the two blocks of stars on the dial which is super impressive
• The AMF moon image occludes perfectly behind the dial, which is larger and more rounded than PPF
• The PPF moonphase is a mess up close (sizing all wrong, bad printing, wrong color)
• No gap / recessed wheel in the AMF version (although PPF v2 somewhat addressed this)
• The red ‘1’ looks misaligned at the bottom to me, but it's something others have commented on and the gen looks like this too which I find odd
• I think there is a very slight scratch on the ‘2’ in the ‘29’ and at the bottom of the '3' on my AMF version

Markers + Hands​

• Thicker lume area / thinner metal on the AMF markers. This seems contrary to most of the pictures I see online, but some do look like this
• The metal is more rounded in the AMF version, which also seems contrary to gen
• There is a very slight greenish / yellowish tint on the AMF lume
• The silver pinion in the center hands looks good
• AMF still has a gold pinion on one of the subdials, which some gen do

Case / Bracelet​

this is the PPF, the AMF looks similar at the ends

• As the AMF is based on the PPF v2, the case much thinner than the v1 and closer to gen (8.7-8.9mm depending on whether you measure metal to metal or include glass vs 9.7-9.9mm for the PPF)
• AMF recessed crown looks good, PPF v1 still stuck out like a sore thumb, literally (ignore what looks like scratches on the AMF crown)
• PPF did a surprisingly good job on the polishing at the corners of the ends of the links in the bracelet IMO (and this is in both versions)

Movement​

• I don’t really care what the movements look like so I didn’t try to take great pictures, but I think both don’t look good

Final Thoughts​

I love the watch, the dial work is beautiful (especially all the detail around the moonphase). The markers and lume bother me a bit but everything else looks great. I’m very curious to see what the modded VSV 5712 looks like and how this compares (especially the details in the dial).

Also, I have no association with AMF other than I’ve bought a number of watches from them and have really enjoyed working with them. I reviewed a few other watches I bought from them:

• AP 15202ST
• 116519LN

I also bought some others from them and will post reviews when they come:

• Blue 5711 (currently in transit after an even longer wait than the 5712)
• 116576TBR w/ custom dial and moissanite bezel (currently in transit)
• 116505 (rose gold w/ custom meteorite dial, currently in production)

This is my first big review, hope you enjoy!

Great informative review!