No photos because it's evarly and the light has been trash in my city for days, but short review:
I. Love. This. Watch.
From the jump it feels more robust than the previous movement, and you can just sorta tell that it's a step up in terms of operation, design, and engineering. The case seems to be mildly revised towards gen dimensions, and doesn't feel as wide as the v1/v2 BBRs, but feels more like the old ZF model when they first nailed the case.
The strap is slimmer and smaller and definitely more supple, and the velcro is a cut above the eBay ones or shitter ones that you can get. The velcro flexes instead of bending and feels high quality, especially with the metal screw inserts. Unfortunately these inserts are threaded (I've never seen this, only threaded cases) so aftermarket makers might need to accommodate that too. I haven't taken my BBR v1 apart so I don't know if the inserts were threaded before, but they are now.
The clasp is the only part I'm less happy with, as it doesn't snap like a ZF or JBF clasp does, although it feels plenty secure. Dimensions are smaller than aftermarket and closer to ZF sizes (haven't measured) but from reading around here it should fit if you want a snappy clasp like gen.
Holding this movement up to the light is fucking amazing; it feels like my first tourbillon and I can't stop looking at it. Just stunning to backlight it and see all the wheels working together and all the holes and negative space in the movement are really alluring. I do notice mine will take a TON of winds, more than other handwinders I have. I gave it 120 turns this morning and didn't hit a hard stop so it could be a friction clutch or the barrels just wind slow, and it took a good 30 or so winds to start it initially. So far it's been running for three days and lost a couple seconds from what I can tell, so timekeeping is dead on. I'll get a power reserve off of it eventually but it's not going to leave my wrist for a damn long time. Timesetting is quick and easy, crown operates like it should and feels nice and clicky moving between winding and timesetting modes. My JBF crowns are a pain in the ass to pull out, so after months of that this is perfection.
It's super light, wears slim, and feels great on wrist. The black one is going to be a stealth killer because it flies under the radar for what it is. I've owned every iteration of RM55 from the old KVF onwards and this is IMHO the biggest game-changer. It doesn't *feel* as big as the original clone BBR because that was the first "clone" ever, but this is a step up in every single way and if it has the reliability it seems to it's a fantastic buy, I might need to get a Yas Marina too eventually...
