Clean fixed the muddy dial!

[KonKir]

They've never fixed this. Look, in their eyes, it's easier so slop a ungodly amount of grease in to make the bezel function.

I don't blame them. Under grease the bezel and it becomes too stiff making it non functional.

Yes they could diligently apply the correct amount of grease in the correct spots but probably would take too long for a rep factory with no QC standards lol.

Comes down to cost labor and time.

And @OP, this is nothing new. Clean's new GMT with the DD3285 has had excellent crystals and it has been stated many times. But too much misinformation and reddit soup is floating out there. Many members have stated a crystal swap isn't necessary on these Clean GMTs.

is it relevant for GMT only or also Panda (planning to buy one)? Thanks

 

[Reaps]

is it relevant for GMT only or also Panda (planning to buy one)? Thanks

Daytonas still need a crystal swap if it isn't the new 126x series. But simply my opinion, I'm spoiled and I will swap all Daytonas, doesn't matter Clean VSF or BTF or whatever with Deep because I enjoy that 2x AR.

 

[Storm.]

Daytonas still need a crystal swap if it isn't the new 126x series. But simply my opinion, I'm spoiled and I will swap all Daytonas, doesn't matter Clean VSF or BTF or whatever with Deep because I enjoy that 2x AR.

I replace all crystals to deep and polish off outer AR. makes the crystal pop even more.

 

[Reaps]

I replace all crystals to deep and polish off outer AR. makes the crystal pop even more.

Yes this technique I think is the best to get a most "gen like" crystal for under $100 for the Daytona series. Glad you're back on the forum sharing your Daytona knowledge brother.

 

[Storm.]

Yes this technique I think is the best to get a most "gen like" crystal for under $100 for the Daytona series. Glad you're back on the forum sharing your Daytona knowledge brother.

 

[Charalampos21]

Can you post a picture next to gen?

 

[Storm.]

Can you post a picture next to gen?

 

[duderino]

They've never fixed this. Look, in their eyes, it's easier so slop a ungodly amount of grease in to make the bezel function.

I don't blame them. Under grease the bezel and it becomes too stiff making it non functional.

Yes they could diligently apply the correct amount of grease in the correct spots but probably would take too long for a rep factory with no QC standards lol.

Comes down to cost labor and time.

And @OP, this is nothing new. Clean's new GMT with the DD3285 has had excellent crystals and it has been stated many times. But too much misinformation and reddit soup is floating out there. Many members have stated a crystal swap isn't necessary on these Clean GMTs.

Personally, I can see a difference between my gen and the two Clean GMTs I own. The one without Deep is still beautiful, but the magnification is too pronounced; not just in the date, but in how large the fonts appear too. The Deep version is much closer to gen.

That said, this difference is only noticeable if you compare them side by side. So, while a crystal swap isn't strictly necessary, it does add a little something.

If the bezel's smoothness improves as a result of the crystal swap, then that's already a win for me.

 

[Reaps]

Personally, I can see a difference between my gen and the two Clean GMTs I own. The one without Deep is still beautiful, but the magnification is too pronounced; not just in the date, but in how large the fonts appear too. The Deep version is much closer to gen.

That said, this difference is only noticeable if you compare them side by side. So, while a crystal swap isn't strictly necessary, it does add a little something.

If the bezel's smoothness improves as a result of the crystal swap, then that's already a win for me.

Lots of misinformation here.

This is my understanding :

First of all :

Swapping crystal has literally no impact on the bezel assembly. What I suspect is that they removed the bezel assembly while replacing the crystal and took the time to clean up the grease for you as well.

Second of all :

The mag thing isn't due to the crystal but the height of the crystal gasket itself. You can get correct magnification using stock crystal of Clean if you alter the height of the gasket crystal.

If you read the threads there is varying level of gasket heights that must be used to achieve the correct magnification effect. Do not quote me but I've seen 2.3-2.7mm.

And I have "deep" on my GMT as well, well because it was only $50 and I was buying alot of stuff from Xing so I threw it in as well. The only real difference is the "black hole" effect for the cyclops. But the rest I compared it was no difference.

 

[peterpl]

Clean always stuffs up the mag of the DW. How can so called premium rep makers not get such basic requirement correct.

 

[Storm.]

Personally, I can see a difference between my gen and the two Clean GMTs I own. The one without Deep is still beautiful, but the magnification is too pronounced; not just in the date, but in how large the fonts appear too. The Deep version is much closer to gen.

That said, this difference is only noticeable if you compare them side by side. So, while a crystal swap isn't strictly necessary, it does add a little something.

If the bezel's smoothness improves as a result of the crystal swap, then that's already a win for me.

Where's the pic of gen and rep together though

 

[KJ2020]

Swapping crystal has literally no impact on the bezel assembly. What I suspect is that they removed the bezel assembly while replacing the crystal and took the time to clean up the grease for you as well.

This is true bro but very often when a crystal is changed so is the gasket. A thicker gen or Clark's gasket adds bulk inside the retaining ring which bulges it out, transferring mass to the hytrel ring. This can have a huge negative effect on the bezel, often stopping it from rotating altogether.

And ofc the bezel assembly was removed to replace the crystal. There's no telling exactly what was done to which parts in that process - all of the parts might have to be adjusted or modded to fit and work together as a unit. So you are right that one cannot assume that simply swapping a crystal will improve the operation of a bezel.

 

[Reaps]

This is true bro but very often when a crystal is changed so is the gasket. A thicker gen or Clark's gasket adds bulk inside the retaining ring which bulges it out, transferring mass to the hytrel ring. This can have a huge negative effect on the bezel, often stopping it from rotating altogether.

And ofc the bezel assembly was removed to replace the crystal. There's no telling exactly what was done to which parts in that process - all of the parts have to be adjusted or modded to fit and work together as a unit. So you are right that one cannot assume that simply swapping a crystal will improve the operation of a bezel.

Learn something new everyday. Thanks for the clear up KJ. Much appreciated.

 

[duderino]

This is true bro but very often when a crystal is changed so is the gasket. A thicker gen or Clark's gasket adds bulk inside the retaining ring which bulges it out, transferring mass to the hytrel ring. This can have a huge negative effect on the bezel, often stopping it from rotating altogether.

And ofc the bezel assembly was removed to replace the crystal. There's no telling exactly what was done to which parts in that process - all of the parts might have to be adjusted or modded to fit and work together as a unit. So you are right that one cannot assume that simply swapping a crystal will improve the operation of a bezel.

This was my assumption as well. From what I understand, ctime doesn't replace the crystal themselves; they send the watch and crystal to their watchmaker, who handles the swap. I’m guessing the watchmaker also cleaned everything during the process, as the bezel action on this Pepsi is smooth, just as it should be. In contrast, the other Clean I own still feels muddy and gritty, even after I cleaned it myself with guidance from KJ and others on this forum.

 

[Storm.]

This was my assumption as well. From what I understand, ctime doesn't replace the crystal themselves; they send the watch and crystal to their watchmaker, who handles the swap. I’m guessing the watchmaker also cleaned everything during the process, as the bezel action on this Pepsi is smooth, just as it should be. In contrast, the other Clean I own still feels muddy and gritty, even after I cleaned it myself with guidance from KJ and others on this forum.

Ok but where's the gen

 

[duderino]

Where's the pic of gen and rep together though

Forgot to reply, apologies.



The biggest tell, next to each other is that the text on the Clean with deep crystal, seems a bit grey-ish compared to the gen. That said, I've seen Cleans without Deep that look the same, but then the date is too magnified.

 

[duderino]

A bit annoying that I can't edit my own posts. Anyway,

While the watch is beautiful, I do feel a bit disappointed that apparently Deep crystal is worse than vsf crystal and in some respect worse than Clean. Yes, it does fix the uber magnification (question is, does the gasket fix this or the crystal?), but it does something strange with the font. Because the font on the other Clean I have here, is brighter and much more gen like than the one with Deep crystal.

 

[Feefo]

A bit annoying that I can't edit my own posts. Anyway,

While the watch is beautiful, I do feel a bit disappointed that apparently Deep crystal is worse than vsf crystal and in some respect worse than Clean. Yes, it does fix the uber magnification (question is, does the gasket fix this or the crystal?), but it does something strange with the font. Because the font on the other Clean I have here, is brighter and much more gen like than the one with Deep crystal.

Become a supporter and you will be able to do so. Plus an ad-free interface

 

[duderino]

This is true bro but very often when a crystal is changed so is the gasket. A thicker gen or Clark's gasket adds bulk inside the retaining ring which bulges it out, transferring mass to the hytrel ring. This can have a huge negative effect on the bezel, often stopping it from rotating altogether.

And ofc the bezel assembly was removed to replace the crystal. There's no telling exactly what was done to which parts in that process - all of the parts might have to be adjusted or modded to fit and work together as a unit. So you are right that one cannot assume that simply swapping a crystal will improve the operation of a bezel.

Here are two clean GMTs: the lefty has the clean crystal, and the Pepsi has the deep crystal. Do you notice how the font on the Pepsi looks a bit grayer? Any thoughts on why that might be, KJ? Do you think it could be due to the crystal, or maybe the dial itself? Ctime also sent me the old clean crystal with the gasket, so I'm considering reinstalling it to see if that fixes the issue, even if it means the date might be a bit more magnified with the original clean crystal.

This only really stood out to me when I took the gen out of the vault to snap the picture—but now it's driving me crazy!

 

[duderino]

addition:
Someone on reddit mentioned that this is a v3s flaw: they improved the bezel action, which explains why I was so surprised that the action was gen like on the pepsi, but screwed up the dial.

If this is true, my take is completely wrong and it has nothing to do with the crystal; the dial is the culprit.