**UPDATE**
OK, so I am the first to admit when I am wrong. I am happy to say that I went to a dealer on friday to put down my concerns over this watch once and for all. There is mixed news in this update as some things are put to rest as others have awoken.
1. Caseback: It is not nearly as bad as the internet photos would have lead us all to believe. With mine in my pocket and the gen in my other hand I could feel almost no difference. I closely inspected the caseback and although there is "some" difference it is unnoticeable without comparing the two closely side by side. I am glad I have been wrong about this.
2. The new achilles heal, the Bezel. The gen bezel lume at 12 o'clock is perfect and clean as every rep i have seen is excrement in comparison. The gen forms an inner triangle with rounded corners and perfectly straight edges. Its glossy and quite lovely. Next, the function of the mechanism. The bezel is SIGNIFICANTLY harder to turn and clicks into place with purpose. As I stated in my original post below mine spins like a roulette wheel.
3. Crystal: I didnt notice this at first but the gen has an ever so slight blue hue when reflecting certain angles. Ours is obviously clear, which I am OK with but for those perfectionists out there... now you know.
4. Crown seems better quality on the gen as ours is more plastic-y feeling
5. Compression mechanism on gen (crown lock) has a smoother finish with clean lines and no rounding or raised parts on any of the finish. (it is hard to put into words but ours looks like a mold of a mold of a mold) also there are better painted arrows (red and white) on gen. On mine there is a tad too much paint where it runs wider than gen, your may be diff... easy fix. Good news is color was pretty spot on.
6. Case itself. The gen is made out of brushed titanium. The entire watch is crazy light. Big noticeable difference here (i carried head only and gen with rubber strap was lighter feeling.) The brushing of the case itself is more noticeable on or more prominent on the gen as well. I never noticed on the rep the different patterns of brushing on the case, where sides of case are brushed horizontally and the lugs and in between are vertically brushed. this was immediately apparent on the gen.
7. underneath the lugs on the gen are sharp! those are some right angles, you could cut yourself with one... this i am glad the rep isn't as sharp or close to rep.
8. Numbers on dial: this might be the #2 problem now. they were noticeably different to the eye (at around 1-2 feet: still takes a "close" inspection). If you have an amazingly skilled lume expert you may be able to fix this, but i personally don't know if it can be done. The numbers get thinner at certain parts but maintain perfectly straigt lines where ours are more squared or even throughout.
I apologize for not being able to take side by side photos but the gen was being watched over by a hawk and i was not allowed to shoot photos.
In short, on a scale out of ten the watch gets another point from me. I would rate it a total of 7.5/10. I think another version can greatly improve on a couple visual downfalls.
****Original Post****
So I received mine this morning. It was in perfect condition so I will save myself some trouble atm trying to post pics. maybe later. **(pics added)**
This isn't going to be popular with all the blind devotion going on with this watch, but it's... meh. just okay. I really reeeeally want to like it.
I think the good things about the watch, there are many despite what you are about to read below, are obvious / visual or have been stated so i will only list the negatives.
I cannot stand the bracelet. It is terribly uncomfortable for me. This is no fault of the bracelet itself, but probably my unlucky wrist size. for I am in between sizes on the links and have to wear it slightly tighter than comfort allows or else it flops around my wrist like a wet noodle. The links themselves are quite wide so removing or adding just one does a great deal of adjustment. furthermore the crown sticks out quite far and digs into my wrist. also not very comfortable for me.
The clasp came undone numerous times while wearing the watch all by itself. I dont know if i got better at smashing it together or i stopped flexing my wrist and moved like a robot but it subsided later in the day.
Now for the things that can be fixed... the bezel ring turns super easy and I am kind of OCD when it comes to things being aligned properly. Long story short: it is always finding ways to twist itself off of 12 o'clock alignment. you can almost blow on it and spin it (exaggeration, but you get the point).
Next the dial... the numbers are decent. I know a few people were complaining about the thickness and "squaredness" (not a word) of some of them. I would prefer they were fixed but I found conflicting gen pics so there is probably different versions out there... i dunno. didn't bother me too much until someone said they weren't right.
The finish on the hands on my watch are just not very good. the lume kind of blurs in with the black of the hands with no sharp lines.
overall the hands dont look high quality at all.
finally my initital reservation about the depth of the engraving on the caseback is worse than it even shows on the pics, it is absolutely horrendous; it is laser etched. there's literally no depth. call me silly but this is my deal breaker. it looks cheap. total shit. i cannot stress how poorly done this caseback is, especially for the price these reps are going for now. want a comparison? v3 diver caseback. Glorious! that imho is a perfect comparison of what should have been done with the caseback. I wont go into all the reasons why imo the v3 diver is a better rep.
oh yeah... lume. looks nice, easy to read, and lasted almost an hour while off a flashlight charge for just a few minutes
so, I know it sounded harsh, but im on the fence about if I want to keep this one or not. despite my complaints above the watch has a very nice finish to it and looks like a quality watch (minus caseback). the bracelet has a super nice finish although i find it uncomfortable. unfortunately I cannot give this one a nod for this years rep of the year list. though I would happily buy a v2 if some issues were addressed. hope it helps.
I would love to hear other peoples impressions as they start rolling in. please keep me posted all.
Cheers!
Oi Gents,
here are some pics you've been asking for:
Full Sized:
http://s1059.photobucket.com/albums/t423/ichi_watches/JLC Navy Seals Compressor/
OK, so I am the first to admit when I am wrong. I am happy to say that I went to a dealer on friday to put down my concerns over this watch once and for all. There is mixed news in this update as some things are put to rest as others have awoken.
1. Caseback: It is not nearly as bad as the internet photos would have lead us all to believe. With mine in my pocket and the gen in my other hand I could feel almost no difference. I closely inspected the caseback and although there is "some" difference it is unnoticeable without comparing the two closely side by side. I am glad I have been wrong about this.
2. The new achilles heal, the Bezel. The gen bezel lume at 12 o'clock is perfect and clean as every rep i have seen is excrement in comparison. The gen forms an inner triangle with rounded corners and perfectly straight edges. Its glossy and quite lovely. Next, the function of the mechanism. The bezel is SIGNIFICANTLY harder to turn and clicks into place with purpose. As I stated in my original post below mine spins like a roulette wheel.
3. Crystal: I didnt notice this at first but the gen has an ever so slight blue hue when reflecting certain angles. Ours is obviously clear, which I am OK with but for those perfectionists out there... now you know.
4. Crown seems better quality on the gen as ours is more plastic-y feeling
5. Compression mechanism on gen (crown lock) has a smoother finish with clean lines and no rounding or raised parts on any of the finish. (it is hard to put into words but ours looks like a mold of a mold of a mold) also there are better painted arrows (red and white) on gen. On mine there is a tad too much paint where it runs wider than gen, your may be diff... easy fix. Good news is color was pretty spot on.
6. Case itself. The gen is made out of brushed titanium. The entire watch is crazy light. Big noticeable difference here (i carried head only and gen with rubber strap was lighter feeling.) The brushing of the case itself is more noticeable on or more prominent on the gen as well. I never noticed on the rep the different patterns of brushing on the case, where sides of case are brushed horizontally and the lugs and in between are vertically brushed. this was immediately apparent on the gen.
7. underneath the lugs on the gen are sharp! those are some right angles, you could cut yourself with one... this i am glad the rep isn't as sharp or close to rep.
8. Numbers on dial: this might be the #2 problem now. they were noticeably different to the eye (at around 1-2 feet: still takes a "close" inspection). If you have an amazingly skilled lume expert you may be able to fix this, but i personally don't know if it can be done. The numbers get thinner at certain parts but maintain perfectly straigt lines where ours are more squared or even throughout.
I apologize for not being able to take side by side photos but the gen was being watched over by a hawk and i was not allowed to shoot photos.
In short, on a scale out of ten the watch gets another point from me. I would rate it a total of 7.5/10. I think another version can greatly improve on a couple visual downfalls.
****Original Post****
So I received mine this morning. It was in perfect condition so I will save myself some trouble atm trying to post pics. maybe later. **(pics added)**
This isn't going to be popular with all the blind devotion going on with this watch, but it's... meh. just okay. I really reeeeally want to like it.
I think the good things about the watch, there are many despite what you are about to read below, are obvious / visual or have been stated so i will only list the negatives.
I cannot stand the bracelet. It is terribly uncomfortable for me. This is no fault of the bracelet itself, but probably my unlucky wrist size. for I am in between sizes on the links and have to wear it slightly tighter than comfort allows or else it flops around my wrist like a wet noodle. The links themselves are quite wide so removing or adding just one does a great deal of adjustment. furthermore the crown sticks out quite far and digs into my wrist. also not very comfortable for me.
The clasp came undone numerous times while wearing the watch all by itself. I dont know if i got better at smashing it together or i stopped flexing my wrist and moved like a robot but it subsided later in the day.
Now for the things that can be fixed... the bezel ring turns super easy and I am kind of OCD when it comes to things being aligned properly. Long story short: it is always finding ways to twist itself off of 12 o'clock alignment. you can almost blow on it and spin it (exaggeration, but you get the point).
Next the dial... the numbers are decent. I know a few people were complaining about the thickness and "squaredness" (not a word) of some of them. I would prefer they were fixed but I found conflicting gen pics so there is probably different versions out there... i dunno. didn't bother me too much until someone said they weren't right.
The finish on the hands on my watch are just not very good. the lume kind of blurs in with the black of the hands with no sharp lines.
overall the hands dont look high quality at all.
finally my initital reservation about the depth of the engraving on the caseback is worse than it even shows on the pics, it is absolutely horrendous; it is laser etched. there's literally no depth. call me silly but this is my deal breaker. it looks cheap. total shit. i cannot stress how poorly done this caseback is, especially for the price these reps are going for now. want a comparison? v3 diver caseback. Glorious! that imho is a perfect comparison of what should have been done with the caseback. I wont go into all the reasons why imo the v3 diver is a better rep.
oh yeah... lume. looks nice, easy to read, and lasted almost an hour while off a flashlight charge for just a few minutes
so, I know it sounded harsh, but im on the fence about if I want to keep this one or not. despite my complaints above the watch has a very nice finish to it and looks like a quality watch (minus caseback). the bracelet has a super nice finish although i find it uncomfortable. unfortunately I cannot give this one a nod for this years rep of the year list. though I would happily buy a v2 if some issues were addressed. hope it helps.
I would love to hear other peoples impressions as they start rolling in. please keep me posted all.
Cheers!
Oi Gents,
here are some pics you've been asking for:
Full Sized:
http://s1059.photobucket.com/albums/t423/ichi_watches/JLC Navy Seals Compressor/
