Hey All,
My Spectre is finally in and after a day of wearing it, I figured I do a mini-review for you guys. Two ground rules - as with all my reviews, I will not be including pictures because I am writing this on the go and I also have no photos to share that would add something new over the photos already posted. I will also not be commenting on the stability of the movement despite several people having messaged and asked because I obviously have no data on that after just a day lol. I do have a V6F Seamaster 300m Coaxial in blue that I will throw a couple comparisons in.
Crystal: by far the star of the show is the crystal. I assume is double AR coated because when I first opened the package, I genuinely thought for a second that the factory forgot to put the crystal in. Clearest rep factory crystal I have ever seen and definitely better than my V6F 2.5 crystal.
Dial: the dial is pretty much the same as the 2.5, which is to say it’s excellent. However, for those of you that have expressed concern that it is not as textured as gen, you are correct. In low light, the dial appears completely untextured. In direct sunlight, the dial develops a very pleasant grainy texture - I assume it is an effect of the dial paint and not a 3D effect. That said, it does not bother me at all and frankly I see little difference with gen without blowing gen photos up 4x. The dial markers are very evenly applied and very textured. The writing is even and pleasant. The lume markers are recessed and filled (not a true sandwich dial - but you cannot tell without a loupe).
Hands: The hour and minute hands are the same as the V6F 2.5 - excellent. Well finished and colored. That said, mine do have a couple barely perceptible (with a loupe only again) smudges - presumably from ungloved fingers. The lollypop hand is slightly flawed as many have said. The distal end of the lollypop itself has a tiny protrusion that makes me think multiple hands were attached to a central piece of plastic during molding and this is the point at which this hand was clipped off, leaving a tiny bit of the connection. It is not at all visible farther than 6inches away from the watch so it does not bother me, but it is indeed a flaw.
Lume: the lume is excellent - a vintage blue color. Slightly brighter than the V6F 2.5 when fully charged and lasts a little longer. The lollypop is a tiny bit unevenly filled, leaving a small shadow in the center of the lollypop in the dark but it is again a small flaw.
Bezel insert: excellent. Ceramic with the markers more easily visible than the V6F 2.5 under different light conditions.
Bezel: my least favorite part of the watch. This is a bi-directional bezel with a very “meh” feeling action. It almost feels as though the click mechanism that is supposed to catch the bezel grooves is too dull and does not catch as nearly, leading to a much less positive and satisfying action. That said, the action is just stiff enough to not be bumped accidentally which is good. The bi-directional V6F 2.5 also was known for “meh” actions but the uni-directional bezels on the V6F 2.5 (non-spectre models) has a MUCH more positive action.
Case: the finish is phenomenal. The same if not better as the V6F 2.5 (in fact, this model has a polished crown instead of brushed which the previous model got wrong). The caseback engravings are very well done and gen like. A nice touch is that the SN on the case matches the SN on the movement. The crown screw action is excellent. But, when extended to position 2, it does wobble slightly when rotated. I suspect the stem is quite stable but the attachment of the crown to the stem is rather flimsy.
Movement: the movement is gen like in its adjustments, including smooth winding, hour hand independent adjustment, and fast (but not matching gen) beat rate. The decorative finishing on the movement is phenomenal, as is that writing (yes, it’s printed instead of etched but you can’t tell without a loupe). Best of all, the movement has a functioning co-axial wheel!! I have to look into it further to see if the wheel is actually operating a coaxial mechanism or if it is just slaved to the balance wheel and moving decoratively (I don’t have time to open the case today), but this is a very interesting development. I cannot see the pallet fork without removing the caseback but at this point, I’m 50/50 as to whether the clone is co-axial. Given the findings so far, I will NOT rule it out yet. The movement is also super quiet, much quieter than the earlier Miyota. Visually, through the caseback, it is 95% gen accurate in construction.
Nato strap: I don’t have a gen nato strap to compare to but I can say that it is high quality. Second best NATO I own. It is thicker than typical natos which is a nice tough but it did cause me to cut off the secondary keeper to let the watch sit slim on the wrist. The Omega and 007 engravings are very tactful and not loud at all.
All in all, this is a phenomenal piece that is better than the V6F 2.5 in all ways except the lollypop flaws and possibly movement reliability (remains to be seen). I hate the bezel action but it is the same as the 2.5 bi-directional so I can’t nock it too much. Overall, I’m a fan!
