{*PCTeam*} Pre-V dials: picture comparison

[kilowattore]

PRE-V DIAL COMPARISON​

During the last few months I ventured in the Pre-V world and, as many things in our hobby, the vast majority of the details becomes clear only when you get the items in your hands and look at it VERY closely

For the first of my two projects I was lucky enough to source a 202a dial made by Steph Dexter.
From what I understand these are rare dials that were made in a limited batch by a RWG member. Seeing how things went when the last batch was not produced up to acceptable standards, I don't think we will see more of them.

My second project instead is based on the recently released dials from rolli. I don't think they need any presentation, there has been a lot fuss about them and some members, including Grimlocktime whom I thank for the information and inspiration, showed a few GREAT builds based on it.

I do not want to go into an in depth analysys of the dials, I don't have the information about the way they're produced, I don't have enough experience on this matter and quite simply I don't know enough about the Pre-Vendome models.
Before I start with the pics I want to put things into perspective though, and state my total respect for all the players involved in this.
Each of the following dials is a nice replication of its gen counterpart in some way, some are noticeably better than others, but quality has a price.
Keep this in mind while you evaluate these dials: a DSN dial can be had for I think 30-40 usd (a complete watch is 250 usd), I bought the SD dial second hand for 130 usd and the rolli dial was 460 usd. The price difference (just as the quality) is noticeable, and it is my opinion that it needs to be considered as well as the other factors.

Final note: these pics have been shot under a harsh light (I had no time to set up the lightbox while working on the watches...), both the rolli and SD dial look grey under direct light, but when mounted the colour turns to a nice matte black. I will include a couple of shots at the end of the post.

As usual I write too much, on with the pics


[FONT COLOR=RED]EDIT: I found a few pics of a gen dial for sale so I added them to the comparison. I would like to hear what you think:[/COLOR]

201a DIAL COMPARISON

Gen


Rolli


DSN



Gen


Rolli


DSN



Gen


Rolli


DSN



Gen


Rolli


Gen




SD 202a vs DSN 202a

SD


DSN



SD


DSN



SD


DSN



SD


DSN



SD


SD


DSN



Here's how they look installed:









Differences are pretty evident, I hope you found this useful and would really like to hear everyone's opinion on them

:cheers:

 

[Riccardorolex]

As usual you are so efficent

 

[WalkerDH]

Kilowattore, great builds! Thanks a lot for sharing another amazing review!

 

[ryllz]

Great write-up and builds Kilo!!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[kilowattore]

Thanks guys!
Of course I will have something to add about the finished builds (err.. mostly pics ), but I thought it would have been interesting to see pics of the unmounted dials in order to realize the real difference between them. It wasn't that clear to me before I had them in hand

 

[EddyG]

Thx a lot, very interested post!
DSN digits seem a little too much yellow to me compared to SD that is very close to GEN preV.
I was happy enough to see GEN preV in flesh and they aren't that yellow.
PreA tended to be as yellow but not preV's.
My 2cts

 

[ALE7575]

Very nice, useful and interesting comparison, kilo
Thanks for taking the time and the good pics

That was really illustrative

BTW: this justify Rolli-FGD dial prices !

ALE

 

[d4m.test]

These dials are worth EVERY penny. I can promise you that the Rolli dials are every bit as high quality as a genuine Panerai dial.

 

[kilowattore]

That's totally true. Even for a novice like me the difference was like day and night.

No offence intended because the SD dial.is great and even the cheap DSN looks nice, but it's clear that the rolli/FGD project comes from another planet

 

[kilowattore]

Btw Grim don't you happen to have some pics of a southy dial? I'd like to compare the number/indices and the texture on the dial.

 

[d4m.test]

I will uncase my 203/A and take some nice shots of it.

 

[ALE7575]

I will uncase my 203/A and take some nice shots of it.

That will be interesting
Thanks in advance Grim

ALE

 

[kilowattore]

Thanks to a thread I saw on RG today, I found some pics of an unmounted gen 201a dial and thought of adding them here.
I think this shows very clearly how close to perfection the rolli 201a dial is. I can't help be amazed, I can't find a flaw except maybe a slight more gloss under strong direct light, but there's no pic of the gen in this conditions.