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Review of TWP Chopard Gran Turismo XL - Lots of Pics!!!

jb

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7/9/06
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zetterdawg said:
is the writing on the crown still inverted?

Great catch! I completely missed it. The "1000" is fine, but the "Miglia" is mirrored.
 

TWP

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7/5/06
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Thanks to Jb I have ordererd more they should arrive midweek. Chhers.
 

launchnukes

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great review. in fact your review is the reason i just got this exact watch. can't wait to get it
 

jb

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launchnukes said:
great review. in fact your review is the reason i just got this exact watch. can't wait to get it

I'm sure you will be happy with it. Like I said, you can't beat this watch for the money. :D
 

Sylar

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JB, thanks for letting me check out your chopard today. I cant believe how good this watch is. I will be getting one from TWP now.
 

Yannou

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bought one....waiting for it next week....thks JB for this review...my wallet is more empty now... :D :D :D
 

jb

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Yllwtrb said:
JB, thanks for letting me check out your chopard today. I cant believe how good this watch is. I will be getting one from TWP now.

No problem. Let me know the next time you are in town. :D

Yannou said:
bought one....waiting for it next week....thks JB for this review...my wallet is more empty now...

I feel your pain.
 

Yannou

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anyone tried the waterproofing of it ? (shower or bath..) :wink:
 

jb

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Yannou said:
anyone tried the waterproofing of it ? (shower or bath..) :wink:

[smilie=sign10.gif]

NO! I like the watcch too much.
 

Sylar

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Looks like he did, however still a great deal.
 

jb

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oBMTo said:
Lume is great. Did TWP up the price by $20?

Yes, the price is going up. I'm sure it's a simple matter of supply and demand. :wink:
 

seanf

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Great review, JB. I Stickied it. Anyone know how this compares with the gen?
 

AFIARTIS

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compared to gen?

I also have the "ordinary man" version of the rep (good enough - and certainly expensive enough :) for me.
I tried a Gen twice already, at ADs, and for what it's worth, here are my two (euro) cents:

- first, I should point out that I am not a big stickler for the minutiae of quantitative comparison (such as: the font is 0.2mm wider etc). Why? Well, I own a couple of Gens and in my HO, the key difference between Reps and Gens, once you're past the obvious entry-level issues (no typos etc), is QUALITATIVE, not quantitative. Let me explain myself: even if a Rep is quantitatively "exactly the same" as a Gen, it still is qualitatively a different animal: the quality of the finish, the reflection of the SS, the depth of color of the dial, the snap of the bracelet, …the overall look and FEEL (same look, but different feel)

- this being said, the Mille Miglia does not feel SO different from the Gen.
I guess it's because its a "simple" watch (no weird, hard-to-replicate physical characteristics such as, e.g. the intricate rose gold indexes of a Big Bang), but not so simple as to be "pure" (e.g. the purity of the sub, which makes the finish so important)
*The polished shine of the Gen is "plastic " looking (don't crucify me here, I just mean that it looks like a chromish shine rather than a deep gleam), so the Rep looks close - the slightly "toyish" shine makes the Rep look all the more credible.
*The weight is pretty close on the wrist (but the compacity, density is quite different: the Rep feels shakier - because of its spinning rotor, merrry-go-roundish and loud :) and when the crown is pulled, you definitley have a feelling that the Rep movement is holding on by its teeth in there
*The dial gives about the same impression, EXCEPT for the top "CHOPARD CERTIFIED CHRONOMETER" inscription: The Rep has, as you can clearly see in the first pic of the EXCELLENT above review, a somewhat muddy grey printing, with a definite lack of sharpness (compared to the bottom inscription which is crisp). this is definitely not the case of the Gen with its highly-contrasted dial printing. (( also if you look REAL close, you will see that the "P" in CHOPARD is slightly mangled in the bottom part of the loop (mine's the same). Is this QUANTITATIVE as I said above (id est a slightly anal-retentive detail visible with a loupe) or QUALITATIVE (id est something that will affect the look-and-feel of the object, to the point of making it feel "different")? Well, a bit of both IMO: it is not really visible to the naked eye, but it does contribute to the slightly (I said: "slightly) sluggish feeling of the dial print
*The bracelet, now, feels TRULY different: the Gen's is smooth, deep black rubber, whereas the Rep's is much harder (does not give the same "glovy" feeling on the wrist at all) and wil quickly turn black-but-not-deep-black. Oh, and it's also a tad small on one side: it does not quite fill the space between the "horns", so it angles a bit - maybe that's only on mine, but it also looks a bit like this on the above shots.
* Bottom line: except for the bracelet (and I dare not imagine how much a genuine CHOPARD piece of rubber my set you back), the Rep feels pretty close to the Gen …and it looks so close as to be indistinguishable at arm's length, except by real experts

- and as a watch (as opposed to a Replica)? Well, as a watch, it feels GREAT: simple, beautiful, trendy but in a sophisticated way. Big and noticeable (I still have to meet a Rep collector who - HONESTLY - buys them to stay unoticed). In a word: COOL. you don't feel like you had to settle for an inferior version of a great watch.

SO? So, all 'n all, to me the Rep does not feel QUALITATIVELY very different from the Gen, as opposed to say, an A-P where there is NO comparison between the feeling of a Gen grey gold ROO (I tried one too :) and what I imagine the best Rep feels like (I never tried :).
When in doubt, buy it!

(BTW I got mine from Andrew in record time and first-class-treatment, and I love the watch - I also got a Tag SLR which is not bad as a watch but VERY disappointing as a Rep, feeling nothing like the Gen, which - you guessed - I also tried twice…but that's another story…)
 

jb

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What a great addition to my review. :D

Thank you.
 

maxse

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Here is my question. JB you mentioned that yours has very light AR which is hardly noticable, but TWP claims tha it has excellent AR. Has the AR been upgraded since you bought the watch?

Also does anyone have pics of the back of a gen? I am curious which one comes closed the new "ultimate" or this one? But what's the big difference b/w this one and the "ultimate one" I can not understand. Other than A7750? Perhaps the caseback?
 

Sylar

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maxse said:
Here is my question. JB you mentioned that yours has very light AR which is hardly noticable, but TWP claims tha it has excellent AR. Has the AR been upgraded since you bought the watch?

Also does anyone have pics of the back of a gen? I am curious which one comes closed the new "ultimate" or this one? But what's the big difference b/w this one and the "ultimate one" I can not understand. Other than A7750? Perhaps the caseback?

Maxse, yes there has been another coat of AR added to it since the first batch of these was sold for 105. As they are now selling for 135. Im not usre on the caseback as I have not seen th one for the 7750.
 

taiji

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Here's a pic of gen back case. Version 2 which uses Asian 21J movement has a different rotor pin. Both Asian and Ultimate version does not have the regulator.

The gen will have some text describing the movement used engraved on it.

540439391_0638b3a0e0_o.jpg


Hopes this help you. :D
 

maxse

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yep. Thanks man. Seems the "ultimate" caseback is correct here