Hi all, this was my first purchase of a high-end rep and overall, I'm SUPER impressed. I'm no expert and pretty laid back generally so it's entirely possible I missed some finer points but here we go.
The watch: this thing looks fantastic. Overall, from the real titanium to printing and movement, this watch just exudes the simplicity and smoothness that comes with really well engineered products. It feels great on the wrist and the black/brown and tan colors make it go with everything you wear. I was looking for something closer to subtly classy than flashy/awesome and this fits the bill perfectly. My two gripes about the watch: 1) the bezel seems a little flimsy and there's too much give between clicks; 2) the rotor is LOUD. Hoping the rotor noise calms down as it gets some use but out of the box it's exceptionally loud and a bit annoying.
The SS band is better than I thought, most of the pics on here are super close up and from arm's distance, I could barely tell the difference between gen and rep, other than the choice of metal, which is noticeable if you're looking for it. I hated the buckle on the rep band and the gen is slightly better but it's too large for me to be comfortable with it. The NATO strap that comes with it is better but I found that it's just a bit too busy. The Bond NATO strap looks good on the watch off the wrist but on it, I found it to be too much. I first exchanged it for the tan/olive one (in the wrist roll) and then a gen black/brown one that matches the color of the dial. These look way better and more low key when worn.
Checking out a gen: So, I live in Dubai and in Dubai Mall there is not one but two Omega stores. So, I stopped by one to take a look at a gen watch. The rep is really... really.. really.. good. Metals, colors, feel, etc. are all indistinguishable. The bezel on the gen felt much more tight/solid though. And the differences in the Ti band were noticeable because I was looking for them -- mostly the color of the metal and slimmer profile of the buckle. I then went outside, took the wrist roll, and went to the other Omega store and asked to see some NATO straps. I looked at beige and dark brown and the lady helping me advised me that the beige can be hard to keep clean so I went with dark brown and am happy with the combo. Since I was in the mall, I asked her to change it on the rep to see her reaction (I had taken it off in the previous store bc I thought it would be weird to ask for a watch that I was wearing) and she did. She observed that the spring bars were not gen but made no other comments. So either she didn't notice the difference or humored me. While I was getting the wrap changed the manager came over and twice made me confirm I wanted a NATO strap that had SS hardware and not Ti hardware. A bit silly but I appreciated the attention to detail and service for someone there to spend a relatively tiny sum. The gen NATO is much softer than the ones I bought off amazon or the rep Bond one and when it's on, I basically don't feel it at all.
Experience with Trusty Time: I had purchased from Andrew at TT before, a lower end Rolex 6542 Pepsi rep and had a phenomenal experience. This time I would describe the experience as pretty good. Andrew confirmed he had stock over email and then I placed the order and got QC within 5 days. Everything looked good except the timegrapher rate reading was -/+ 10s/d, which I was a little discomforted by (and I know this reading is iffy to begin with and depends on position, etc.). I told Andrew that the watch itself looked great but that I was not thrilled with the timegrapher reading and asked him to wind it and do another. Andrew replied that the reading was within Q/C specifications and that he would ship ASAP. I wasn't thrilled that he ignored my request but it wasn't a deal breaker for me so I let it slide. He sent me a DHL tracking code a couple days later. Strangely, it never worked and was delivered by a different company (Aramex, which may be a partner of DHL or something) a little over a week later (to Dubai, UAE). The movement seems to be doing fine since I've had it but it was not quite the same super warm and diligent customer service I had the first time around. Again, not a deal breaker, and I will probably use TT again to pick up the beautiful new VS3135 so don't take this as too big a criticism.
TL;DR: Watch is great, band is not. Slightly flimsy bezel, everything else perfect. Rep NATO is ok, gen NATO is great. TT is good.
The watch: this thing looks fantastic. Overall, from the real titanium to printing and movement, this watch just exudes the simplicity and smoothness that comes with really well engineered products. It feels great on the wrist and the black/brown and tan colors make it go with everything you wear. I was looking for something closer to subtly classy than flashy/awesome and this fits the bill perfectly. My two gripes about the watch: 1) the bezel seems a little flimsy and there's too much give between clicks; 2) the rotor is LOUD. Hoping the rotor noise calms down as it gets some use but out of the box it's exceptionally loud and a bit annoying.
The SS band is better than I thought, most of the pics on here are super close up and from arm's distance, I could barely tell the difference between gen and rep, other than the choice of metal, which is noticeable if you're looking for it. I hated the buckle on the rep band and the gen is slightly better but it's too large for me to be comfortable with it. The NATO strap that comes with it is better but I found that it's just a bit too busy. The Bond NATO strap looks good on the watch off the wrist but on it, I found it to be too much. I first exchanged it for the tan/olive one (in the wrist roll) and then a gen black/brown one that matches the color of the dial. These look way better and more low key when worn.
Checking out a gen: So, I live in Dubai and in Dubai Mall there is not one but two Omega stores. So, I stopped by one to take a look at a gen watch. The rep is really... really.. really.. good. Metals, colors, feel, etc. are all indistinguishable. The bezel on the gen felt much more tight/solid though. And the differences in the Ti band were noticeable because I was looking for them -- mostly the color of the metal and slimmer profile of the buckle. I then went outside, took the wrist roll, and went to the other Omega store and asked to see some NATO straps. I looked at beige and dark brown and the lady helping me advised me that the beige can be hard to keep clean so I went with dark brown and am happy with the combo. Since I was in the mall, I asked her to change it on the rep to see her reaction (I had taken it off in the previous store bc I thought it would be weird to ask for a watch that I was wearing) and she did. She observed that the spring bars were not gen but made no other comments. So either she didn't notice the difference or humored me. While I was getting the wrap changed the manager came over and twice made me confirm I wanted a NATO strap that had SS hardware and not Ti hardware. A bit silly but I appreciated the attention to detail and service for someone there to spend a relatively tiny sum. The gen NATO is much softer than the ones I bought off amazon or the rep Bond one and when it's on, I basically don't feel it at all.
Experience with Trusty Time: I had purchased from Andrew at TT before, a lower end Rolex 6542 Pepsi rep and had a phenomenal experience. This time I would describe the experience as pretty good. Andrew confirmed he had stock over email and then I placed the order and got QC within 5 days. Everything looked good except the timegrapher rate reading was -/+ 10s/d, which I was a little discomforted by (and I know this reading is iffy to begin with and depends on position, etc.). I told Andrew that the watch itself looked great but that I was not thrilled with the timegrapher reading and asked him to wind it and do another. Andrew replied that the reading was within Q/C specifications and that he would ship ASAP. I wasn't thrilled that he ignored my request but it wasn't a deal breaker for me so I let it slide. He sent me a DHL tracking code a couple days later. Strangely, it never worked and was delivered by a different company (Aramex, which may be a partner of DHL or something) a little over a week later (to Dubai, UAE). The movement seems to be doing fine since I've had it but it was not quite the same super warm and diligent customer service I had the first time around. Again, not a deal breaker, and I will probably use TT again to pick up the beautiful new VS3135 so don't take this as too big a criticism.
TL;DR: Watch is great, band is not. Slightly flimsy bezel, everything else perfect. Rep NATO is ok, gen NATO is great. TT is good.
