Background:
Ordered and sent payment WU prior to finding RWI from a site listed in Fakey's shi!tlist. Having found RWI I decided to read up as much as I could on reps and have a decent knowledge about Milgauss reps in particular. The item arrived securely packaged in a basic box 14 days EMS China to the UK. There was no packaging material within the box however although the watch was itself around a cushion within the box. It could have janggled about in transit. Pics are nothing special as they were taken with my point and shoot.
Now I have seen the Milgauss group buy run by D4M a year :-(http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/official-rolex-milgauss-group-buy-33542
that was a nice watch but since then a new factory have started producing these so called 1:1's (even though all RWIers know there is no such thing apart from a gen) with the better bracelet and dial print as you may see in the pics below. This is something offered by most of our RWI trusted sellers at a fraction of what I paid for it.
First Impressions
This is the black dial I settled on from pics of reps I saw on the site. Frankly I was amazed at the realism. The 316L SS case and bracelet is very highly polished and I cannot see that it is any less highly polished than 904L used in the gen. LoS (LegendofSpeed) told me once before that he could spot fake ones by the rather large gaps between endlinks and case ? I forget, and on gens they are hairline. Well mine have no gaps in the flesh bt photos may have shadows on them but be assured that bracelet clasp is solid and lug end fits case between the lugs very very snugly.
edit:- Be aware that the standard case size for the 116400 (GV and non-GV like this one) is 40mm. I have already had several questions about this and in several instances I saw links posted for 36mm watches. While this is the standard oyster perpetual size, meaning that rehaut engraving on reps is sometimes correct, they got lazy with this one and inserted spaces in the rehaut text . If you want an accurate Milgauss make sure case size is 40mm. This correct size however has implications on the movement you choose. It is even more imperative to coose a 28800vph as will be discussed below
Case between Lugs
Note the crisp and correct depth and fine cast and perfect black paintfill on caseback. Engravings are also crisp and sharp on case lug ends (M serial) but less so on bracelet ends.
The Bracelet
Where it really matters though, on the clasp on the bracelet, the engraving is very good and deep not like previous shallow laser etchings. This factory is now known for getting the bracelet engraved right as opposed to etched. I will add that the gen milgauss with its shiny, highly polished mid-links is the only one where the clasp would be plausible. Point is if you had like say a DSSD for ex or anything with a brushed mid-link, the clasp would be similarly matte and possibly paintfilled black logo. So in my view the Milgauss wins again but it should be appearing on other OPs etc in time if not already. The bracelet is also wider to fit wider lug width of 40mm case of the Milgauss not interchangeable with DD/DJs as such
More deep engraving:
Pretty good once again - functioning comfortlink and decent clasp
The Front
Dial and Hour markers & Hands
Dial print is very crisp compared to earlier or different versions of this watch that I have seen. Also the dial is quite matte.Looks fab. Decent coronet if a bit stouter than gen.
Pics here dont do it justice, it is really finely printed and looks embossed like thermal transfer or laser printing. No visible bubbling.
Hour markers are neat and lume well filled but more about the lume later. Note also the second hand which was too short in earlier versions is now the correct length.
Rehaut, Coronet on Crystal
This version thankfully displays no thick and altogether too large laser etched coronet at the 6 position that you see on some reps. It is a cultured sapphire crystal but it would have been perfect as a GV as that has no coronet on the GEN. However it is still preferable than a massive crown visible from over 3 feet away - which would just scream fake since the black dial gen coronet is difficult to view unless under a loupe.
Another flaw with this model compared to other milgauss' Ive seen is the engraved rehaut. Engravings are not particulary deep but looks laser etched - it is very fine but spacing and alignment are out. I'm not sure what happened here but this is a larger case size oyster perpetual at 40mm whereas they are usully smaller so maybe the factory couldnt be bothered to resize for 40mm cases so simply inserted spaced between the R*L*XR*L*XR*L*X so that it becomes R*L*X_space_R*L*X_space_R*L*X as seen in the rehaut below. There are no spaces on the gen nor on the D4M groupbuy model last year. Finally, as is commonly known the R's of the engraved rehaut should line up perfectly with hour markers in gens. These do not and they cannot mainly because of the spaces inserted inbetween but fontsize / height may also be off.
Lume is better than expected. V bright but loses intensity fairly quickly as members have reported. Thats a future mod perhaps but it is quite adequate. In any event I have read that my lume, which looks brilliant white in daylight, (as opposed to some other milgauss models) gives the good results.
The Back
Caseback
Used ball of duct tape method to open caseback to
1) identify movement
2) regulate after bedding in
3) investigate rotor scraping sound
4) waterproofing and applying PTFE Silicone Grease to gaskets as I did with bracelet.
Engraving inside caseback
Below is a joke of the Faraday cage they tried to mimic but it has caused problems in this watch. On the plus side, it probably quietens rotor noise from the watch but unfortunately, as it is not fixed, there could be rotor clearance issues which causes the rotor to scrape. In a valuable gen I would never allow this to happen as over time, there would be very tiny metal particles/ dust which could ruin the movement. The gen has a proper faraday cage and a Parachrom bleu mainspring which is means it is able to be marketed as being able to withstand 1000gauss without ill effects to the watch.
The faraday cage is threaded and screwed in with the gen and some milgauss reps but as mentioned earlier this one has a free floating cover with an ill fitting o ring around it. .
Movement
I paid for a swiss ETA 2836-2 but recieved possibly a clone- I can't really tell. Have read that you can - by the curliness of the Incabloc or Novodiac springs - and gen ETA is more wavy. All I know is that the eta logo is not very clearly stamped but also stamped with 2836-2 - rotor markings correct.
When I opened the case back the rotor blade assembly had worked loose so that was tightened and I had to replace one of the case clamps /strap. Had to remove the crown stem to do this as it (the stem) and the other case clamp was keeping the movement in place. Also there was another screw missing (see pic below) which had to be replaced.
Anyway after bedding in it is now accurate to +15 secs a week after trial and error regulation so better than COSC. Sweep is smooth at 28800vph and doesnt seem to have gotten jittery after several rounds of golf which places shock on it as I wear it on my left hand- so the Novodiac is doing its job. (if this was a real ETA- various levels of ebauche have different spec of incabloc or novodiac as the latter I believe is cheaper)
The Sweep - factors to consider
edit:- this is what I posted in response ot a question on another thread so I thought I'd merge the info
Right, so we have established that straight hands sweep smoother than jagged ones.
Now if you consider:
i) that the correct case size fo the Milgauss is 40mm (and not the more common 36mm for OPs), and;
ii) that the shortened second hand, a flaw on previous versions of Milgauss reps, has been rectified
- we now have a longer second hand. Couple with the fact that the arrow tip is further away from the centre, and is larger, it will noticably jerk on a 21j.
The obvioius choice for a good 8 ticks /s and a convincing Rolex sweep on this Milgauss should therefore be a high beat (25j) movement @ 28800vph.
Conclusion
It is a great watch and I was considering getting the gen black dial. I think that this gets my pre-nom for next best super rep for a rollie if they can sort a few things out - I think it will have to be a GV as opposed to the review model 116400 as it is the only current model that doesnt come with a laser etched coronet at 6 in the crystal.
Recommendations
I'd like to see a GV with:-
1) a better shade of green for the crystal (more jade than really green)
2) better rehaut engraving
3) correct spacing on the rehaut
4) proper screw down faraday cage with sufficient clearance so that it doesnt interfere with the rotor.
5) Lume longevity and intensity
Remembering that this is a rep after all, there have been vast improvements in the case and bracelet. IF the next version comes out with at least points 2 and 3 above I'd buy it. IF all 5 are there, I'd pay a decent sum for it - double what is asked for it now in its current guise perhaps.
Hope this has been informative for those of you considering a milgauss !
Ordered and sent payment WU prior to finding RWI from a site listed in Fakey's shi!tlist. Having found RWI I decided to read up as much as I could on reps and have a decent knowledge about Milgauss reps in particular. The item arrived securely packaged in a basic box 14 days EMS China to the UK. There was no packaging material within the box however although the watch was itself around a cushion within the box. It could have janggled about in transit. Pics are nothing special as they were taken with my point and shoot.
Now I have seen the Milgauss group buy run by D4M a year :-(http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/official-rolex-milgauss-group-buy-33542
that was a nice watch but since then a new factory have started producing these so called 1:1's (even though all RWIers know there is no such thing apart from a gen) with the better bracelet and dial print as you may see in the pics below. This is something offered by most of our RWI trusted sellers at a fraction of what I paid for it.
First Impressions
This is the black dial I settled on from pics of reps I saw on the site. Frankly I was amazed at the realism. The 316L SS case and bracelet is very highly polished and I cannot see that it is any less highly polished than 904L used in the gen. LoS (LegendofSpeed) told me once before that he could spot fake ones by the rather large gaps between endlinks and case ? I forget, and on gens they are hairline. Well mine have no gaps in the flesh bt photos may have shadows on them but be assured that bracelet clasp is solid and lug end fits case between the lugs very very snugly.
edit:- Be aware that the standard case size for the 116400 (GV and non-GV like this one) is 40mm. I have already had several questions about this and in several instances I saw links posted for 36mm watches. While this is the standard oyster perpetual size, meaning that rehaut engraving on reps is sometimes correct, they got lazy with this one and inserted spaces in the rehaut text . If you want an accurate Milgauss make sure case size is 40mm. This correct size however has implications on the movement you choose. It is even more imperative to coose a 28800vph as will be discussed below
Case between Lugs
Note the crisp and correct depth and fine cast and perfect black paintfill on caseback. Engravings are also crisp and sharp on case lug ends (M serial) but less so on bracelet ends.
The Bracelet
Where it really matters though, on the clasp on the bracelet, the engraving is very good and deep not like previous shallow laser etchings. This factory is now known for getting the bracelet engraved right as opposed to etched. I will add that the gen milgauss with its shiny, highly polished mid-links is the only one where the clasp would be plausible. Point is if you had like say a DSSD for ex or anything with a brushed mid-link, the clasp would be similarly matte and possibly paintfilled black logo. So in my view the Milgauss wins again but it should be appearing on other OPs etc in time if not already. The bracelet is also wider to fit wider lug width of 40mm case of the Milgauss not interchangeable with DD/DJs as such
More deep engraving:
Pretty good once again - functioning comfortlink and decent clasp
The Front
Dial and Hour markers & Hands
Dial print is very crisp compared to earlier or different versions of this watch that I have seen. Also the dial is quite matte.Looks fab. Decent coronet if a bit stouter than gen.
Pics here dont do it justice, it is really finely printed and looks embossed like thermal transfer or laser printing. No visible bubbling.
Hour markers are neat and lume well filled but more about the lume later. Note also the second hand which was too short in earlier versions is now the correct length.
Rehaut, Coronet on Crystal
This version thankfully displays no thick and altogether too large laser etched coronet at the 6 position that you see on some reps. It is a cultured sapphire crystal but it would have been perfect as a GV as that has no coronet on the GEN. However it is still preferable than a massive crown visible from over 3 feet away - which would just scream fake since the black dial gen coronet is difficult to view unless under a loupe.
Another flaw with this model compared to other milgauss' Ive seen is the engraved rehaut. Engravings are not particulary deep but looks laser etched - it is very fine but spacing and alignment are out. I'm not sure what happened here but this is a larger case size oyster perpetual at 40mm whereas they are usully smaller so maybe the factory couldnt be bothered to resize for 40mm cases so simply inserted spaced between the R*L*XR*L*XR*L*X so that it becomes R*L*X_space_R*L*X_space_R*L*X as seen in the rehaut below. There are no spaces on the gen nor on the D4M groupbuy model last year. Finally, as is commonly known the R's of the engraved rehaut should line up perfectly with hour markers in gens. These do not and they cannot mainly because of the spaces inserted inbetween but fontsize / height may also be off.
Lume is better than expected. V bright but loses intensity fairly quickly as members have reported. Thats a future mod perhaps but it is quite adequate. In any event I have read that my lume, which looks brilliant white in daylight, (as opposed to some other milgauss models) gives the good results.
The Back
Caseback
Used ball of duct tape method to open caseback to
1) identify movement
2) regulate after bedding in
3) investigate rotor scraping sound
4) waterproofing and applying PTFE Silicone Grease to gaskets as I did with bracelet.
Engraving inside caseback
Below is a joke of the Faraday cage they tried to mimic but it has caused problems in this watch. On the plus side, it probably quietens rotor noise from the watch but unfortunately, as it is not fixed, there could be rotor clearance issues which causes the rotor to scrape. In a valuable gen I would never allow this to happen as over time, there would be very tiny metal particles/ dust which could ruin the movement. The gen has a proper faraday cage and a Parachrom bleu mainspring which is means it is able to be marketed as being able to withstand 1000gauss without ill effects to the watch.
The faraday cage is threaded and screwed in with the gen and some milgauss reps but as mentioned earlier this one has a free floating cover with an ill fitting o ring around it. .
Movement
I paid for a swiss ETA 2836-2 but recieved possibly a clone- I can't really tell. Have read that you can - by the curliness of the Incabloc or Novodiac springs - and gen ETA is more wavy. All I know is that the eta logo is not very clearly stamped but also stamped with 2836-2 - rotor markings correct.
When I opened the case back the rotor blade assembly had worked loose so that was tightened and I had to replace one of the case clamps /strap. Had to remove the crown stem to do this as it (the stem) and the other case clamp was keeping the movement in place. Also there was another screw missing (see pic below) which had to be replaced.
Anyway after bedding in it is now accurate to +15 secs a week after trial and error regulation so better than COSC. Sweep is smooth at 28800vph and doesnt seem to have gotten jittery after several rounds of golf which places shock on it as I wear it on my left hand- so the Novodiac is doing its job. (if this was a real ETA- various levels of ebauche have different spec of incabloc or novodiac as the latter I believe is cheaper)
The Sweep - factors to consider
edit:- this is what I posted in response ot a question on another thread so I thought I'd merge the info
Right, so we have established that straight hands sweep smoother than jagged ones.
Now if you consider:
i) that the correct case size fo the Milgauss is 40mm (and not the more common 36mm for OPs), and;
ii) that the shortened second hand, a flaw on previous versions of Milgauss reps, has been rectified
- we now have a longer second hand. Couple with the fact that the arrow tip is further away from the centre, and is larger, it will noticably jerk on a 21j.
The obvioius choice for a good 8 ticks /s and a convincing Rolex sweep on this Milgauss should therefore be a high beat (25j) movement @ 28800vph.
Conclusion
It is a great watch and I was considering getting the gen black dial. I think that this gets my pre-nom for next best super rep for a rollie if they can sort a few things out - I think it will have to be a GV as opposed to the review model 116400 as it is the only current model that doesnt come with a laser etched coronet at 6 in the crystal.
Recommendations
I'd like to see a GV with:-
1) a better shade of green for the crystal (more jade than really green)
2) better rehaut engraving
3) correct spacing on the rehaut
4) proper screw down faraday cage with sufficient clearance so that it doesnt interfere with the rotor.
5) Lume longevity and intensity
Remembering that this is a rep after all, there have been vast improvements in the case and bracelet. IF the next version comes out with at least points 2 and 3 above I'd buy it. IF all 5 are there, I'd pay a decent sum for it - double what is asked for it now in its current guise perhaps.
Hope this has been informative for those of you considering a milgauss !
