RXW MM20 Marina Militare Reissue from Ken Trading Co

[ericw82]

For those interested, Ken Trading Co. reissued the MM20 and has been selling it through their affiliate Website, Southerncross-Time. I haven't read much about it online so I thought I would share some pics and my impression of the watch for those interested. Take note that the Website is down right now but pops up again every once in a while.

First, the changes from the original MM20:

• The new version comes with a tobacco Connolly leather strap (the original MM20 included two straps, a brown Connolly leather strap and a black seawater resistant strap).
• The hands are now gold with brown indices to suggest a vintage look (original had silver hands with white indices)
• The price has increased to $1380 USD

I had been looking for an MM20 for a while and decided to go for it. The first thing I’ll say is that the ordering process is SUPER sketchy with a very basic order processing form that asks you to fill in your contact details and credit card info. If the link hadn’t come from Ken Trading Co.’s main Website I would not have gone through with the purchase. As it was though, I decided to take the risk and figured I could do a CC chargeback if anything went wrong. I placed the order and did end up receiving a watch about 3 weeks later.

The watch itself looks and feels great overall. Construction is very sturdy and solid. I do have a few gripes with the watch though.

• Not a huge fan of the new strap color and I found that the edge coating has started to flake off. I've since replaced the strap with a custom one more to my liking
• There were smudges on the hour hand (apparent in the pictures below)
• The lume is garbaggio. The original MM20 had a great lume but even in total darkness it’s hard to make out the dial in the new version. I don’t know if this is something that’s specific to my watch or a problem with the reissue in general

The worst part is that customer service for Southerncross-Time is basically non-existent. I asked about the last two issues with my watch and they essentially ignored me. For that reason alone I would not recommend ordering through Southerncross-Time, but the watch itself could be worthwhile for those interested, depending on how tolerant you are and if you encounter the same issues I did.

RXW on Original Strap

RXW on Original Strap Close Up

RXW on New Strap

RXW on New Strap Close Up

 

[korneevy]

So what's the point for paying $1.4K for what is essentially a replica watch built with widely availed components that you can use to get exact same thing for prob well under $600 from any of rep/homage forums? I'd understand if it's we're a unique product with some sort of customer service, warranty and support behind it, but reading about your process of ordering, it's much worse than buying an outright rep from any half decent TD on here. Curious to hear what'd driven you to fork out that much cash for this piece?

 

[shoes]

I was thinking exactly the same thing... Personally I like the MM20 but would never pay so much money for what is a basic version with the faults as pointed out by the OP.


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[kampachi]

lol @ the dial and crown guard. looks like a canal street.

 

[Bozz]

the website dosnt work, btw CG and crown are very very bad... I agree with the guys. You can buy a far away better watch for a third of the RXW price... I hope to see a new edition of the Rolex homages from Ken, very nice and well done homages

 

[ericw82]

Curious to hear what'd driven you to fork out that much cash for this piece?

Reputation of the product mostly. Used, 10-year old versions of the original MM20 regularly sell for $1200 so it wasn't a stretch for me to purchase a brand new one for a slight premium. Swiss ETA movement, 100 meter water resistance, backed with a 1-year warranty and support from Ken Trading. If anything was out of line with my expectations I also had recourse through my CC. If I were to Marty McFly it, knowing what I know now I wouldn't have bothered.

 

[elusive1]

I'd recommend looking at Getat if you're in the market for a marina militare homage. Got this 44mm mini fiddy with domed plexi, gold hands and brown lume for $120. Lume application is not the greatest on the hands. But for 120 I can live with it.

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[elusive1]

And a shot with a brown dialed radiomir homage

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