Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. One of the most famous watch models in the world. Please note they differ from APROO (the last O stands for Offshore).
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The AP questions thread (All the questions you want to ask about AP but were afraid to)
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alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
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I think the watchmaker JohnnyDepp just sold an APSF 15400 with a rebrush. I believe he is UK based - check the sales section, it looks beautiful. I would reach out to him
alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
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Like @fireice2 said, the only solution would be to get a new watch. To my knowledge, factories do not sell just movements. This is one massive benefit that the Miyota has over the clone movement IMO, it is a lot easier to serviceIf anything goes south with these super-duper-clone movements...where can you get spare parts? any replacement-mvmt available? havent seen any. I think that is one have to consider buying these reps, weather instant date change at midnight or reliability and spare parts. but thats just me
alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
- 54
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Not a problem! I just wanted to lay out the landscape of two of the most popular models of AP RO reps for you.Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a very complete answer.
In your opinion, the best version to date is the 15500 ZF V3 with black dial?
I didn't know you could add parts from the original to the fake. It's really crazy.
I want to reassure you, the watch will be entirely for me, and will not be sold as a real one. I've always dreamed of having this watch but obviously I don't have the money to buy the real one. Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks a lot
Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks you very much
In my personal opinion, if you do not want to mod, yes the ZF 15500 V3 with black dial is the most accurate to gen. Getting a true 4302 clone with instant date change for just over 500 USD is a steal IMO. No 15400 has a movement of this caliber. As I said before though, if something does go wrong with the movement, it could be very expensive to fix.
Yes, adding parts from the original is done throughout many watch brands with reps and is often referred to as “frankening.” I put a genuine 15400 dial on my ZF 15400. Some parts do not fit from gen to rep, depending on the model and movement.
If I was to buy a ZF 15500 V3 (which I definitely will in the future) I would immediately send it to legend for a full service, rebrush, and modding. I would also want to source a genuine AP dial and date disc. While this does bring the project into the thousands, there is no comparison between the gen and rep AP dial. It is more visible on white, blue, and grey than black. Hope this helps
alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
- 54
- 54
- 18
Not a problem! I just wanted to lay out the landscape of two of the most popular models of AP RO reps for you.Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a very complete answer.
In your opinion, the best version to date is the 15500 ZF V3 with black dial?
I didn't know you could add parts from the original to the fake. It's really crazy.
I want to reassure you, the watch will be entirely for me, and will not be sold as a real one. I've always dreamed of having this watch but obviously I don't have the money to buy the real one. Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks a lot
Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks you very much
In my personal opinion, if you do not want to mod, yes the ZF 15500 V3 with black dial is the most accurate to gen. Getting a true 4302 clone with instant date change for just over 500 USD is a steal IMO. No 15400 has a movement of this caliber. As I said before though, if something does go wrong with the movement, it could be very expensive to fix.
Yes, adding parts from the original is done throughout many watch brands with reps and is often referred to as “frankening.” I put a genuine 15400 dial on my ZF 15400. Some parts do not fit from gen to rep, depending on the model and movement.
If I was to buy a ZF 15500 V3 (which I definitely will in the future) I would immediately send it to legend for a full service, rebrush, and modding. I would also want to source a genuine AP dial and date disc. While this does bring the project into the thousands, there is no comparison between the gen and rep AP dial. It is more visible on white, blue, and grey than black. Hope this helps
alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
- 54
- 54
- 18
Not a problem! I just wanted to lay out the landscape of two of the most popular models of AP RO reps for you.Thank you very much for taking the time to give me a very complete answer.
In your opinion, the best version to date is the 15500 ZF V3 with black dial?
I didn't know you could add parts from the original to the fake. It's really crazy.
I want to reassure you, the watch will be entirely for me, and will not be sold as a real one. I've always dreamed of having this watch but obviously I don't have the money to buy the real one. Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks a lot
Would you change anything on the ZF V3 if you had it? Thanks you very much
In my personal opinion, if you do not want to mod, yes the ZF 15500 V3 with black dial is the most accurate to gen. Getting a true 4302 clone with instant date change for just over 500 USD is a steal IMO. No 15400 has a movement of this caliber. As I said before though, if something does go wrong with the movement, it could be very expensive to fix.
Yes, adding parts from the original is done throughout many watch brands with reps and is often referred to as “frankening.” I put a genuine 15400 dial on my ZF 15400. Some parts do not fit from gen to rep, depending on the model and movement.
If I was to buy a ZF 15500 V3 (which I definitely will in the future) I would immediately send it to legend for a full service, rebrush, and modding. I would also want to source a genuine AP dial and date disc. While this does bring the project into the thousands, there is no comparison between the gen and rep AP dial. It is more visible on white, blue, and grey than black. Hope this helps
Nono92
I'm Pretty Popular
- 24/11/21
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alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
- 54
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He may be, I apologize if I misspoke on that.
Also apologize that my last response got posted an additional two times. Could a moderator remove that? Must’ve clicked the post button too many times. My bad.
No no, it was a good statement, so saying it twice was reasonable.
I’m going to start on a 15500 franken project which includes getting a gen dial, gen datewheel, gen rotor, gen bridges, gen balance wheel and gen main plate.
Asking if the 4302 clone movement can support genuine parts. I saw @legend teardown and the movement is beautiful.
I’m probably gonna use the ZF 15500 V3 as the base. Gen thickness.
Before I start, any idea if my franken is feasible? I know a rotor and DW/Dial works but not sure about using a genuine mainplate, gen balance wheel gen bridges together with the rep parts. It’s gonna be an expensive project but I love the 15500.
Asking if the 4302 clone movement can support genuine parts. I saw @legend teardown and the movement is beautiful.
I’m probably gonna use the ZF 15500 V3 as the base. Gen thickness.
Before I start, any idea if my franken is feasible? I know a rotor and DW/Dial works but not sure about using a genuine mainplate, gen balance wheel gen bridges together with the rep parts. It’s gonna be an expensive project but I love the 15500.
alpharp
Getting To Know The Place
- 24/12/21
- 54
- 54
- 18
I’m positive the rotor, date disc and dial would fit with no issues. I have not seen any projects here using a gen mainplate and balance wheel - wondering if @j21 has seen this done before on WeChat? I remember you mentioning having contact with Chinese modders there.
Since the 4302 movement is newer I would definitely expect longer wait times for these parts. Took me a while to find a date disc for the 3120, which has been around longer.
No i haven't see it, and it wouldn't surprise me if nothing fits regarding the movement parts
4302 mainplate and movement parts are readily available on eBay last time i have check
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If you truly love the 15500 why not get the gen instead? At the end of the day you put all the gen parts you mentioned into a rep and it’ll still be a rep, and a bastardized watch with a mixed identity. Save up a bit more and get the gen instead and all your problems are solved at one go. There is also the issue of parts availability. It is easy to rattle off the gen parts you need but actually procuring them is another thing altogether. Just be aware. I have not seen the gen 4302 balance wheel and rotor available online (yet). Also the value the gen movement parts add will be questionable as your movement still isn’t going to be on the same level as the gen one even if everything fits perfectly. You may wish to reconsider the worth of what you’re planning on doing. It’s adding a lot of cost for little actual benefit, especially when it comes to the clone movement parts.
Thank you very much for this valuable information. You know, my dream watch is the ROYAL OAK 41MM PERPETUAL CALENDAR BLACK CERAMIC . I love it. I see that it exists in V2, but the BIG problem with this watch is that the hand which should normally indicate the weeks, indicates the seconds
I saw that there is a V3 in preparation but apparently this problem will still not be solved, it's a shame because I would have bought it directly, even if it is not perfect I could have buy, but this problem I can not accept it 
- 2/5/16
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Yet another factory (JJF) shows up with a version of the Dark Knight, when I just bought the JF
Could the experts chime in? Is this a worthy upgrade? In my eyes - at least in pics -, looks pretty similar, but its waaay more expensive.
Could the experts chime in? Is this a worthy upgrade? In my eyes - at least in pics -, looks pretty similar, but its waaay more expensive.
as long as it’s still running the A7750 sec@12 movement it will not be significantly better.Yet another factory (JJF) shows up with a version of the Dark Knight, when I just bought the JF
Could the experts chime in? Is this a worthy upgrade? In my eyes - at least in pics -, looks pretty similar, but its waaay more expensive.
Not meaning to interrupt the convo here, but curious to know if anyone knows if factories plan on repping the 50th anniversary additions. Specifically looking at Ref. 26730OR.OO.1320OR.01. Cheers if anyone can point me in the right direction (I tried searching for request threads for factories, only found a seemingly out of date one for Puretime).