The Battle Has Already Begun

[ra1n]

Gen Crystal is around 320 euros = £292 GBP (In a proper currency!)
The ZF rep is 548 USD (the most expensive we've seen to date)

= £420 GBP

So the entire cost would be £420 + £292 = £712 (not even accounting for shipping... so easy add another £50 + modding costs) you're looking at £800

That's almost double the price of the rep... (800/420 = 1.9 times...)

I'm not bothered about the cost, if it's worth doing I'll do it. But to say its not that expensive, is just silly. It's almost double the price...

RXF have got the crystal nearly perfect, it isn't too much to expect some of these more established factories to be producing to a higher standard. They are making HUGE profit margins, the TDs and the factories. Their costs are not very high, namely down to exceptionally cheap labour.

Hopefully RXF crystal, shakes up the boat and forces the other factories to compete. Otherwise I can imagine many people will shift to RXF. It's much cheaper at just over $300 and doesn't have a large tell.

The crystal is as other people have commented, one of the biggest tells on wrist and from a distance. We should expect better by now.

+1 Sonofalich.

May I also add a point. the fact that most people wouldn't even dare/know how to replace/mod the crystal, and if they decide to let a watchsmith do the job, there is also the cost of that, and if they aren't local, there is the cost of shipping to the watchsmith and back, that all adds up.

 

[Therion666]

lmao nice catch

It's Gollum, he's talking to his Precious

 

[Therion666]

Valentz Why is such a well off, tempered and refined gentleman wasting time among us plebeians, who think that 320€ is a bit over the top for 2 cm worth of glass?

And of course they can make a perfect crystal, but they ain't gonna. That would ruin their business model. They will take your money in 6 months again for a Vx and you'll be happy like a New Year while typing your PayPal password.

 

[mari115]

Ok, so, I just got sent a video from my friend's gen 116710, he lives near me so the lightning conditions are almost the same, you just have to know that it's cloudy and the light is not direct. He stepped outside in the shade and lo and behold, just after a slight tilt of the watch, here comes the incredibly difficult to reproduce Black Hole Effect!!! Accompanied by an outstanding Halo Effect!!!

Jokes apart, I did the same, tried to take some pictures with the same reflections of my friend, and this is the result (the ARF 116710 crystal is supposed to be the best rep crystal available atm excluding the new releases).

Here's a comparison:
Gen:



Rep:



Gen:



Rep:



If ANYONE thinks that these 2 are the same, and you can't see the difference from the wrist, or you think that you can see a CG or Case Shape better than you see this, you really need some glasses man lmao

Gen:


Rep:






Now, i just asked my friend to step outside, and the black hole magically occurred.

Here are the videos from which the pictures come:

Gen:
https://streamable.com/q09tvl

Rep:
https://streamable.com/kbvsfs



Now, what do you think?

 

[mari115]

And of course they can make a perfect crystal, but they ain't gonna. That would ruin their business model.

You hit all the right spots

 

[mari115]

Gen Crystal is around 320 euros = £292 GBP (In a proper currency!)
The ZF rep is 548 USD (the most expensive we've seen to date)

= £420 GBP

So the entire cost would be £420 + £292 = £712 (not even accounting for shipping... so easy add another £50 + modding costs) you're looking at £800

That's almost double the price of the rep... (800/420 = 1.9 times...)

I'm not bothered about the cost, if it's worth doing I'll do it. But to say its not that expensive, is just silly. It's almost double the price...

RXF have got the crystal nearly perfect, it isn't too much to expect some of these more established factories to be producing to a higher standard. They are making HUGE profit margins, the TDs and the factories. Their costs are not very high, namely down to exceptionally cheap labour.

Hopefully RXF crystal, shakes up the boat and forces the other factories to compete. Otherwise I can imagine many people will shift to RXF. It's much cheaper at just over $300 and doesn't have a large tell.

The crystal is as other people have commented, one of the biggest tells on wrist and from a distance. We should expect better by now.

Well said.

 

[houss1981]

Ok I see. But are you sure your friend has gen watch? Or mabe frankened. Dial xtal and DW might be gen but the rest.....
dial marker and hands have different colors...

 

[mari115]

Ok I see. But are you sure your friend has gen watch? Or mabe

it's a modded ARF with gen crystal and DW, this is how much the watch changes with a good crystal and dw

 

[houss1981]

it's a modded ARF with gen crystal and DW, this is how much the watch changes with a good crystal and dw

Totally agree. It is worth the upgrade

 

[mari115]

Totally agree. It is worth the upgrade

i wonder if my english is trash or there is some kind of communication problems lmao.

Jokes apart, Wouldn't it be amazing if factories managed to actually improve, noticeably, their crystal, so that you don't have to necessarily change it for a gen one?

And the first one to say something like "yOu cAn'T eXpEcT gEn-LiKe qUaLiTy fOr 500$" will lose their right to vote in 2021

 

[m5smg2]

Interesting how this thread has turned into a crystal/cyclops thread. There’s so much much more to the watch as a whole. For those hell bent over the cyclops, they will never be happy unless the install a gen crystal costing more than the whole watch. To each their own. Realistically, I wouldn’t expect $500 gen spec quality crystal on a $500 rep...no matter how good the rep is.

For the rest, every version and model gets a better and clearer cyclops. Look, we’re getting closer.

Stock ARF crystal

 

[muiramas]

Interesting how this thread has turned into a crystal/cyclops thread. There’s so much much more to the watch as a whole.

Agreed. There is a very vocal minority obsessed with the crystal right now. Nothing out of China will match Rolex glass in the near future IMO.

 

[mari115]

Interesting how this thread has turned into a crystal/cyclops thread. There’s so much much more to the watch as a whole. For those hell bent over the cyclops, they will never be happy unless the install a gen crystal costing more than the whole watch. To each their own. Realistically, I wouldn’t expect $500 gen spec quality crystal on a $500 rep...no matter how good the rep is.

For the rest, every version and model gets a better and clearer cyclops. Look, we’re getting closer.

Stock ARF crystal

You just lost your right to vote lmao.

By the way, everything cool and all, but for their 5 digits there isn’t supposed to be any kind of AR, that’s why they are doing great in that area ahahaha.
That crystal is the same as it was in the JF 5 years ago, so especially for that crystal there isn’t really any reason to update it lol


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[m5smg2]

You just lost your right to vote lmao.

By the way, everything cool and all, but for their 5 digits there isn’t supposed to be any kind of AR, that’s why they are doing great in that area ahahaha.
That crystal is the same as it was in the JF 5 years ago, so especially for that crystal there isn’t really any reason to update it lol


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

Lol ok fair enough. Worth noting the later 5 digits (and when Serviced by RSC) came with AR cyclops. For the ARF, the crystal was indeed updated: https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...-16610-lv-submariner-904l-kermit-photo-review

How bout green hole effect

 

[Sonofalich]

Nothing out of China will match Rolex glass in the near future IMO.

That isn't quite true though.

RXF is very very close.

I do agree there is a lot of crystal obsession here, but I do get it. It's quite a large tell if you know... but how many know? That's a better question. Either way, if we can get improvements on crystals to RXF standard that would be a great success to everyone. As then, those that want the absolute gen experience of crystals can still buy it... but for most, it'll be great out of the box.

 

[FrankenLover]

Huge opportunity for everyone, I hope AR factory is listening to all the experts from here!

What I really want them to fix is:

Better platinum engravings on the bezel - I have a gen 114060 and the ZZF one. When im in low lighting, I literally can't see the numbers on my ZZF, it is quite different than on the gen.

The cyclops and DW on date models have to be perfect now (At least the Cyclops)

Hopefully a high quality bracelet, that keeps its tightness a little bit longer than the current

 

[houss1981]

Huge opportunity for everyone, I hope AR factory is listening to all the experts from here!

What I really want them to fix is:

Better platinum engravings on the bezel - I have a gen 114060 and the ZZF one. When im in low lighting, I literally can't see the numbers on my ZZF, it is quite different than on the gen.

The cyclops and DW on date models have to be perfect now (At least the Cyclops)

Hopefully a high quality bracelet, that keeps its tightness a little bit longer than the current

Do you have a problem with ARF bracelet tightness? How long have you had this watch?

 

[FrankenLover]

Do you have a problem with ARF bracelet tightness? How long have you had this watch?

Had the ZZF watch for 6 months, and the ARF bracelet for 4 months.

And yes even the ARF bracelet just feels way cheaper - obviously.

 

[mari115]

Lol ok fair enough. Worth noting the later 5 digits (and when Serviced by RSC) came with AR cyclops. For the ARF, the crystal was indeed updated: https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...-16610-lv-submariner-904l-kermit-photo-review

How bout green hole effect

Hopefully ARF comes and makes some kind of innovation.

It’s cool that they updated the 16610’s crystal, but they really didn’t need to, the priority must be on the 6 digit crystals

Cool LV!


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[Spoons]

https://www.dsxtals.com/products/rolex295cblackhole

Has anyone bough this or knows anything about it? It might be an affordable solution if genlike

I would stay away. Most of the reports I have read about people trying dsxtals have either ended up receiving nothing or receiving a crystal that doesn't look that great:

https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...20378-rolex-crystals-from-crystal-clear/page6

https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...671609-old-noob-getting-some-love-today/page2