I just got my brand new VSF 126610LN. I knew I shouldn't have hyped up the damn watch in my head.
The good:
1. The watch looks stunning. The floating M and CERtifiED aren't visible to the naked eye. To those of you who can spot those while the watch is on the wrist - I'm jealous of your eyesight!
2. The glidelock works perfectly. And it's very smooth! No scratchy feeling while using it.
3. The bracelet feels nice. Something about the gen bracelet feels slightly better (hard to pinpoint what it is but yeah) but this one is pretty great too. The edges don't feel as sharp as I read it is supposed to feel. My ZF SMP300 had much sharper edges on the bracelet.
4. The ceramic bezel pops under direct sunlight.
5. I'm surprised that the crystal actually looks good. I've read that VSF crystals aren't as good as clean or gen crystals. To my inexperienced eyes, it looks pretty damn good.
6. I'm also surprised by the rehaut. It isn't as dull in person when compared to pictures. It looks dull when photographed but is decent when viewed directly. The gen had slightly more sheen but I would notice that ONLY when I compare the two side by side.
The bad:
1. I got a Q66 watch with clasp code 1LQ. The fold lock/safety lever in my watch is loose. It locks in place and tugging in the clasp with it in place doesn't dislodge the fold lock. But I can easily open it by holding the sides of the fold lock and flipping it down. No need to use the Rolex crown at all to unlock it. I played with the gen for a long time last week and the fold lock on that was TIGHT. I was actually afraid I'd pull the damn crown off while unlocking it. Is it normal for the VSF to be that loose? If so, is there any way I can make it tight?
2. The bezel action isn't as good as gen. I read a lot about how it was soft when compared to gen and now I know what they mean. The gen had a nice click and was tight. The VSF has clicks but not as good as gen. There's also some backplay. I know it's within normal limits when compared to other VSFs. But the bezel on my ZF SMP300 feels better. It clicks better and has no backplay. I've seen the Rolex clickspring online but I don't know if that alone will make the bezel click better and reduce the backplay. Someone told me I'll have to change the entire bezel and insert along with the clickspring and hyrtel (?) ring to make it feel as good as gen and that'll be more than a couple of thousand dollars. I don't want it to feel as good as gen but I'd love to get it to feel tighter than it is now and hopefully click better.
I guess I shouldn't have been that harsh to my watch in the opening statement. It's a very nice watch, especially for the price paid compared to a gen. If I could somehow fix the two negatives, it would be the perfect rep dive watch in my eyes. Right now, I think I still like my ZF SMP300 slightly more.