Idk whether my rep crystal is different than the newer batch, but i think it should be the same.
The reflection colour of the gen crystal should be reflecting the same colour of the light source since it uses a 1xAR with no colour coating crystal, it should not reflect any other colour that is different than the light source.
Look at the photos of the ceramic diver below from efthimis, it has a blue-green tint which doesn't happen on gen. The cyclops is muddy as well (on gen it is either appear like 2xAR without any light hitting on it or having reflection glare when any light shinning directly to it)
What I'm suggesting is to help people to get their diver as close as gen, based on my experiences when i compare my diver towards the gen diver from the watch store (not AD), photos from instagram, held on a gen in an AD and 2nd hand shop in the last few weeks. Therefore I did a lot of research, personal experiences and experiments to come up with this conclusion.
So if anyone think it's great rep ootb already, just ignore what I say and enjoy the watch.
If anyone decide to mod their watch, crystal should be the first thing that needs to be replaced, since crystal covers a huge area on the watch, it's paramount to replace it. Prof crystal is extremely good. but if you have low budget, buying the crystal from jf is pretty good as well. The second thing is cyclops, even though no stock or oem cyclops is perfect on the market, the cyclops on xf is still a bit muddy compare to gen, it only gets better when the light hits the cyclops. Mikey cyclops is the best, but for gen, it appears to be 2xAR in certain angles, mikey cyclops does not perform well in regard to that. Low beat movement and date wheel is not necessary, since in everyday lives, people rarely notice that unless you put the watch up close to people's face, but if you have enough budget, changing the movement to eta 2846 or pm80 is great to have. Datewheel on XF is nearly identical with gen, it is the best and better than any other datewheels on the market, so there's no need to change the stock datewheel. Endlink on the diver should be machined and trimmed down as well, since the endlink on the gen is flexible which makes the watch fits your hand better. Changing the backcover to jf diver is optional, since people rarely ask you to take off the watch, so it really depends on you. After modding everything that I mentioned above, you would get the best diver, it would be at least 97% identical to gen, and I can safe to say no one would dare to call you out.
If you want to get to 99.9%, it will cost a lot. Replace it with a gen timing ring, brushing the bezel screws to have a slight curve polished look, swap the crown (the gen crown is really soft and it feels like gummy bear), replace with gen strap and buckle. This would lead the watch to 99.9%, but it's not necessary to spend this much for a diver, if you have a budget this huge, better get a 2nd hand gen diver.
