I recently picked up a BB41 Monochrome from ZF, and I was excited to try the t-fit clasp system. I have a gen BB58 blue, and I wish there was an on-the-fly micro adjust for it, so I was considering asking my TD to source just the clasp and put it on an uncle seiko oyster style to wear on my gen if it turned out to be good. The gen t-fit seems to have a lot of fans, but of course it's next to impossible to source gen parts.
I received my ZF monochrome on jubilee last week, and by the third day I ran into the slipping issue. User kuri_2k mentioned this issue with the ZF BB54 a year ago, and talked about his "permanent fix" here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/new-zf-tudor-black-bay-54.10965428/post-11860073
Very informative, and I think I'll try his approach if I can't figure anything else out, but I wish there were a solution that didn't involve taping the watch. I feel like that's not going to last long term. I'm wondering if anyone has a gen t-fit clasp they'd be willing to take apart to see what the differences are. I took my ZF clasp apart and here's my observations:
The small slots visible in front of the clasp are either to visually judge where your adjustment is set, or the ZF one is missing something. They serve no physical purpose in mine. There's a hole above them, and the inner diameter of the top of the hole is narrower for a fraction of a millimeter than the rest of the hole, almost like it could capture a spring that pushes down on something that could engage the small position slots. This second point of engagement might make the difference, but from what I can tell by online videos and pictures, I suspect the hole is also empty on gen. Weird design if so.
The thing I suspect is the actual issue is the "bar" that fits down into the long slots has a rounded profile instead of being squared off. This allows it to slip out of place instead of locking in place. I can't be sure without a gen one to compare, but here's a screenshot from a youtube video, it seems to me this gen example "bar" may be more squared off. No idea on the slots themselves vs gen, but the ZF I have has at least an approximation of a squared off profile.
I also don't know if this "bar" came this way or immediately rounded off due to wear. If it did, it wore down extremely fast. As I mentioned, it was slipping the third day I wore it. Here's some poor attempts at close ups so you can see how rounded it is:
My final thought is that the spring on the gen looks to be thicker and thus probably stronger on the gen. Look at the middle image below, it's the t-fit style in question, and the spring here looks slightly thicker than mine. This is a marginal guess at best, it's too hard to tell in a photo, but just another thought. A stronger spring would hold the bar down in the slot with more force.
That's all my thoughts for tonight, if you have a gen you're willing to take apart, I'd appreciate it. Unless someone else has any better ideas, I'm going to try sticking some tape in there for now.
I received my ZF monochrome on jubilee last week, and by the third day I ran into the slipping issue. User kuri_2k mentioned this issue with the ZF BB54 a year ago, and talked about his "permanent fix" here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/new-zf-tudor-black-bay-54.10965428/post-11860073
Very informative, and I think I'll try his approach if I can't figure anything else out, but I wish there were a solution that didn't involve taping the watch. I feel like that's not going to last long term. I'm wondering if anyone has a gen t-fit clasp they'd be willing to take apart to see what the differences are. I took my ZF clasp apart and here's my observations:
The small slots visible in front of the clasp are either to visually judge where your adjustment is set, or the ZF one is missing something. They serve no physical purpose in mine. There's a hole above them, and the inner diameter of the top of the hole is narrower for a fraction of a millimeter than the rest of the hole, almost like it could capture a spring that pushes down on something that could engage the small position slots. This second point of engagement might make the difference, but from what I can tell by online videos and pictures, I suspect the hole is also empty on gen. Weird design if so.
The thing I suspect is the actual issue is the "bar" that fits down into the long slots has a rounded profile instead of being squared off. This allows it to slip out of place instead of locking in place. I can't be sure without a gen one to compare, but here's a screenshot from a youtube video, it seems to me this gen example "bar" may be more squared off. No idea on the slots themselves vs gen, but the ZF I have has at least an approximation of a squared off profile.
I also don't know if this "bar" came this way or immediately rounded off due to wear. If it did, it wore down extremely fast. As I mentioned, it was slipping the third day I wore it. Here's some poor attempts at close ups so you can see how rounded it is:
My final thought is that the spring on the gen looks to be thicker and thus probably stronger on the gen. Look at the middle image below, it's the t-fit style in question, and the spring here looks slightly thicker than mine. This is a marginal guess at best, it's too hard to tell in a photo, but just another thought. A stronger spring would hold the bar down in the slot with more force.
That's all my thoughts for tonight, if you have a gen you're willing to take apart, I'd appreciate it. Unless someone else has any better ideas, I'm going to try sticking some tape in there for now.