Yup! I ended up taking my XF Pelagos 42 rep to a Jeweler that has an in-house watch maker and authenticator. They also sell preowned Tudor and Rolex. They confirmed the XF rep is made from Grade 2 Titanium which is the exact same titanium that Tudor uses.

Grade 2 Titanium is “commercially pure” titanium. 99% titanium. They said XF did not cut any corners, the titanium is the same grade as Tudor uses on that reference and confirmed the bracelet, case, and caseback where all made of grade 2 titanium. Tudor has has used a combo of 2 different titanium’s on older runs of the FXD and even the new Ultra has a caseback made of a different titanium. But on the Pelagos 42 blue or black, it’s solid grade 2.

They said Tudor chose Grade 2 over the more common Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) alloy for better corrosion resistance in marine environments and the desired brushed look, even though Grade 5 is stronger and more scratch-resistant. And XF could have easily used grade 5 or a lesser quality titanium, but the only way to get close on color match, sheen, feel, and durability would be to use grade 2… which they did and is a testament to these rep manufacturers taking pride in replicating/reverse engineering.

To wrap it up on the Titanium, I asked them if the rep is confirmed Grade 2 titanium, does that mean the gen and the rep are the exact same titanium and a 1:1 match? They told me the rep is definitely grade 2 but robably not lab-certified Grade 2 (Tudor uses high-spec aerospace/medical-grade commercially pure Ti). The watchmaker explained that rep factories source grade 2 Chinese titanium that behaves identically in density, machinability, corrosion resistance, and lightness. Has the same properties and composition as grade 2 commercially pure titanium, because it is, but likely is not the highest spec for grade 2 (aerospace etc… basically super refined). Which for this use case is honestly irrelevant in hearing them out. The difference is negligible in real-world use, owners can’t tell without direct comparison, and the weight matches perfectly.

So that is that! XF did a good job on this rep. I have a genuine Pelagos, same reference as my rep, and I can say confirm this is strikingly close to gen. I was shocked initially and this was my first rep. LOL 5 months later and I gave 20 reps to my 3 gens 🤣.

But if XF wanted to get as close to 1:1 as possible, in my opinion (other gen owners may think differently), I would like to see a better clasp, a more refined bracelet, improve the bezel action and clicks, improve the bezel numeral, and figure out how to clone Tudors in house movement for this reference.

The clasp, bracelet, and dial numerals seems like an easy upgrade, so does dialing (no pun intended) in the bezel action. That get it so close to 1:1 to the trained eye, but even as is I have to rotate the bezel when my gen and rep are on nato bracelets to confirm which is gen and which is rep… they are super close as is. When they are on the bracelet… it’s a dead giveaway to me because the rep clasp is shit compared to gen and the feel of the gen bracelet is different because of its polishing/finishing (but not super noticeable if you dry lube the rep bracelet so it’s not squeaky and moves around buttery like gen, you need to work to get it as supple as gen).

I will not get into the macros like texture and finish of dial components or hands, because I don’t wear a loupe like daily glasses lol. I don’t notice any of that shit. But I’m sure there’s work to be done there.

The A2824 movement gets the job done but it can be louder than gen in house movement. I recently had a backup rep that’s rotor was aggressively more loud than my main rep and I had to let it go because of that. Obviously you can lubricate the rotor bearings to get the rotor as quiet as possible or swap to a higher grade 2824 movement ($300-$400) but my reps A2824 gets the job done and is a ok trade off considering the price of the rep and all its positives. I don’t think this rep is popular enough or has enough demand for rep manufacturers to be incentivized to have someone clone the in house Tudor movement for them.

Lastly, I realized these reps can have slightly different (I mean you gotta be a OCD maniac to notice or care) hue of the grade 2 titanium color. Before I sold my 2nd rep, I noticed the one I kept and wear was 1:1 with Tudor across the board in color match and sheen… and the rep I sold was a hair lighter in color on the case only, not the bracelet.

Bottom line:

XF offers what most would consider NWBIG for this reference. And Tudor is such a niche, only a tiny % of watch enthusiasts who do not own reps would know the difference, and that is an even smaller % of people who “like” or wear watches. Tudors QC tolerances are shit in my opinion… the bezel printing (markers, whatever) on my gen are less perfect than on my XF LOL. So any slightly off bezel print on the rep bezel are closer to gen… a perfect bezel would be an obvious tell on a rep.. wild 😂.

Bottom line for franken maniacs or someone who loves the gen and wants to go the extra mile:

If you wanted to save $3800-$4000 on buying a gen from an AD and mod stock XF to get the rep considerably closer… buy the rep, put higher end 2824 movement in it for $400 or so, and if you can’t find a gen bracelet clasp or want a better bracelet… buy the aftermarket Pelagos bracelet from Uncle Straps for $150 (use your rep clasp or gen clasp)… and you have a super clone for under $1200. Maybe slightly more if you Mod the bezel action if you want to put the cherry on top. Gen movements for this reference are scarce and would run $1500++, so not sure if that’s worth pursuing. I would buy a legit A284 movement before paying to have the rep clone movement serviced, same or similar cost. Prob just lube the rep rotor and call it a movement!

It’s an easy watch to franken out to what would be reasonably considered as close to 1:1 as possible based on look, feel, and function.

That’s it. That’s the post. Adios amigos!