The Hulk
For years I have admired the Rolex 11661LV, aka The Hulk. However, I really don’t admire the +$17,000 price tag! It’s an amazing watch, and I have tried it on, but there is no way I could spring that much for a watch. What to do? Well, I went with a sterile dial homage. Maybe, someday I can have the real deal, but for now, I’ll enjoy this watch for what it is.
The dial is a fantastic green radial starburst with applied markers. The hands are classic Mercedes style, with a high polish. Like the real deal, the lume on the hands glows blue and the markers glow green. The performance is the of the lume is okay, nothing to write home about. The date wheel is white with black text and has the appropriate font. The bezel is very nice, with a ceramic insert and a lume pip at noon. It is a unidirectional, with 120 clicks. My biggest complaint, as with the real deal, is the is not a lot to grip to turn the bezel. The dial is completely sterile.
Where this homage really shines is the crystal. It is a sapphire crystal, flat, with a very good cyclops magnifier, at least 2.5x.
The case and movement: The case is well made and polished. The crows screws down easily and winds smoothly. The movement is some sort of Chinese special. It does hack and hand wind and beats at 21,600 BPH. Accuracy has been good so far +/-10 seconds a day. The date changes instantly at midnight. The case back is screw down, with no markings. I have not opened this watch up, so I am not sure exactly what is inside.
The bracelet it cam on looked nice, with screwed links, solid end links, and a diver’s extension. Unfortunately the quality was only skin deep, the deployant cracked on one side in the first few days and the diver’s extension was always slipping. I replaced the bracelet with a shark mesh, which was a total nightmare to resize, but it looks fantastic. Much like the real deal, I wish they used 22mm lugs, not 20 on a 40mm diameter case.
Overall, I am happy with the watch, I picked it up for around $50 before Covid-19 hit. The case and quality are quite good, except for the faulty bracelet. Hey, until I can afford the real deal, this will be ‘good enough’ and it not a fake.
Case: 40mm diameter, stainless steel, 50M water resistance.
Back: stainless steel, screw down.
Crystal: Sapphire, flat, with cyclops magnifier.
Movement: Automatic, Made in China
Complications: Rotating Bezel, Date
Other: Luminous Hands and markers