A tale of two subs
Well I entered the rep game after lurking around here for a while. I started off with a VSF sub date as my first. I LOVE IT! It has been an amazing watch. Literally zero issues or complaints. It would be boring to really talk about this one because I literally unwrapped it and it has been living on my wrist. Big shout out to Omar at r/CtrlAltRep for being amazing to work with.
I kept hearing about how good the U1 no date subs are, and figured for $110 I should pick one up to be a beater watch when I don't want to risk damage to my vsf. So I ordered one from Jason and got it to my doorstep in under two weeks which is impressive. Upon unwrapping this thing I was blown away by two things - how great it looked, and how awful it felt. The bracelet felt like an old rusty barn hinge and made so much noise just picking the watch up from the table. The rotor on the Miyota movement sounded like a helicopter taking off. The crown came loose from the stem the first time I set the time. Not a great experience out of the packaging whatsoever.
With all of that being said - if you are willing to put in just a bit of time and effort with these things they are actually pretty good. I did a full hot dish soap soak on the bracelet, followed by an overnight baby oil bath, followed by a hot water rinse without soap. Dang, not bad at all. Still slightly lighter and not as buttery as my vsf, but not bad. Opened the case back, removed the rotor, soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol, then correctly lubed the bearing of the rotor with 9010. This movement is never going to be silent because of its design, but again, dang, not bad. Fixed the crown, greased the gaskets for water proofing, etc. while I was in there.
Here is my dilemma. I have come to like the simple, clean look of the no date. I have even been wearing this "crappy" U1 sometimes. Honestly if this thing had a better crystal and zero rotor noise I would probably wear it more than my vsf. Should I buy a no date in vsf? Should I give another factory a try?