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I'm getting conflicting info. The face appears plastic even though Google's BS AI is telling me it's sapphire.
It's plastic correct regardless of trim?
haha sapphire? it telling you that it is almost as credible as apple saying their phones are sapphire, https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...ire-c.1996628/ sapphire supposed to scratch at level 8 and deeper groves at level 9 I think.
haha sapphire? it telling you that it is almost as credible as apple saying their phones are sapphire, https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...ire-c.1996628/ sapphire supposed to scratch at level 8 and deeper groves at level 9 I think.
LMAOOO. Yeah first Google's AI overviews then AI Mode insisting. on and on it went. Synthesized garbage!
It finally admitted it was WRONG by my very very specific rebuttal. DAMN LLMs don't understand nuance if their lives depended on it.
For the price of this damn clock, it should be sapphire with white gold. Whattttt Daaa Fawwwwk.
Last edited by Nicholi2007; Dec 4, 2025 at 04:49 PM.
I have got to do that swap! IWC's are the only watches on my wrist for several reasons and I was saddened to loose it when I sold my '14 E63S . . . need to find one now but no longer available, at least new
I have got to do that swap! IWC's are the only watches on my wrist for several reasons and I was saddened to loose it when I sold my '14 E63S . . . need to find one now but no longer available, at least new
The Blue one is A2058272201 but very tough to find.
I'm not sure if the clock can be taken apart and swapped out with a new face and bezel? I do see some priced low but scratched badly...
Last edited by Nicholi2007; Dec 4, 2025 at 05:40 PM.
I did some extreme digging on this and found that the c257 CLS53 Edition 1's came with a unique IWC variation with a black face and white markers (no red tones). I managed to find one for sale in Singapore, had it shipped over and put it in last week.
To answer the above questions, yes, the glass cover and chrome trim can be removed and replaced. They are all the same shape and fitment.
Last edited by 6speeddave; Dec 5, 2025 at 07:27 PM.
@6speedave WOW, the face is glass.
That's more durable than acrylic. I wonder if that's for all of them or unique to that market?
I can see the appeal for black and white. Easily goes with any interior.
🤔 I suppose the glass could be polished for the one I looked at (assuming it's glass) and the bezel is probably the same as my stock one.
There's also a yellow version in case people are interested.
I rarely look at my clock but confirmed today that it has red highlights around the bezel vs the yellow shown above.
I liked a lot of things about the Edition 1 and was ready to buy one when they were shown at the LA auto show at introduction, but orders weren't open yet. Upon reflection as much as I liked the ED 1 paint color and a few other bits I elected to go with a standard car optioned out the way I wanted. Cost more than the ED 1 but I got more stuff so it was worth it in the end.
If I ever really looked at the clock, it would be nice to have the yellow highlighting to match my CCBs :-)
I rarely look at my clock but confirmed today that it has red highlights around the bezel vs the yellow shown above.
I liked a lot of things about the Edition 1 and was ready to buy one when they were shown at the LA auto show at introduction, but orders weren't open yet. Upon reflection as much as I liked the ED 1 paint color and a few other bits I elected to go with a standard car optioned out the way I wanted. Cost more than the ED 1 but I got more stuff so it was worth it in the end.
If I ever really looked at the clock, it would be nice to have the yellow highlighting to match my CCBs :-)
I don't look at the clock very much but it annoys me how inferior it looks.
Mercteil confirmed it's plastic and was very eager to sell me one. Talk about sticker shock.
I wonder how accurate the time is on the clock? Is it slaved to the cars GPS time output, the description says it is of the finest analog analog design using the finest materials, yada yada, but yet I've never had to set mine. So guessing it uses an analog display to step to a digitally derived value.
Nonetheless, I'd bet I could produce a form fit function replacement with a glass bezel and as fancy a display face as you like - short of including any copyright/trademark features - for a fraction of the price.
Given the body doesn't show, one could 3D print that, put some inexpensive microcontroller guts pulling GPS time off the cars bus (probably what the factor clock does) and controlling a stepper motor inside that, and slap on a nice face, pretty hands and bezel and you're off to the races.
I wonder how accurate the time is on the clock? Is it slaved to the cars GPS time output, the description says it is of the finest analog analog design using the finest materials, yada yada, but yet I've never had to set mine. So guessing it uses an analog display to step to a digitally derived value.
Nonetheless, I'd bet I could produce a form fit function replacement with a glass bezel and as fancy a display face as you like - short of including any copyright/trademark features - for a fraction of the price.
Given the body doesn't show, one could 3D print that, put some inexpensive microcontroller guts pulling GPS time off the cars bus (probably what the factor clock does) and controlling a stepper motor inside that, and slap on a nice face, pretty hands and bezel and you're off to the races.
Yep. The head unit sets the time and it's pushed over the CAN Bus. The clock probably listens via some gateway/module and has a small receiver/processor. Then it turns the stepper motor. It's by design so as to not consume any real power per se..
$50–$150 per unit for sapphire. It's expensive. Tempered glass would be $5 to $10. Not sure what type of capital. Probably need 20K but volume to make a nice return...
it does appear that the clock extends outside of the the black trim piece though so it would require cutting a circle of sort around the clock to make it fit. Probably not worth it
not sure what's behind it but it's just awkwardly empty from the front
Hmmm ya you are right
Originally Posted by zukmeister
it does appear that the clock extends outside of the the black trim piece though so it would require cutting a circle of sort around the clock to make it fit. Probably not worth it
Yeah first Google's AI overviews then AI Mode insisting. on and on it went. Synthesized garbage!
