# Rlt 20 (black One)



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

RLT 20 Review,

Never done a review before so forgive me if its ka kaâ€¦.

Case:

38mm wide by 43mm top to bottom, fairly typical cushion case at first glance but the unusual part is the bezel is recessed part way into the case, there are 4 places where the bezel edge is exposed, a small area at the â€˜12â€™ and â€˜6â€™ positions, and larger areas at the â€˜3â€™ and â€˜9â€™ . There is almost no clearance between the bezel and case, which looks great.

The bezel is marked in minutes up to the 15 min point then every 5 mins..

The bezel is unidirectional and has very positive clicks (60) with no slack in between clicks,

There is also a lume triangle at the â€˜0â€™ minute marker on the bezel.

Movement:

The movement is a hand windable non hacking 17 jewel NOS Automatic FE 5611.

Roys picture....


















The other unusual feature is the position of the screw down crown, which is between the 4 and 5 hour marker, not at the more usual 4 position. The crown unscrews very smoothly and operates the quickset date and time change as normal.

The watch I have is the all black version, I havenâ€™t a clue how the black is coated onto the watch (neither does Roy so itâ€™s a mystery







) but it is a nice â€˜mattâ€™ finish, it almost has a powder coated appearance and is slightly textured to the touch. The screw down case back is stainless steel and is marked *Swiss made stainless steel shockproof antimagnetic Monte Carlo 200M..*

The heavily domed acrylic crystal is a very nice touch.

Hands and dial:

The hour indices are plain white bars with a minute track around the outside while the hands are shiny steel with green lume to the ends, with the second hand a very nice orange colour.

The date display is at the â€˜3 â€˜ position on the dial, and is black on white with the border outlined with a white box.

Although the hands and hour markers are different colours the lume match in the dark is excellent.

Since it has come Ive swapped the bracelet that was supplied for a Bond NATO which I think suits it well, the lug space is 20mm and the spring bar holes are quite close to the watch case, so much so I couldnâ€™t slip the NATO through the gap with the bars in and had to lay the strap into the lugs and put the bars on over itâ€¦

To sum up, the obvious thing to say is it is amazing value for money,

How Roy has made these for less than Â£100 beats me, itâ€™s a quality product and very exclusive.

Well done the people who reserved one, trust me they are worth the wait,

I havent done many pics yet but I can add them as I take them.


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## ETCHY (Aug 3, 2004)

Excellent review Jason.

At under a Â£100.00 these really are a bargain.

Dave


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Great review Jase, well done









Very cool watch









Boy am I glad I reserved one


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Great review & photo Jason







. I'm glad that I have one reserved (a black one) - with a bit of luck my wait should be over tomorrow


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## ollyming (May 12, 2004)

Geat review Jason, can't wait to get my hands on mine.























Cheers, Olly


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## hakim (Sep 13, 2004)

Nice review Jason.









Can't wait for mone too!























Only have one "pepsi" watch so it will be a welcome addition.


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## pda4live (May 6, 2005)

Great watch with Great review!

looking forward to see more outdoor picture Jason.


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Great review Jason and what a watch for under a Â£100.







Well done that man for making a cracker
















Looking forward to getting hold of my Pepsi soon


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Here's mine - got it yesterday and it's fantastic. I've taken the bracelet off as I'm not really a bracelet person and put it on the strap I got with my Candino 1000m diver - not sure what it's made from (could be kevlar) but it suits the "20" very well indeed.

Cool watch that's bound to become one of my favourites. Thanks Roy it's a belter


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Jon pointed it out to me yesterday about the large power reserve on these.

I have had one running on the bench, after a full wind, for over two days and it is still running. In fact it could be three days, I cannot remember when I wound it up , it was so long ago.









Anyone else getting similar results ?


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## Ironpants (Jul 1, 2005)

Roy said:


> Jon pointed it out to me yesterday about the large power reserve on these.
> 
> I have had one running on the bench, after a full wind, for over two days and it is still running. In fact it could be three days, I cannot remember when I wound it up , it was so long ago.
> 
> ...


no









Toby


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## Ron Jr (Sep 10, 2003)

I can't wait for mine to get here. Hopefully early next week. It will be joining my two other RLT watches.


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## m58dh (Aug 22, 2004)

Roy are anymore available? Is there a waiting list? If so put me down for one. I haven't been around lately so I completely missed this one!


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Michael, your email address is bouncing messages back.

They are all reserved but I can put you on the defered list should anyone back out.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I`m _sooo_ glad I got in early


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## ETCHY (Aug 3, 2004)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I`m _sooo_ glad I got in early
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep for once I acted on impulse & it paid off









RLT 20's Rock









Dave

(RLT20 Pepsi)


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## m58dh (Aug 22, 2004)

Roy,

I got your message about my 15, but am not sure why my other message came back. If this happens in the future you can use [email protected]


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I`m _sooo_ glad I got in early
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Absolutely, by the look of how many extra requests that Roy's getting he must be on at least his 3rd page


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

The only problem with the `20` is the super-glue Roy must have used on the back as I can`t get it off my wrist


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## m58dh (Aug 22, 2004)

I guess I must have been born with a four leaf clover stuck to my head beacuse after a few days of posting on the "WTB" page, I was actually able to purchase one of the RLT-20's! Believe me I was shocked as you are that I'd find one so easily, but one of the true gentleman of this board saw fit to pitty poor me and sell me his, I'd like to thank him for making the watch collectors ultimate sacrifice!

After finalizing the transaction I waited with great anticipation for the watch. A few days before purchasing it, I had purchased 4 other watches (3 from the Bay and 1 from Reto) as each new watch rolled in I couldn't help but be under enthusiastic about it. Sure they were nice watches, in fact the Bulova Super Seville that came from Reto boarders on being an absolute steal at the price, but I wanted my RLT-20.

My impressions

When I got back from my camping trip it had finally arrived. I tore the package to shreads and low and behold.....I held in my hands my latest RLT masterpiece. I immediately loved the weight of the watch. Being from the smaller wrist community heavy and bulky just don't serve me well. The 20 is light without being flimsy. Not quite as light in weight as my St. Moritz Transformer which is Titanium but light enough to wear all day without the desire to change to something else.

The Bracelet

Some have commented that they didn't care for the bracelet it comes on. I was all set to replace mine with a leather strap as I normally do about 80% of the time. However, I took it and got it sized instead. It fits perfect and reminds me of the bracelets on some of the watches I purchased in the mid 70's sleek and comfortable. In addition, The braceleet looked better than every band I tried it on including NATO's leather, carbon etc.

My watch is the all black style with PVD coating, I had planned on having IWW PVD a watch for me in the future, but this watch takes care of my need for an all black stealth watch.

The styling as mentioned is very vintage. I think those of us who love this watch love it for that very reason. There's something about that vintage styling that says class. The acryllic domed crystal adds to the vintage look and has always been my favorite choice for a watch.

More on the Size

I compared the size of the RLT to other watches in my collection. I was surprized to discover the size was very close to my Bill Yao modified O&W M-5. The M-5 is more hefty than the 20 and may be slightly more solid (if you're wearing the watch for rugged purposes) but the 20 just looks much cooler. The 20 reminds me as someone else has mentioned of the Doxa, it's such a great watch that it leaves me no desire to purchase the Doxa unless one just falls in my lap at an unbelievable price.

The Movement

I'm a big fan of manual wind watches. That's one of the reasons I wanted this watch so badly. It winds smoothly, the crown screws down easily and the date adjust just as it should. Thus far it has given me excellent time. At first, I thought it was off a minute or so, but soon realized that my wife had every clock in the house set differently. I set it according to another one of my watches that has been extremely accurate and in 48 hrs it hasn't skipped a beat.

Lume

Luminous hands and indices isn't a very important thing to me (unless it's 3 AM and I need to know the time) but the 20 was very good in this area. Not quite up to my aforementioned Transformer which seems to start glowing if you just walk into a lighted room, but enough for checking the time in the dark. Actually I prefer it this way, some watches such as the St. Moritz may go with a little overkill on the lume. I prefer my watches to be understated and that's what you get with the RLT-20.

Overall Impressions

Roy Taylor has done it again, It boggles my mine how he can come up with so many great watches at superb price points. In my neck of the woods (California) you'd be hard pressed to find and watch this good for under $600.00. The few extra bucks I kicked out to be one of the few who own this watch was nothing compared to the satisfaction I'll get from it over the years. Hopefully Roy will find some more NOS cases and movements and be able to build a great deal more. It'd be a shame for so many to miss out on a fantastic bargain like this.

Michael (m58dh)


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## ETCHY (Aug 3, 2004)

Congratulations Michael on getting a '20.

You're now in a pretty exclusive club !

Cheers

Dave


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Well done Michael, on getting your watch and a nice reveiw









I have received mine this week and my thoughts about are much the same.

Michael


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## m58dh (Aug 22, 2004)

Thanks Guys!

Michael


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2005)

Well I finally got mine! - thanks to DavidH who happily sold it to me - splendid chap even sent the watch before he;d got the cheque!

First impressions... WOW! Very unusual, bt somehow reassuringly familiar. Very nice indeed. My only minor niggle is the strap - I have the mesh one which I think feels a bit "lightweight"...

Overall









Now I need an 11...


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Well done Nobby


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

It is a rather fine piece, I was initially concerned about the mesh bracelet but now I feel it suits the watch and is more comfortable then it looks


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2005)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> It is a rather fine piece, I was initially concerned about the mesh bracelet but now I feel it suits the watch and is more comfortable then it looks
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I know what you mean







- it's already growing on me...


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Here's the pepsi bezel model, I concur with all the above this watch is lovely, the cae is just fantastic, like nothing I've seen before and finished to a very high standard indeed, the NSA bracelet is very comfortable too. The satin sheen finish on the bezel is georgous. Looks very 70's in style and the orange seconds hand sets it off a treat. Very happy with it indeed!


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## JP (Europe) (Jan 9, 2004)

jasonm said:


>












Found this from MWR. Looks familiar or....

JP


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