Long time lurker, infrequent poster... I thought that it would be fitting for this to be the first jacket that I posted to this forum. I joined a few years ago to get more information on the Insurrection / Aero J-100 replica. Unfortunately, that project didn't take off so for the past few years I have been engaged in a half-hearted search for a replica less expensive than the Real McCoy's version. A few weeks ago I found Diamond Cap Co. through another thread here. My search is finally over...
Leather: Horween, 3oz. semi-aniline, pigment finished FQHH. Tons of character straight out of the box.
Hardware: Brass Talon zips
Construction Quality: I have a vintage steerhide J-100 and the Diamond version seems just as solid. We'll see how it wears over the next 50 years.
Customer Service: I hate to even call it that. Diamond Dave was fantastic. It felt more like a conversation about jackets than a sales transaction. Dave is clearly passionate about what he does and is an extremely nice guy.
Delivery Time: I placed my order April 6 and the jacket arrived yesterday. To Dave's credit, the jacket was ready last week, but he held on to it for a few days because I was out of town.
And some pictures...
Front (indoors):
Back (indoors):
Front (indoors):
Back (indoors):
Pocket / Leather Details (indoors):
Pocket / Leather (outdoors):
Sleeve Detail (outdoors):
Label (outdoors):
Depending on the light, the leather can look either black or brown. Here is a comparison against two other jackets:
Diamond J-100 Left / Black Aero Highwayman Right:
Diamond J-100 Left / Black Brown Belstaff Right:
Leather: Horween, 3oz. semi-aniline, pigment finished FQHH. Tons of character straight out of the box.
Hardware: Brass Talon zips
Construction Quality: I have a vintage steerhide J-100 and the Diamond version seems just as solid. We'll see how it wears over the next 50 years.
Customer Service: I hate to even call it that. Diamond Dave was fantastic. It felt more like a conversation about jackets than a sales transaction. Dave is clearly passionate about what he does and is an extremely nice guy.
Delivery Time: I placed my order April 6 and the jacket arrived yesterday. To Dave's credit, the jacket was ready last week, but he held on to it for a few days because I was out of town.
And some pictures...
Front (indoors):
Back (indoors):
Front (indoors):
Back (indoors):
Pocket / Leather Details (indoors):
Pocket / Leather (outdoors):
Sleeve Detail (outdoors):
Label (outdoors):
Depending on the light, the leather can look either black or brown. Here is a comparison against two other jackets:
Diamond J-100 Left / Black Aero Highwayman Right:
Diamond J-100 Left / Black Brown Belstaff Right:
I definitely would not consider it a winter jacket. I wore it around comfortably yesterday (temp in the high 60s with a bit of wind for those of you not in the metroplex). A few days ago I was wearing a similarly weighted jacket (a spring/summer Belstaff Police Blouson FWIW) when it was in the mid 40s and was just warm enough.
