Did you color in the bezel numerals? They really pop against the lightly patina'd brass. My A1 is just plain engraved brass (the above A8 did have the numbers colored in)
They looked like that out of the box, and I received this watch just a day before this photo and post Took the last one available on the website. I believe dark bezel numerals and markings are specific for the last generation of A1 model, on the website they all look like that.