Yeah I completely understand, I love MDR's, when I first started looking into leather jackets that was my ideal jacket, just as the year went by my tastes changed a little but I think for most people the simpler double rider would be the better option. I agree about the washing part too as well, I definitely don't have enough experience with leather jackets to risk messing up the jacket.
Nate Bui from Schott also took off the belt on his (altered) 613 and I think it looks really good even with the belt loops still on there. I also think the epaulettes on the Schott's lay pretty nicely, one of the reasons I committed to the Schott over say, a used 2013DR was I noticed a lot of the 2013DR epaulettes kind of arch up which makes them more noticeable (I noticed prawnzee's earlier in this thread looks great though).
I think the turning point where I started looking at Schott as my ideal brand and not just as a "well it takes 35 weeks for a toj..." was this picture I found of the 613us made for the japanese market

I can't put my finger on what it was but it felt like the turning point in what I wanted out of a double rider.
for reference, below is the toj 2013 dr, below that is nate bui from schott with his 613 I mentioned

Also I'll let you know when mine gets here but the dude I ordered my 626 from says the new batch for a/w shouldn't have stars on the epaulettes, which for me was a plus.