McGilli's Rolex Submariner A.K.A. "Sunken 'R' Blood Dial" Review
McGilli's Rolex Submariner A.K.A. "Sunker 'R' Blood Dial" Review
Here we go.
I know you’ve all been tripping’ ballz waiting for my next review. I probably get hundreds of PM’s every week asking “When are you going to do another review? They’re always so funny, and the photos are awesome, and you seem like a really cool guy, and I know this girl and she’s really hot and single and wants me to give you her number, is that ok cuz she said she can suck the chrome off a bumper?” Wow. Yes, I probably do get that many PM’s like that. But since I never look in my PM box I guess we will never really know… But I bet I do.
Sadly, this might be my final review as I have no plans to acquire any more replicas. I’m not promising, but that’s the plan. However, I do promise - this absolutely might or might not be the most entertaining review you’ve ever read on this forum. Or probably any watch forum. I dug deep on this one. I made calls, I talked to experts who I can’t name, and I drew blood creating this review. And while my wound slowly heals, let’s do this.
INTRO
I wanted to treat myself to a lower end replica. That sounds weird, I know. I’d been lurking around the M2M, but especially the DHG thread. I have a nice “about as good as you can get” Rolex Explorer II - and I wanted to find out - what do you get for less? I couldn’t decide which model. Or colour. Or anything. And honestly I don’t know much about Rolex watches at all in general. I wanted someone else to find my next watch for me. But - you never - ever - ever - say that around here or you’ll get ass-rammed by so many comments you’ll be walking funny for a month. Then a watch was posted by @karmatoburn in the DH thread. I knew right then - what my next Rolex would be. Just like that. Now, I want to be clear about something. My style - is different than many other peoples. If I could buy a $400 great version of this watch, with this bracelet from a TD I would. My style. My watch. Shit, that chrome off a bumper thing sounds pretty damn good right about now, it’s hard to focus.
WARNING - I know there are a lot of Rolex purists here. Be prepared to be shocked, maybe even disgusted. You know, like when you see a ’94 Honda Civic with those chromed out ’spinner’ hub caps pulling up beside you. Or a 350lb woman in line at the checkout in Walmart and she’s wearing ‘skin coloured’ leggings so it looks like she’s naked and you want to, need to look away… But you can’t. And you think "Oh man, look at those folds, those are so juicy - maybe there’s a Rolex up in there somewhere" as you creep closer... You’ve been warned!
ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART I
I don’t usually do this, but I’d like to list the kind of person I think this watch would look good on. Of course I’m just stereotyping, and generalizing but hey it’s my review. And, if you haven’t seen a photo of me, this will help paint that image in your brain, for better or worse. So, this watch would look good on you - if you (assuming you are a man) qualify for any of the following 10 descriptors. The more you qualify for, the better it will look on you. I know. I’m an expert at how people look. And at looking at people. So, if you: 1. Have longer hair than your teen daughter (or wife if you want to live that way). 2. Have tattoos on your arms, legs, chest, back and hands. All of them. No “I Love Mom’ on your bicep. 3. Have some kind of cool facial hair. I will allow long sideburns. 4. You’re in a heavy metal band. Or you’re a House music DJ (Vinyl & turntables only - no digital shit). 5. You’re a photographer, or a model who could use the watch in some particular photo shoot, naked or not. 6. You wear Dayton boots when you wear a suit with bright coloured ties. 7. You’re eccentric. Everyone knows you’re eccentric and you could care less. 8. You own at least 15 electric guitars and love to look good playing them. Cuz looks are most important in music. 9. You ride motorcycles. Or Customized Honda Ruckus Scooters that look like Harleys. 10. Your leather belt has a big steel X in the front cuz you’re that factor. That about covers it. Bonus points if you fit all 10 of those. Hey… I do! Awesome. Let’s rock this review! WATCH ORDERED: ROLEX SUBMARINER AAA QUALITY AKA. SUNKEN R BLOOD D EDITION - more on that later The page where I bought this from has been removed. So I don’t have the specs that were listed - but they don’t seem to have been too accurate from what I remember. Let me jot some specs down here as I remember them and what arrived: Size: Advertised as 41mm - is 38mm Case Material: SS - is SS Bracelet material: 904L SS - is… Do you really think I got 904L for cheap? But maybe it is…. Engraved Lugs and Case - Yes they are Bezel Material: Advertised as Ceramic - I have no idea UNPACKING THE WATCH: Packaging was pretty solid. Tightly packed and taped with lots of bubble wrap and some crumpled paper to fill in some space in the box. It took almost 30 days to arrive. This was ordered at the beginning of December so this was to be expected coming to Western Canada. Not much to see here: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART II RESIZING THE BRACELET: The first thing to do was resize the bracelet. My wrist is 7.25” and I would need to remove 2 links this time. This still allows just a bit of play which I like - I do not like tight watches. This is where everything just went bad. The pins used are tube style friction pins. Which - could be ok - if they weren’t in so tight. Add to that the fact that trying to remove the pins destroys them (when they are this tight) as the ends are very delicate and bend easily. I tried, and a watch-smith tried. Not happening. I’ve ended up ordering an entire set of new pins from Esslinger and will update the review with new photos one those have arrived. https://www.esslinger.com/watch-band-friction-pins-for-clasps-with-2mm-heads/ For now I have a temporary method of keeping the bracelet attached after sizing it so I can wear it and review confidently. I’m very handy at fixing things. Or making things. Like love. Remember, single girls are welcome to PM me, pass that on to the beauties you know. Country doesn’t matter. I’ll make it work. PHOTOS WITH BRACELET REMOVED: Not happening. Just trust me. Impossible to get the bracelet off of the lugs. Not happening for a novice like me. Sorry folks. This review is sucking harder than a Khao San Road date so far! Trust me, I’ve been there. Not much chrome left over there these days… THE CLASP AND WEIGHT: This has one of those… clasps.. that I don’t like at all. Well - I love the look of it - but trying to put the watch on is always a hassle for me. I have to sit down, rest the watch face down on my leg, and with my right hand try and join the two sides of the bracelet together, loop one part into another and fold over. I’m sure I’ll adapt soon enough, but these are my least favourite type to put on. It fits well - as I like it. A touch loose, enough to slide a bit on the wrist when the arm is raised or lowered. The weight is good by me. Considering it’s a 38mm watch with cheap insides - it’s definitely that bracelet that’s adding much of the weight here: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART III OUTSIDE PHOTOS I know I know. People are like enough with the goddamn talking - let’s see what this thing looks like!!!! But I like to talk! And cuddle… Ok fine here you go! THE ETCHING Aside from the bracelet - this is the other reason I wanted this watch. Personally, I’m surprised that more watches don’t use the space available on the watch casing to do engravings, or etchings and really make them stand out. The photos on DH when I ordered this showed the watch with all the etchings filled in with black paint. Looking cool. After ordering the seller said it won’t have black paint, just plain etching. He sent me some photos and I was like that’s fine, send it my way. Still different. Still a little more unique than most Rolex’s and that’s why I wanted this. I like to be different. Hell, I refused to listen Nirvana or Pearl Jam when they got famous - I waited 10 years to no one cared anymore. Then I liked their music. THE BEZEL I had actually already finished the review. Done. And then I remembered - the bezel. So I’m back to just finish this bit. I never use watches that have rotating bezels so it didn’t even occur to me until I saw it mentioned again in another thread about bezel paint colours. On this one the bezel numbers and markings are painted white - instead of platinum. Common apparently for cheaper replicas. I’ve never seen a genuine, so, makes no difference to me. The bezel rotates smoothly, with solid clicks. It seems like every click, movies it 1 1/8 of a click. Cuz when you click, you can rotate it backwards, just a touch if you want. I find that makes it centre better. Supposed to be ceramic. I have no way of telling. THE MARKERS AND HANDS AND DATE & REHAUT & DIAL PRINTING Everything seems to be pretty well lined up as far as all the hour markers. I don’t see any with lumen spilling over like I’ve seen in other watches, including my higher end Explorer II. The hands look fine I guess. See - I have no idea if they are correct or not. They look like my Explorer II hands, just smaller since this watch is 38mm. I just don’t know. I’m so young in the Rolex world! Sorry. Date wheel seems to position a touch low. That might change over time, or maybe it’s just certain numbers - but for the price I’m cool with that. And the rehaut, is almost perfectly entered. It’s a touch off. The engraving on it looks rougher than on my higher end Explorer. The printing on the dial, again I don’t know how authentic it looks. However there are issues if you look close. I’ll leave those for you to find cuz that’s a fun game! COOL STUFF There. Did you see it? C’mon. Just up in the picture above. This isn’t called the SUNKEN R BLOOD DIAL EDITION for no reason. In fact, I have noticed over my time at this forum, that many of the Rolex replicas pictured or reviewed on this forum, and for sale - all have ‘tells’ in the printing on the dials. I’m sure most of you are all aware of this. Some of the letters are misaligned compared to the rest of the word. Some are missing a tiny bit of the letters at the bottom so it looks like it’s raised. Different font types, some are a different size or maybe crooked? Just barely. It doesn’t matter though - people look for those. It happens. But not all ‘tells’ on the dial have quite the story that this one does. You see. My watch dial - has a sunken R at the end of SUBMARINER. Interestingly I did some research which ended up with me reaching out to someone who didn’t want to use his real name, so we’re going to call him Mr. Long Kok Wang. He’s quite versed in Rolex replicas and thankfully, not only did he get quite excited when I mentioned the sunken R on this watch, he said he wanted the story to be told, finally. After I paid him of course. Colour me intrigued. He told me that this particular dial print is actually from a factory that in 2008 was controlled by the Japanese Yakuza - in China. Also referred by the name of Yamaguchi-gumi. And this particular ‘area’ where these dials were being made was a focal point for gang activity, namely the Triads. Payoffs for the authorities were just a daily part of business there and then, as it is now all over China. And while there was some kind of truce in place for the gangs in this area, it all went to shit one night while the original print was being made for this dial. A dispute over prostitutes, if you can believe that led to a confrontation at the print shop one night and escalated into a gun fight. I’m imagining something out of a John Woo movie, but, I could be wrong. There was apparently 16 people present at the time this happened. Ten gang members, five for each side and 6 workers. Hell broke loose and it didn’t end well. As the print was being made, the operator was shot and bumped the press - and the dial - was forever printed with a sunken R. Thirteen people were killed and this watch dial these days is also referred to as ‘The Blood Dial’. As the authorities were dispatched, all parts etc were picked up by the last 3 remaining gangsters who were connected to the entire replica watch business, obviously - and as the $ had already been spent producing these - they sold everything to other shops as was the original plan. This dial had been used for some runs of dials - but apparently it soon became ‘bad luck or “è yùn“ and it started to carry with it such a bad reputation that they destroyed it and every copy of the dial. I asked why it had a bad reputation, and was pretty shocked at the answer. Much of the time when the dials are being cut, printed, painted etc it’s done in a room where many of the other mechanics of the watches are being built or assembled. It was discovered, that every buyer of the dial (it had been reprinted to be sold widely to more underground manufacturers) that had this dial being used as its base - suffered at least one death of a worker in the building where the watch parts were being made. One death - per month. This was something out of the ordinary, and so when the word got around, employees, no matter how desperate they were for the work, or how abused they were by their employers for not working - would refuse to work in a building with that dial. Not just in the room, but the entire building. One time, an employer didn’t tell his employees that it was the Blood Dial they were going to be reprinting because he didn’t want to scare them off. Apparently it was really, really cheap to get this dial as no one wants it anymore as newer, better dials were being produced (print wise). When the workers were all there and realized what was happening, and that the Blood Dial was in the room with them an argument broke out and the employer was killed when the workers ganged up on him can caved his head in with metal bars. The workers after all, had families and couldn’t risk being ‘haunted’. That was essentially the last straw, and even the employers were now so frightened of what this dial would do. Stories were told that the dial - had in fact possessed the workers to kill the employer. This is at least what the employees told people in the business - and it in fact - saved their lives. As normally they would have been executed by the organization they work for for injuring, let alone killing a boss. But the story of this dial grew so large, no one wanted anything to do with it - or the people who had been in its presence. Some of the workers who had worked in the same buildings as the dial, later , would be refused work and were essentially marked as ‘ghosts’ “Guǐ“ or ‘haunted’ “Nàoguǐ“ - by criminal organizations no less - as they were to dangerous to have in the presence of merchandise, other employees and gang members. It sounds like the entire thing was a snowball effect, just rolling downhill gaining speed and size until everyone had to jump away from it, and fast. By this time in the story, as I’m hearing this, my jaw’s on the floor. This is the best money I’ve ever spent to get information on anything. If you don’t know, I’ve done some investigative journalism in the past, and so greasing the wheels is a common practice - as is having a few contacts here and there. But never, have I had something come to light that was so creepy as this. The last thing he told me was - the skulls on the bracelet are the giveaway. At first I didn’t see what he meant - then I got the death reference. So - is this watch haunted? “You’ll have to find out” he said. Fuck me. And then, he was done. He said that was the end of the story and my money was no good anymore. I asked one last question: Would the seller on DHG be aware of this watch’s history? He said to contact the seller who I bought it from and to ask, very specifically “Has the watch come from a bad home?”. Unless this seller is ignorant, inexperienced or just doesn’t believe in ghosts - he should be well aware of it and that question would mean “did he knowingly sell me a haunted Blood Dial?”. I kept thinking of the movie Ringu (The Ring) and how people can pass along that video tape to rid themselves of the curse by passing it on to the next person. Fuck fuck. Ok, so I went my order page and - the watch is not available. And neither is the seller anymore. Anywhere. I should clarify - the watch with skulls is still available - not from this seller. Is the seller moved on? Dead? Another name? Maybe he’s laughing, “Hey I got rid of that cursed thing, and made some money haha!” I contacted a different seller whose watch looks just like mine and asked for a closeup photo of the dial. The photo he sent me - has perfect printing on the entire dial. It’s not the same dial used to make mine. Fuck me again. So, is my watch cursed? Is that why the pins refused to come out of the bracelet? Is it going to bring me bad luck? Is that why I cut myself when getting the pins out? Fuck I hope not. My blood touched the bracelet when that happened. That’s all I know. At this point, I’m not going to pursue this any further. Out of mind, out of… mind. Anyways I don’t want to think about it. But, If I wake up one night, and my hand is pressing down on my throat or some crazy shit like that I’m burning the fucking thing. After I run over it with my car. After I’ve dropped it off my top floor balcony. If you’re still reading then I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I did discovering that. Back to the real review. Which is not near as exciting, I promise. INSIDE PHOTOS Inside - is a super cheap 21j Automatic. See, how exciting is that! Works fine though. You can adjust the time, and the date wheel individually, or together. It also has a hack movement. Can wind manually too it seems. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART IV THE NEXT DAY - BRACELET
I really like this bracelet. I can not say enough - this bracelet is heavy duty. It’s the reason I bought this watch and I’d happily put a better R replica on this without hesitation. It does, feel more like a bracelet - compared to a regular metal watch bracelet. The big links are great - of course if you can pull off the skulls look. That’s a non starter for many people. For me? That’s just me and it looks right at home on my arm. Probably look super hot as a cock ring too. Yeah baby you know what time it is now! Strip that chrome, and I’m timing you! I think we can use the rotating bezel for that… Hold on… ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART V HOW DOES IT KEEP TIME?: So, it’s a cheap automatic movement - probably a 2813? With - from what I can see no way to make adjustments on it. Let’s see what the result shows…. So, it seems to be averaging about 0s +/- haha cuz it was going back and forth between + 11 and -17. Now, my bathroom is the quietest room I have - but also - it’s developed a drip lately in the tub. I don’t know if that is throwing off the calibration. Either way - it’s all good for me. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VI ETCHED CROWN AND LUME The elusive etched crown at 6 o’clock on the crystal. Or glass. I’m not sure. It’s here - but not as elegant as the higher quality replicas. It’s easy to see here. The lume is half and half. The markers are well done - but the hands and the pearl are pretty week compared to the rest. However, in the middle of the night when I wake up - all of the lumen is still visible - and all at the same power. I’ve mentioned before I need lumen that can be active in the middle of the night, so this is acceptable although not as good as my RExII and nowhere near as good as my PAM. Finally - What we all love to see! After reading so much about pubes, dust and other unholy impurities being spotted on watch dials - I decided to go and break out my UV lights. No problem, all looks clean! You should see when I use this light on my floor - I’m not kidding - looks like a day-glo murder scene. OTHER ETCHING BETWEEN THE LUGS I can’t decide if these would look better with the originally intended black paint in them. I might do this myself one day to see… Best as I could: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VII HOW DOES IT LOOK? If this isn’t your style, all good. If it is - I would recommend this watch - but just don’t expect greatness. Do expect a problem resizing it. Do expect to be cooler when you wear it. Do expect girls and ladies to ask you for the time more often. Obviously. This will be my more casual watch and I’ll get a lot of use out of this. If the watch ever breaks - I will absolutely keep the bracelet and find another home for it. I love the bracelet. I mean - talking about my style - here are my drinking glasses and flashy pillow covers haha: Yes - it’s on my right arm in these photos. I spent a day with it on the right side, against my RExII on my left just to get a feel for how it stands up against it’s more expensive brother. Plus, it got a really, really good winding being on that arm. If it could have been overwound I would have found out. And then I totally would have blamed all those asian MILFs. After a day on my left arm now, still liking this. Only thing is the cyclops is really reflective. I have lots of lights around me, but that hasn’t been an issue with my other watches. Still, it’s pretty rare I actually really need a date wheel to tell me what day it is. I’ll survive. Thank you to the forum and the members past and present. It’s been a lot of fun gathering the courage to spend this kind of $ on all my watches, and then to get the balls to actually consider opening them, or resizing them and trying to expand my watch hobby into new territory. I genuinely am enjoying this watch and it will fit well into my dressed up and casual outings. If you liked my review, don’t forget to hit subscribe and like my review. Share it with all your friends, especially if they are beautiful ladies. And maybe I should just go and check out that Tinder app I’ve heard about. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VIII GUITAR OUTRO While I keep many of my guitars off-site, I do keep a few for studio work here. I wanted to acquaint the Rolex with it’s new mates and felt some photos were in order. Plus - guitars are like watches to me. Art. I will wear this watch when playing and recording all future albums. I mean, this is a Blood Dial watch!!! There we go - that’s the name for my new metal band - “Blood Dial”. Fucking AAA Quality right there! FIN
I don’t usually do this, but I’d like to list the kind of person I think this watch would look good on. Of course I’m just stereotyping, and generalizing but hey it’s my review. And, if you haven’t seen a photo of me, this will help paint that image in your brain, for better or worse. So, this watch would look good on you - if you (assuming you are a man) qualify for any of the following 10 descriptors. The more you qualify for, the better it will look on you. I know. I’m an expert at how people look. And at looking at people. So, if you: 1. Have longer hair than your teen daughter (or wife if you want to live that way). 2. Have tattoos on your arms, legs, chest, back and hands. All of them. No “I Love Mom’ on your bicep. 3. Have some kind of cool facial hair. I will allow long sideburns. 4. You’re in a heavy metal band. Or you’re a House music DJ (Vinyl & turntables only - no digital shit). 5. You’re a photographer, or a model who could use the watch in some particular photo shoot, naked or not. 6. You wear Dayton boots when you wear a suit with bright coloured ties. 7. You’re eccentric. Everyone knows you’re eccentric and you could care less. 8. You own at least 15 electric guitars and love to look good playing them. Cuz looks are most important in music. 9. You ride motorcycles. Or Customized Honda Ruckus Scooters that look like Harleys. 10. Your leather belt has a big steel X in the front cuz you’re that factor. That about covers it. Bonus points if you fit all 10 of those. Hey… I do! Awesome. Let’s rock this review! WATCH ORDERED: ROLEX SUBMARINER AAA QUALITY AKA. SUNKEN R BLOOD D EDITION - more on that later The page where I bought this from has been removed. So I don’t have the specs that were listed - but they don’t seem to have been too accurate from what I remember. Let me jot some specs down here as I remember them and what arrived: Size: Advertised as 41mm - is 38mm Case Material: SS - is SS Bracelet material: 904L SS - is… Do you really think I got 904L for cheap? But maybe it is…. Engraved Lugs and Case - Yes they are Bezel Material: Advertised as Ceramic - I have no idea UNPACKING THE WATCH: Packaging was pretty solid. Tightly packed and taped with lots of bubble wrap and some crumpled paper to fill in some space in the box. It took almost 30 days to arrive. This was ordered at the beginning of December so this was to be expected coming to Western Canada. Not much to see here: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART II RESIZING THE BRACELET: The first thing to do was resize the bracelet. My wrist is 7.25” and I would need to remove 2 links this time. This still allows just a bit of play which I like - I do not like tight watches. This is where everything just went bad. The pins used are tube style friction pins. Which - could be ok - if they weren’t in so tight. Add to that the fact that trying to remove the pins destroys them (when they are this tight) as the ends are very delicate and bend easily. I tried, and a watch-smith tried. Not happening. I’ve ended up ordering an entire set of new pins from Esslinger and will update the review with new photos one those have arrived. https://www.esslinger.com/watch-band-friction-pins-for-clasps-with-2mm-heads/ For now I have a temporary method of keeping the bracelet attached after sizing it so I can wear it and review confidently. I’m very handy at fixing things. Or making things. Like love. Remember, single girls are welcome to PM me, pass that on to the beauties you know. Country doesn’t matter. I’ll make it work. PHOTOS WITH BRACELET REMOVED: Not happening. Just trust me. Impossible to get the bracelet off of the lugs. Not happening for a novice like me. Sorry folks. This review is sucking harder than a Khao San Road date so far! Trust me, I’ve been there. Not much chrome left over there these days… THE CLASP AND WEIGHT: This has one of those… clasps.. that I don’t like at all. Well - I love the look of it - but trying to put the watch on is always a hassle for me. I have to sit down, rest the watch face down on my leg, and with my right hand try and join the two sides of the bracelet together, loop one part into another and fold over. I’m sure I’ll adapt soon enough, but these are my least favourite type to put on. It fits well - as I like it. A touch loose, enough to slide a bit on the wrist when the arm is raised or lowered. The weight is good by me. Considering it’s a 38mm watch with cheap insides - it’s definitely that bracelet that’s adding much of the weight here: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART III OUTSIDE PHOTOS I know I know. People are like enough with the goddamn talking - let’s see what this thing looks like!!!! But I like to talk! And cuddle… Ok fine here you go! THE ETCHING Aside from the bracelet - this is the other reason I wanted this watch. Personally, I’m surprised that more watches don’t use the space available on the watch casing to do engravings, or etchings and really make them stand out. The photos on DH when I ordered this showed the watch with all the etchings filled in with black paint. Looking cool. After ordering the seller said it won’t have black paint, just plain etching. He sent me some photos and I was like that’s fine, send it my way. Still different. Still a little more unique than most Rolex’s and that’s why I wanted this. I like to be different. Hell, I refused to listen Nirvana or Pearl Jam when they got famous - I waited 10 years to no one cared anymore. Then I liked their music. THE BEZEL I had actually already finished the review. Done. And then I remembered - the bezel. So I’m back to just finish this bit. I never use watches that have rotating bezels so it didn’t even occur to me until I saw it mentioned again in another thread about bezel paint colours. On this one the bezel numbers and markings are painted white - instead of platinum. Common apparently for cheaper replicas. I’ve never seen a genuine, so, makes no difference to me. The bezel rotates smoothly, with solid clicks. It seems like every click, movies it 1 1/8 of a click. Cuz when you click, you can rotate it backwards, just a touch if you want. I find that makes it centre better. Supposed to be ceramic. I have no way of telling. THE MARKERS AND HANDS AND DATE & REHAUT & DIAL PRINTING Everything seems to be pretty well lined up as far as all the hour markers. I don’t see any with lumen spilling over like I’ve seen in other watches, including my higher end Explorer II. The hands look fine I guess. See - I have no idea if they are correct or not. They look like my Explorer II hands, just smaller since this watch is 38mm. I just don’t know. I’m so young in the Rolex world! Sorry. Date wheel seems to position a touch low. That might change over time, or maybe it’s just certain numbers - but for the price I’m cool with that. And the rehaut, is almost perfectly entered. It’s a touch off. The engraving on it looks rougher than on my higher end Explorer. The printing on the dial, again I don’t know how authentic it looks. However there are issues if you look close. I’ll leave those for you to find cuz that’s a fun game! COOL STUFF There. Did you see it? C’mon. Just up in the picture above. This isn’t called the SUNKEN R BLOOD DIAL EDITION for no reason. In fact, I have noticed over my time at this forum, that many of the Rolex replicas pictured or reviewed on this forum, and for sale - all have ‘tells’ in the printing on the dials. I’m sure most of you are all aware of this. Some of the letters are misaligned compared to the rest of the word. Some are missing a tiny bit of the letters at the bottom so it looks like it’s raised. Different font types, some are a different size or maybe crooked? Just barely. It doesn’t matter though - people look for those. It happens. But not all ‘tells’ on the dial have quite the story that this one does. You see. My watch dial - has a sunken R at the end of SUBMARINER. Interestingly I did some research which ended up with me reaching out to someone who didn’t want to use his real name, so we’re going to call him Mr. Long Kok Wang. He’s quite versed in Rolex replicas and thankfully, not only did he get quite excited when I mentioned the sunken R on this watch, he said he wanted the story to be told, finally. After I paid him of course. Colour me intrigued. He told me that this particular dial print is actually from a factory that in 2008 was controlled by the Japanese Yakuza - in China. Also referred by the name of Yamaguchi-gumi. And this particular ‘area’ where these dials were being made was a focal point for gang activity, namely the Triads. Payoffs for the authorities were just a daily part of business there and then, as it is now all over China. And while there was some kind of truce in place for the gangs in this area, it all went to shit one night while the original print was being made for this dial. A dispute over prostitutes, if you can believe that led to a confrontation at the print shop one night and escalated into a gun fight. I’m imagining something out of a John Woo movie, but, I could be wrong. There was apparently 16 people present at the time this happened. Ten gang members, five for each side and 6 workers. Hell broke loose and it didn’t end well. As the print was being made, the operator was shot and bumped the press - and the dial - was forever printed with a sunken R. Thirteen people were killed and this watch dial these days is also referred to as ‘The Blood Dial’. As the authorities were dispatched, all parts etc were picked up by the last 3 remaining gangsters who were connected to the entire replica watch business, obviously - and as the $ had already been spent producing these - they sold everything to other shops as was the original plan. This dial had been used for some runs of dials - but apparently it soon became ‘bad luck or “è yùn“ and it started to carry with it such a bad reputation that they destroyed it and every copy of the dial. I asked why it had a bad reputation, and was pretty shocked at the answer. Much of the time when the dials are being cut, printed, painted etc it’s done in a room where many of the other mechanics of the watches are being built or assembled. It was discovered, that every buyer of the dial (it had been reprinted to be sold widely to more underground manufacturers) that had this dial being used as its base - suffered at least one death of a worker in the building where the watch parts were being made. One death - per month. This was something out of the ordinary, and so when the word got around, employees, no matter how desperate they were for the work, or how abused they were by their employers for not working - would refuse to work in a building with that dial. Not just in the room, but the entire building. One time, an employer didn’t tell his employees that it was the Blood Dial they were going to be reprinting because he didn’t want to scare them off. Apparently it was really, really cheap to get this dial as no one wants it anymore as newer, better dials were being produced (print wise). When the workers were all there and realized what was happening, and that the Blood Dial was in the room with them an argument broke out and the employer was killed when the workers ganged up on him can caved his head in with metal bars. The workers after all, had families and couldn’t risk being ‘haunted’. That was essentially the last straw, and even the employers were now so frightened of what this dial would do. Stories were told that the dial - had in fact possessed the workers to kill the employer. This is at least what the employees told people in the business - and it in fact - saved their lives. As normally they would have been executed by the organization they work for for injuring, let alone killing a boss. But the story of this dial grew so large, no one wanted anything to do with it - or the people who had been in its presence. Some of the workers who had worked in the same buildings as the dial, later , would be refused work and were essentially marked as ‘ghosts’ “Guǐ“ or ‘haunted’ “Nàoguǐ“ - by criminal organizations no less - as they were to dangerous to have in the presence of merchandise, other employees and gang members. It sounds like the entire thing was a snowball effect, just rolling downhill gaining speed and size until everyone had to jump away from it, and fast. By this time in the story, as I’m hearing this, my jaw’s on the floor. This is the best money I’ve ever spent to get information on anything. If you don’t know, I’ve done some investigative journalism in the past, and so greasing the wheels is a common practice - as is having a few contacts here and there. But never, have I had something come to light that was so creepy as this. The last thing he told me was - the skulls on the bracelet are the giveaway. At first I didn’t see what he meant - then I got the death reference. So - is this watch haunted? “You’ll have to find out” he said. Fuck me. And then, he was done. He said that was the end of the story and my money was no good anymore. I asked one last question: Would the seller on DHG be aware of this watch’s history? He said to contact the seller who I bought it from and to ask, very specifically “Has the watch come from a bad home?”. Unless this seller is ignorant, inexperienced or just doesn’t believe in ghosts - he should be well aware of it and that question would mean “did he knowingly sell me a haunted Blood Dial?”. I kept thinking of the movie Ringu (The Ring) and how people can pass along that video tape to rid themselves of the curse by passing it on to the next person. Fuck fuck. Ok, so I went my order page and - the watch is not available. And neither is the seller anymore. Anywhere. I should clarify - the watch with skulls is still available - not from this seller. Is the seller moved on? Dead? Another name? Maybe he’s laughing, “Hey I got rid of that cursed thing, and made some money haha!” I contacted a different seller whose watch looks just like mine and asked for a closeup photo of the dial. The photo he sent me - has perfect printing on the entire dial. It’s not the same dial used to make mine. Fuck me again. So, is my watch cursed? Is that why the pins refused to come out of the bracelet? Is it going to bring me bad luck? Is that why I cut myself when getting the pins out? Fuck I hope not. My blood touched the bracelet when that happened. That’s all I know. At this point, I’m not going to pursue this any further. Out of mind, out of… mind. Anyways I don’t want to think about it. But, If I wake up one night, and my hand is pressing down on my throat or some crazy shit like that I’m burning the fucking thing. After I run over it with my car. After I’ve dropped it off my top floor balcony. If you’re still reading then I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I did discovering that. Back to the real review. Which is not near as exciting, I promise. INSIDE PHOTOS Inside - is a super cheap 21j Automatic. See, how exciting is that! Works fine though. You can adjust the time, and the date wheel individually, or together. It also has a hack movement. Can wind manually too it seems. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART IV THE NEXT DAY - BRACELET
I really like this bracelet. I can not say enough - this bracelet is heavy duty. It’s the reason I bought this watch and I’d happily put a better R replica on this without hesitation. It does, feel more like a bracelet - compared to a regular metal watch bracelet. The big links are great - of course if you can pull off the skulls look. That’s a non starter for many people. For me? That’s just me and it looks right at home on my arm. Probably look super hot as a cock ring too. Yeah baby you know what time it is now! Strip that chrome, and I’m timing you! I think we can use the rotating bezel for that… Hold on… ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART V HOW DOES IT KEEP TIME?: So, it’s a cheap automatic movement - probably a 2813? With - from what I can see no way to make adjustments on it. Let’s see what the result shows…. So, it seems to be averaging about 0s +/- haha cuz it was going back and forth between + 11 and -17. Now, my bathroom is the quietest room I have - but also - it’s developed a drip lately in the tub. I don’t know if that is throwing off the calibration. Either way - it’s all good for me. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VI ETCHED CROWN AND LUME The elusive etched crown at 6 o’clock on the crystal. Or glass. I’m not sure. It’s here - but not as elegant as the higher quality replicas. It’s easy to see here. The lume is half and half. The markers are well done - but the hands and the pearl are pretty week compared to the rest. However, in the middle of the night when I wake up - all of the lumen is still visible - and all at the same power. I’ve mentioned before I need lumen that can be active in the middle of the night, so this is acceptable although not as good as my RExII and nowhere near as good as my PAM. Finally - What we all love to see! After reading so much about pubes, dust and other unholy impurities being spotted on watch dials - I decided to go and break out my UV lights. No problem, all looks clean! You should see when I use this light on my floor - I’m not kidding - looks like a day-glo murder scene. OTHER ETCHING BETWEEN THE LUGS I can’t decide if these would look better with the originally intended black paint in them. I might do this myself one day to see… Best as I could: ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VII HOW DOES IT LOOK? If this isn’t your style, all good. If it is - I would recommend this watch - but just don’t expect greatness. Do expect a problem resizing it. Do expect to be cooler when you wear it. Do expect girls and ladies to ask you for the time more often. Obviously. This will be my more casual watch and I’ll get a lot of use out of this. If the watch ever breaks - I will absolutely keep the bracelet and find another home for it. I love the bracelet. I mean - talking about my style - here are my drinking glasses and flashy pillow covers haha: Yes - it’s on my right arm in these photos. I spent a day with it on the right side, against my RExII on my left just to get a feel for how it stands up against it’s more expensive brother. Plus, it got a really, really good winding being on that arm. If it could have been overwound I would have found out. And then I totally would have blamed all those asian MILFs. After a day on my left arm now, still liking this. Only thing is the cyclops is really reflective. I have lots of lights around me, but that hasn’t been an issue with my other watches. Still, it’s pretty rare I actually really need a date wheel to tell me what day it is. I’ll survive. Thank you to the forum and the members past and present. It’s been a lot of fun gathering the courage to spend this kind of $ on all my watches, and then to get the balls to actually consider opening them, or resizing them and trying to expand my watch hobby into new territory. I genuinely am enjoying this watch and it will fit well into my dressed up and casual outings. If you liked my review, don’t forget to hit subscribe and like my review. Share it with all your friends, especially if they are beautiful ladies. And maybe I should just go and check out that Tinder app I’ve heard about. ROLEX SKULL REVIEW PART VIII GUITAR OUTRO While I keep many of my guitars off-site, I do keep a few for studio work here. I wanted to acquaint the Rolex with it’s new mates and felt some photos were in order. Plus - guitars are like watches to me. Art. I will wear this watch when playing and recording all future albums. I mean, this is a Blood Dial watch!!! There we go - that’s the name for my new metal band - “Blood Dial”. Fucking AAA Quality right there! FIN