gmiller667 0 Posted August 2, 2022 This might be a naive question, but I see many people discussing a particular replica manufacturer/factory. How the heck do you know the manufacturer for a particular replica? I'm guessing that you're being told the factory before purchase and that's the only practical way to know? Share this post Link to post
gran 198 Posted August 2, 2022 Yes you should know in advance from the dealer or dealers site who the maker is if it is a high grade replica. If you know the different replica versions well (having seen pictures from the various dealers) you should be able to tell (if you have pictures of most aspects of the rep in question). This make take a lot of research. 1 Share this post Link to post
Rokerite 2,437 Posted August 2, 2022 Each "factory" has a number of miniscule "flaws" that are different to the genuine model, none are"perfect". The more you look at pictures of the different versions of a watch from the different manufacturers you will start to recognise these "tells". Rule of thumb is the more you pay, the less flaws. 1 Share this post Link to post
BadPickle 2,738 Posted August 2, 2022 Obsessive behaviour is the only way to tell 2 Share this post Link to post
onzenuub 304 Posted August 2, 2022 3 hours ago, gran said: l (having seen pictures from the various dealers). I have never seen any pictures from various dealers, how do they look? Share this post Link to post
gran 198 Posted August 2, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, onzenuub said: I have never seen any pictures from various dealers, how do they look? They all look the about the same but are slightly different....above images is and allegory on this (like you will even know what that means, I've tried to use images that you are able to appreciate ) Edited August 2, 2022 by gran Share this post Link to post
onzenuub 304 Posted August 2, 2022 1 minute ago, gran said: They all look the about the same but are slightly different....above images is and allegory on this (like you will even know what that means, I've tried to use images that you are able to appreciate ) Now that's no dealer, that's a nice watchwinder. She could wind my watchesssss 1 Share this post Link to post
GenTLe 1,490 Posted August 3, 2022 16 hours ago, gmiller667 said: This might be a naive question, but I see many people discussing a particular replica manufacturer/factory. How the heck do you know the manufacturer for a particular replica? I'm guessing that you're being told the factory before purchase and that's the only practical way to know? In general it's written in the watch description. For instance: https://trustytimewatch88.io/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=352&products_id=25187 the factory is "RMF" or RM Factory. 1 Share this post Link to post
Mystery Shopper 5,886 Posted August 3, 2022 14 hours ago, gran said: They all look the about the same but are slightly different....above images is and allegory on this (like you will even know what that means, I've tried to use images that you are able to appreciate ) Ahhh- Anna Causaboner. Apparently she could play tennis as well. 1 Share this post Link to post
gmiller667 0 Posted August 15, 2022 In this vein, I have a 40mm sub rep that the seller insisted was from VSF. I'm guessing that this is either VS Factory or the whole name of the factory is literally 'VSF'. Is there any rough list for the 'major' factories? [I.e., I'm guessing this is something that the regulars here can list off of the top of their heads, but someone like me would be clueless to.] Share this post Link to post
fatarms 7,754 Posted August 16, 2022 20 minutes ago, gmiller667 said: In this vein, I have a 40mm sub rep that the seller insisted was from VSF. I'm guessing that this is either VS Factory or the whole name of the factory is literally 'VSF'. Is there any rough list for the 'major' factories? [I.e., I'm guessing this is something that the regulars here can list off of the top of their heads, but someone like me would be clueless to.] You guessed right. VSF is VS Factory. Many of the makers end in F for factory. ZF, ARF, CF, BTF, OMF, ORF, etc... As for the list of factories, each of them are usually good at making a couple brands of watches. VS for example is good for Rolex and Panerai. The problem is that factories come and go, or even change names altogether. The only way to keep up with them is to keep reading. If you really want to get waist deep in the weeds, sign up over at RWI (replica-watch.info) and look through their brand sections. The guys over there really dissect and pick apart the various factories and compare the same watch between different factories with a microscope. I'm warning you though, once you go down that rabbit hole, you'll learn that each of the reps have their own flaws, and once pointed out you can't unsee them. So you have to really pick the one that has flaws you can live with or go deep into your pockets and franken the shit out of them. 3 Share this post Link to post
tribefan 6,768 Posted August 16, 2022 This is the rabbit hole for you! https://jtime.io/us/shop-by/manufacturer.html @gmiller667 1 Share this post Link to post
gmiller667 0 Posted August 16, 2022 That IS a rabbit hole. I'll have to see how insane I am. I can recognize blatantly goofy stuff on the unknown-brand-ultra-cheap stuff, like having a Sub dial that has 'SWISS <CROWN IMAGE> MADE' on something that's claimed to be a 40mm 116610. Err, no. It should just say 'SWISS MADE'. Or a 41mm 'hulk'. I have low expectations for that stuff, so it's more an amusement than anything else. On the VSF sub, I've noticed a couple of very small details that aren't quite right, but I do see how this could feed someone's OCD. Thanks for the feedback! Share this post Link to post
fatarms 7,754 Posted August 16, 2022 2 hours ago, gmiller667 said: That IS a rabbit hole. I'll have to see how insane I am. I can recognize blatantly goofy stuff on the unknown-brand-ultra-cheap stuff, like having a Sub dial that has 'SWISS <CROWN IMAGE> MADE' on something that's claimed to be a 40mm 116610. Err, no. It should just say 'SWISS MADE'. Or a 41mm 'hulk'. I have low expectations for that stuff, so it's more an amusement than anything else. On the VSF sub, I've noticed a couple of very small details that aren't quite right, but I do see how this could feed someone's OCD. Thanks for the feedback! I have the VSF 126610LV and had a gen crystal installed. The stock crystal had that blue hue to it (which some of the new gen crystals have as well) so I made sure the gen I purchased didn't have that. Even though some new gen crystals have that blue hue, just about all rep crystals with the Cyclops AR have it. Talk about OCD... 1 Share this post Link to post