Hey bud,
ok so as Gilrob say go via the TD Links on here. I haven’t used Jtime or Hont I’ve always dealt with Ryan @ InTime. He’s service is brilliant.
with regards to quality it’s going to come down to what you can live with. No rep will be as good as the real thing. I own both a few different Gen (Rolex,breitling,Panerai,omega,IWC if interested) and reps (buy the reps Rolex ADs won’t let me by at retail until my name comes up the list) would rather fund the rep market than the Gray market haha.
so it’s picking a factory that has the least amount of flaws you can live with,
for example ARF may have all the box ticked but you personally don’t like the finish of their bracelet or the date window isn’t Centered perfectly. So you go with BP they may get you a watch that does have a good date wheel but then the bezel is off or the markers on the face aren’t quite right so you go to Z or VR or any of the other factory’s but then the one you get from them has a poor rehault which isn’t engraved deep enough or isn’t aligned with the markers or the SEL gaps, the dreaded floating M ( not a big issue can’t really see it) the brushed parts aren’t as well done as the original etc etc. it’s up to you.
I would do is study the genuine Sub you want 40mm, 41mm, vintage, Kermit, Starbucks, etc go to watch finder even go and see one in store play with it really study it. Ready up on things that are commonly done wrong on the reps then look though all the different factory version of the rep you want and make your decision on which one you think has the least amount of issue you can live with. Depending on budget too as if you are going with straight out the factory to on wrist then you’d want to make sure it’s as good as possible if you’re wanting to pass it off as a Gen. If however you want to Frankenstein it and add Gen parts (date wheels, glass, bezels, dial etc then make sure you get one that is compatible with Gen parts as i believe some aren’t. You can afford to not worry to much about things as the case is your main concern as you can then just buy parts and have a modded build you one.
I’ve used a load of different factory’s for my collection and I’ve not yet gone down the Frankenstein yet or the vintage road yet. me personally I’ve found that for IWC ZF seem to be the ones to go to. For Patek Philippe PPF are your guys. Now for Rolex submariner in particular I’ve used a few guys. ARF , ZF and BP all supplied versions that have been ok (all with their flaws)
but For me if you want a SUB GMT DJ, CLEAN FACTORY seem to be the guys getting it right at the minute. Now they still have their cosmetic issues I think they use ARFs bracelets which for me the clasps are still not perfect the edges and cuts aren’t great as well as alignment of the edges they can have clear and noticeable gaps for me the bracelet clasp has to be good as a Gen bracelet clasp will cost you a lot. So this for me is one arena I focus on and one area I wish the factory’s cared more about if they fixed this we’d be 1 step closer to the Perfect rep. However it’s still pretty good so I can live with it for now. Their bezels are good the dials are well done well fonts close but not perfect. CHS which is good the movment isn’t theirs they use VR super clone they seem to be better made then other companies I believe which is the one you want as it can take Gen parts so read to mod.
so for me after a long and over the top reply id go with the clean factory Sub if you want the new 41mm with or without date window. if you want the 40mm with date window go Clean but I don’t think clean do the 40mm with no date.
hope I kind of helped ????
DC
