I've been a quiet lurker here for the last few months and have been reading as much as I can given my schedule. This is quite an underground community and replica watches seem to attract a certain type of hyper-detailed and obsessed mind. I like indulging in obsessively detail-oriented things as well so I like what goes on here. I had a few reps before – AP Royal Oak JF v5 and Tudor Black Bay 58 ZF v2 (more recently). I haven't been able to get myself to order a Rolex sub because of the flaws that I'm now privy to and cannot unsee. How to decide on a Rolex replica submariner:
ULTIMATELY: please leave some commentary/analysis and YOUR SUBJECTIVE RECOMMENDATION given my circumstances.
**Note - I am not including all details and have created a rough outline based on what I recall **
I want to tackle my question within two broad categories: Theoretical and the Technical.
[Parameters] Watches I’m concerned with for the Theoretical and Technical categories:
No date sub (I’m strongly leaning towards this because I don’t want to franken)
The question everything turns on – how obvious is it that my rep is not gen? How paranoid should I be of a callout?
There will be variation here but put some scenarios together:
Technical:
The No Date Sub (Obvious Tells and what can I get away with)
ULTIMATELY: please leave some commentary/analysis and YOUR SUBJECTIVE RECOMMENDATION given my circumstances.
**Note - I am not including all details and have created a rough outline based on what I recall **
I want to tackle my question within two broad categories: Theoretical and the Technical.
[Parameters] Watches I’m concerned with for the Theoretical and Technical categories:
No date sub (I’m strongly leaning towards this because I don’t want to franken)
- Noob v8 with clean v2 insert
- ZZF (latest)
- ARF (latest)
- Noob v10
- ZZF (latest)
The question everything turns on – how obvious is it that my rep is not gen? How paranoid should I be of a callout?
- Consideration(s): I am in the legal industry and have friends who own gen subs – I don’t want to spend $7-10K on a watch when reps are this damn good.
There will be variation here but put some scenarios together:
- High standard – Person holds your rep in their hand and compares to a gen side-by-side in sunlight
- Medium standard – Person holds their gen next to your gen (both while on wrist) in sunlight
- Low standard – Person looks at your rep from afar or looks at your rep without holding their gen next to yours
- Untrained eye (layman)
- This category seems the most straightforward – I can probably presume that these people wont be noticing my bezel being sharp and the lack of frostiness of my rehaut
- Untrained eye (gen owner)
- May not know what to look for but could notice certain things?
- Trained eye (gen owner)
- How obvious will it be to this person?
- Trained eye (Privy/detailed rep owner/forum jockey/gen owner)
- Is this person hyper-obsessive – like me – and will likely see the error?
Technical:
The No Date Sub (Obvious Tells and what can I get away with)
- Majority view is that the top competitors are ZZF or Noob v8 (with clean v2 insert)
- ZZF "Tells"
- Rehaut - this seems to be the most obvious "tell" that I've routinely seen RWI and Reddit users complain about and I notice it more than anything else. Curious to know how obvious a "tell" this would be to the average submariner owner and how obvious it would be to the conscientious and detailed submariner owner
- Sharp edges around bezel - these are machined closer together and give a sharper edge then gen. This is not a big deal for me, but I'm interested in how obvious it is as a "tell" to the average sub owner and the detailed sub owner
- Noob v8 (with clean v2 insert) "Tells"
- No obvious tells here when using the clean insert
- Case quality is not as good
- Steel is not as good
- ZZF "Tells"
- The Date Sub (Cyclops)
- Majority view is that the best out of the box (OOTB) sub is the ARF, followed by ZZF, then NOOB
- But this order is subject to change depending on several factors
- ARF "Tells"
- Date is thick - I notice this when comparing to a gen and think it's fairly obvious to both the average and detailed sub owner
- ZZF "Tells"
- Rehaut - this seems to be the most obvious "tell" that I've routinely seen RWI and Reddit users complain about and I notice it more than anything else. Curious to know how obvious a "tell" this would be to the average submariner owner and how obvious it would be to the conscientious and detailed submariner owner
- NOOB "Tells"
- Insert Markers - not good
- Case quality is not as good
- ARF "Tells"
- But this order is subject to change depending on several factors
- Majority view is that the best out of the box (OOTB) sub is the ARF, followed by ZZF, then NOOB