Is there a cap on how good a Rolex rep can get and have we moved on from it never to see it again?

[Duckber]

Just a discussion I thought might be interesting.

It seems like Noob and VSF have been raided extra heavily by Rolex because of how good their reps are.

Noob is seemingly done for good and there are rumors that VSF is pretty much selling old stock and will resume their reps on other brands and stop making Rolex reps; people are speculating this is a deal done with Rolex.

Now, does that mean that once reps get to a certain point, Rolex will really heavily influence their power and shut it down once reps get as good as these two factories got reps to be?

Noobs sucked for the most part but their Daytonas are pretty damn good. VSF as well.

No other factories come close IMO, I have handled CF and they still feel like reps. They don't feel gen-like in hand.

However, is it possible that these factories will now purposely not be as good as they potentially can to avoid getting raided by heavy influence of Rolex?

Or will we see quality step up to VSF and Noob (Daytonas lol) again?

Is this a great filter rep factories can pass once reaching a certain level of quality or will we never see a VSF level rep again?

 

[newest dude on the forum]

I had wondered if the misaligned first R on the rehaut of the 116610LN was a way for VSF to "sign" their work in a way. It just seemed like such an odd flaw to have. Obviously I was wrong.

 

[derjenigewelcher]

Clea

people are speculating this is a deal done with Rolex.

Purple elephants have promised: its true.

 

[Duckber]

Purple elephants have promised: its true.

Yeah, it's why I labelled it speculation. Regardless, my TD has stated VSF is moving on from Rolex, and considering how lucrative it is for them by far over their other reps, it makes you wonder why and that is the Occam's Razor.

 

[Yellobird]

Noob could have pissed rolex off with their 4130 clone. But overall the reps still required a lot of gen part mods to make them scary close. You still needed gen dial, gen bezel, gen hands, gen crown etc.

 

[muiramas]

So the question is did Noob / VSF get shut down because they were too good.

Doubtful for a few reasons.

First off, hand an ARF / ZZF / VSF / gen to your average chump on Watchuseek. Chances are they wouldn’t be able to pull out the gen, let alone place the 3 reps in any sort of order. I just don’t see the story being that ZZF / Clean or whatever got spared because their watch was worse.

Similarly, Rolex won’t have some rule book with standards of what fakes are acceptable to make and what are not.

About 18 months ago, JTime had their warehouse / lockup turned over. The working theory was that another dealer was behind this. I suggest what is more likely in recent raids is that rival factories had a bigger hand in Noobs / VSF’s demise than Rolex - I have no idea - just a thought.

Finally, ZZF rebranded as Clean after their name got dragged through the shit. I’d suggest VSF would be more likely to phoenix under a different name than disappear. Part of that process may be telling dealers they are done.

 

[kavorca1]

Give it time. noob may come back under a differ factory and pick up where they left off, same for vsf. Both of these factories were doing well and the demand is still there. Many of us risk alot to make money....

 

[Beefcake]

So long as there is a strong demand, there will be a supply (eventually). Since there are competing factories, the reps should get better over time, assuming that better reps=more sales. It seem to be the case that the better ones sell more. So imo, while there may be cycles to these things, I doubt we have seen the end of top notch Rolex reps.

 

[tripdog]

So the question is did Noob / VSF get shut down because they were too good.

Doubtful for a few reasons.

First off, hand an ARF / ZZF / VSF / gen to your average chump on Watchuseek. Chances are they wouldn’t be able to pull out the gen, let alone place the 3 reps in any sort of order. I just don’t see the story being that ZZF / Clean or whatever got spared because their watch was worse.

Similarly, Rolex won’t have some rule book with standards of what fakes are acceptable to make and what are not.

About 18 months ago, JTime had their warehouse / lockup turned over. The working theory was that another dealer was behind this. I suggest what is more likely in recent raids is that rival factories had a bigger hand in Noobs / VSF’s demise than Rolex - I have no idea - just a thought.

Finally, ZZF rebranded as Clean after their name got dragged through the shit. I’d suggest VSF would be more likely to phoenix under a different name than disappear. Part of that process may be telling dealers they are done.

This. Rolex didn't target the 'better' factories, it wouldn't make sense.

Lot's of rivalry and competition between the factories in China though.

 

[SillyTom]

I don´t believe on conspiracy.

It´s sounds more likely for me that "bigger factories" like Noob may get to huge for their competitors (or something like that)

Wouldn´t be the first time, when a market companion report a competitor to the police as last action to get them out of the way.

Remember the trace about factories selling 904L while it was 316 & take into consideration that the effort behind it, might be motivated to blame the competition as well.

Just my two cents