Hi, this is a translational post I'm doing as a part of my little project. If you're interested you can take a look in this post, and leave me some comments.
https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...g-i-can-do-for-you-guys.364098/#post--3254346
This post is about the specialty, pro/con of the big 5 factories and their background story. Here is the original link in Mandarin,
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4892444830?pid=101150067805&cid=0#101150067805
ENJOY!
*order not in ranking
#1 Noob
One of the first ever rep factory, Noob stands for supreme quality in a lot of seller and buyer's heart, mainly because in 2006, when the rep watch game first got serious, Noob was one of the first factory to label its product with Noob factory, thus gained huge amount of recognition. In terms of resources and new watch developments, Noob was also tier 1, for example the Submariner line by Noob was a huge milestone.
However, ever since Noob got a new owner, they haven't came up with much new product, and even in their old signature lines, some details were subpar to previous works.
To the new player in the game, did you know that Noob made IWC? Cartier? Let me tell you, Noob use to make the only Rolls Royce Limited Edition IWC Ingenieur, Pasha de Cartier. Nowadays even its own Omega line is limited to 1948 and Seamaster 2824, not to say they're constantly out of stock.
Now only the FFF, Pam 111, 005 are still good.
Pro:
Still very strong factory with deep background, few signature lines such as JLC Compressor, FFF, Submariner, DSSD, gold-plated Sub, gold yacht are still very good quality. FFF by Noob is still by far the best quality.
Cons:
Weak in developing new models, no significant updates on old signature lines.
Signature lines:
FFF; JLC Compressor; Pam 111, 005; Sub; SD; yacht; gold-plated Subs
#2 KW factory aka V6F
Full name is Kuvarsit Watch, founded by a Turkish seller, therefore in Chinese forums also referred as the foreigner factory. Since overseas (other than China) sales plays a big part, their quality control is better than most other factories.
KW is a very well rounded factory with no significant weak point. They're very fast in developing new watch models in the Pam line. After the first batch of B grade Zenith, their Zenith line also became superior quality, and became the first super rep of Zenith. Thus confirming KW's position in the rep world. Some other lines such as SevenFridays are also very good quality. KW's SF and Omega are both very cost efficient product to buy.
Pros:
Versatile product line, strong developing skills, very fast updating speed, good quality control
Cons:
A lot of signature line overlaps with other factories, such as Pam, Tudor, SevenFriday. Other than Zenith, KW don't have much unique signatures. (unlike Noob with its JLC, FFF, and Subs)
Signature lines:
Zenith; SevenFriday; Omega Seamaster; Pam
#3 JF
JF's most competitive is the FULL LINE of AP chronos. When back in the days, when JF's chrono line beat all other factories, Noob still had the 15703. However after the new owner, Noob cancelled the anti-magnetic interior, and fallen ever since. You can't say JF beat Noob on 15703, Noob beat themselves on 15703.
The scary thing of JF is the dominated the AP brand, one of the most highly wanted watch brand. KW didn't dominate Pam, ZF didn't dominate Tudor, V6 didn't dominate Cartier, but JF is the only factory to dominate AP's full line. Thus they don't need any sales or promotions, since they achieved monopoly.
In a very short period of time JF's Sub line is coming up very fast and very strong, and they're slowly eating away Noob's Sub share. As seen by JF Sub V10, it showed their ambition to beat Noob. Some new players were shocked by JF that Noob was only on V7 and they came out with V10. Such rule-breaking marketing strategy did win JF a lot of attentions. Luckily for Noob, they still have the majority of Sub, but lucky for JF, they have almost beaten Noob in Daytona. JF already took half of the pie in the Rolex rep game.
If anyone ask me what is the signature of JF, I wouldn't say AP but the Longine master series. The significance being before JF, there were no good rep of Longine.
JF has quite a full product line, also with their Cartier Bleu Ballon, although not as good as V6 but still very good. Their Cartier Tank, Breilington Chrono, Rolex yachts.
Pros:
Well rounded factories, very tight production line, thus in each of its signatures, they have very few competitors.
Cons:
Weak in finding new HOT lines, if they can have a better ability to develop new products, JF will soon be the new Noob
Signature lines:
AP full series; Rolex Daytona, Yacht; Breilington Chrono; Longine master
#4 MK
Can be said to be the conscious of the rep world. In the rep game, MK seems to be the only one who's focusing on making good rep watch.
Although very little product line, they were all top qualities, IWC Mark 16,17, Portofino, Rolex Cellini, Omega De Velle, Longine Master, PP Naut. Every new product by MK rises a big wave in the rep community. Ever since Mark 17, MK became the best formal watch maker. When everyone was working on SS bracelet IWC, MK made the first good Cellini rep. MK's good eye for market made every new line from them a big hit.
In the TD's circle, MK also have a very high reputation. Why? Because of their after sale customer service. A lot of big factory cannot perfect customer service, only very few will change the moment when it broke. TDs often have to argue a lot with factories to get them to swap out the movement, only MK can change once its broken. Thus a lot of TDs like to order from MK, their repair rate is very low, and in time of repair they're very fast.
MK's solid attitude will bring them very far, it is only time that they need to be the top factory.
Pros:
Strong ability in developing new models, deep understanding of each model they come up with. Every model is a huge hit. High quality, the best after-sale customer service. Conscious of the rep game
Cons:
Very limited product line. Honestly not even a con but a factory preference, but other than that MK has no significant cons.
Signature lines:
IWC Mark 16, 17, 18, Le Petit Prince, Portofino; Rolex Cellini; PP Naut; Omega De Velle; Longine Master (calendar on 6)
#5 ZF
One of the factory with the greatest potential. They had business relationship with KW back in 2011, therefore you can tell their signature lines overlap a lot. Such as Pam, IWC Portuguese, Tudor.
ZF's significance is its attention to details. With so many factories making IWCs, no other factory can make the buckle as good as ZF. What makes great factory great is their attention to detail. A lot of smaller factories cannot be in this list is because their watch head is 90 points, but their buckles are sometimes 50 points. A great factory need to have all the details on a watch to be 80 points or higher, and the ability to constantly come out with new products.
The biggest hit signature of ZF is the Portuguese 7 days (7days). At first their biggest rival was YL factory, another factory with almost the same ability to make a good 7days. However, ZF's attention to detail made them came out ahead. With few updates later on, YL was no longer a competitor.
If Noob is FFF, KW is Zenith, then ZF is the tri-colour set of Tudor heritage black bay. No other factory can compete with them.
As mentioned earlier, because too much of ZF's line overlap with KW, they cannot beat KW due to its reputation. As for some models that KW don't make, the 425, 604, 672, 448, 449, 372, there's another maker, SF, competes with ZF for the market, and their quality are also very good. As for Tudor Pelagos and Bronze, they still have to compete with KW, and their IWC line have way too many competitors. Thus it would be hard for them to stand out in such short period of time.
Pros:
Great Attention to detail, good product developing skills, good marketing power
Cons:
Bad quality control, but I heard they just started a quality control department, hope it would be better soon.
Signature lines:
IWC Portuguese 7 days, pilots; Pam 127, 217, 382, 604; JLC clown, ultra thin
**
so that's it for this post, hope you like this.
as always, have a nice day.
https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...g-i-can-do-for-you-guys.364098/#post--3254346
This post is about the specialty, pro/con of the big 5 factories and their background story. Here is the original link in Mandarin,
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4892444830?pid=101150067805&cid=0#101150067805
ENJOY!
*order not in ranking
#1 Noob
One of the first ever rep factory, Noob stands for supreme quality in a lot of seller and buyer's heart, mainly because in 2006, when the rep watch game first got serious, Noob was one of the first factory to label its product with Noob factory, thus gained huge amount of recognition. In terms of resources and new watch developments, Noob was also tier 1, for example the Submariner line by Noob was a huge milestone.
However, ever since Noob got a new owner, they haven't came up with much new product, and even in their old signature lines, some details were subpar to previous works.
To the new player in the game, did you know that Noob made IWC? Cartier? Let me tell you, Noob use to make the only Rolls Royce Limited Edition IWC Ingenieur, Pasha de Cartier. Nowadays even its own Omega line is limited to 1948 and Seamaster 2824, not to say they're constantly out of stock.
Now only the FFF, Pam 111, 005 are still good.
Pro:
Still very strong factory with deep background, few signature lines such as JLC Compressor, FFF, Submariner, DSSD, gold-plated Sub, gold yacht are still very good quality. FFF by Noob is still by far the best quality.
Cons:
Weak in developing new models, no significant updates on old signature lines.
Signature lines:
FFF; JLC Compressor; Pam 111, 005; Sub; SD; yacht; gold-plated Subs
#2 KW factory aka V6F
Full name is Kuvarsit Watch, founded by a Turkish seller, therefore in Chinese forums also referred as the foreigner factory. Since overseas (other than China) sales plays a big part, their quality control is better than most other factories.
KW is a very well rounded factory with no significant weak point. They're very fast in developing new watch models in the Pam line. After the first batch of B grade Zenith, their Zenith line also became superior quality, and became the first super rep of Zenith. Thus confirming KW's position in the rep world. Some other lines such as SevenFridays are also very good quality. KW's SF and Omega are both very cost efficient product to buy.
Pros:
Versatile product line, strong developing skills, very fast updating speed, good quality control
Cons:
A lot of signature line overlaps with other factories, such as Pam, Tudor, SevenFriday. Other than Zenith, KW don't have much unique signatures. (unlike Noob with its JLC, FFF, and Subs)
Signature lines:
Zenith; SevenFriday; Omega Seamaster; Pam
#3 JF
JF's most competitive is the FULL LINE of AP chronos. When back in the days, when JF's chrono line beat all other factories, Noob still had the 15703. However after the new owner, Noob cancelled the anti-magnetic interior, and fallen ever since. You can't say JF beat Noob on 15703, Noob beat themselves on 15703.
The scary thing of JF is the dominated the AP brand, one of the most highly wanted watch brand. KW didn't dominate Pam, ZF didn't dominate Tudor, V6 didn't dominate Cartier, but JF is the only factory to dominate AP's full line. Thus they don't need any sales or promotions, since they achieved monopoly.
In a very short period of time JF's Sub line is coming up very fast and very strong, and they're slowly eating away Noob's Sub share. As seen by JF Sub V10, it showed their ambition to beat Noob. Some new players were shocked by JF that Noob was only on V7 and they came out with V10. Such rule-breaking marketing strategy did win JF a lot of attentions. Luckily for Noob, they still have the majority of Sub, but lucky for JF, they have almost beaten Noob in Daytona. JF already took half of the pie in the Rolex rep game.
If anyone ask me what is the signature of JF, I wouldn't say AP but the Longine master series. The significance being before JF, there were no good rep of Longine.
JF has quite a full product line, also with their Cartier Bleu Ballon, although not as good as V6 but still very good. Their Cartier Tank, Breilington Chrono, Rolex yachts.
Pros:
Well rounded factories, very tight production line, thus in each of its signatures, they have very few competitors.
Cons:
Weak in finding new HOT lines, if they can have a better ability to develop new products, JF will soon be the new Noob
Signature lines:
AP full series; Rolex Daytona, Yacht; Breilington Chrono; Longine master
#4 MK
Can be said to be the conscious of the rep world. In the rep game, MK seems to be the only one who's focusing on making good rep watch.
Although very little product line, they were all top qualities, IWC Mark 16,17, Portofino, Rolex Cellini, Omega De Velle, Longine Master, PP Naut. Every new product by MK rises a big wave in the rep community. Ever since Mark 17, MK became the best formal watch maker. When everyone was working on SS bracelet IWC, MK made the first good Cellini rep. MK's good eye for market made every new line from them a big hit.
In the TD's circle, MK also have a very high reputation. Why? Because of their after sale customer service. A lot of big factory cannot perfect customer service, only very few will change the moment when it broke. TDs often have to argue a lot with factories to get them to swap out the movement, only MK can change once its broken. Thus a lot of TDs like to order from MK, their repair rate is very low, and in time of repair they're very fast.
MK's solid attitude will bring them very far, it is only time that they need to be the top factory.
Pros:
Strong ability in developing new models, deep understanding of each model they come up with. Every model is a huge hit. High quality, the best after-sale customer service. Conscious of the rep game
Cons:
Very limited product line. Honestly not even a con but a factory preference, but other than that MK has no significant cons.
Signature lines:
IWC Mark 16, 17, 18, Le Petit Prince, Portofino; Rolex Cellini; PP Naut; Omega De Velle; Longine Master (calendar on 6)
#5 ZF
One of the factory with the greatest potential. They had business relationship with KW back in 2011, therefore you can tell their signature lines overlap a lot. Such as Pam, IWC Portuguese, Tudor.
ZF's significance is its attention to details. With so many factories making IWCs, no other factory can make the buckle as good as ZF. What makes great factory great is their attention to detail. A lot of smaller factories cannot be in this list is because their watch head is 90 points, but their buckles are sometimes 50 points. A great factory need to have all the details on a watch to be 80 points or higher, and the ability to constantly come out with new products.
The biggest hit signature of ZF is the Portuguese 7 days (7days). At first their biggest rival was YL factory, another factory with almost the same ability to make a good 7days. However, ZF's attention to detail made them came out ahead. With few updates later on, YL was no longer a competitor.
If Noob is FFF, KW is Zenith, then ZF is the tri-colour set of Tudor heritage black bay. No other factory can compete with them.
As mentioned earlier, because too much of ZF's line overlap with KW, they cannot beat KW due to its reputation. As for some models that KW don't make, the 425, 604, 672, 448, 449, 372, there's another maker, SF, competes with ZF for the market, and their quality are also very good. As for Tudor Pelagos and Bronze, they still have to compete with KW, and their IWC line have way too many competitors. Thus it would be hard for them to stand out in such short period of time.
Pros:
Great Attention to detail, good product developing skills, good marketing power
Cons:
Bad quality control, but I heard they just started a quality control department, hope it would be better soon.
Signature lines:
IWC Portuguese 7 days, pilots; Pam 127, 217, 382, 604; JLC clown, ultra thin
**
so that's it for this post, hope you like this.
as always, have a nice day.
