Hi everybody,
I'm currently on vacation in Bali and there are a few replica watches stores; most sell awful lower-end AAA (there are some decent AAA but these are really off by any standard) and even lower end quartz cheapies, but there is ONE store that boasts a nice selection of "quality" reps. Amongst the watches that pick my interest is a gorgeous Cartier Santos XL (I owned the gen for a while, and besides the cheap croco leather this rep is absolutely stunning, I can't see or feel any difference compared to the genuine) for the equivalent of 400euro; there's the splendid effort from BP to replicate the Artisans de Geneve Brooklyn Daytona (in the flesh a splendid rep to be honest, maybe one of the best BP watches ever) wich at 450euro is probably above what I cn spend (even tho previous enquiries to buy it online show me that I would have had to spend the same amount or more if you take triangulated shipping into account, and what QC pics can come close to handling the watch in the flesh and putting it on your wrist? this is priceless), and the most likely to be in my budget at the end of the vacation, an subject of this post, is a nice GMF Yachtmaster 40mm with Rhodium dial. At 275 euro it's much cheaper than the two other watches, but it is beautifully shaped and finished, feels good (bezel rotation feels a bit cheap tho but whatever), the major obvious flaw being the rhodium dial color: this one has a slight purple hue that doesn't exist on the genuine.
I could live with that flaw (I've never ever met someone wearing a 40mm SS yacht master, people in Belgium are obsessed with Subs and GMTs and Daytonas, with the occasional Datejust 41 or Milgauss; chances to be sitting next to the real deal is close to zero (and even if it would happen, in the end, who cares?)
Anyways my questions are: the guy says all his Rolexes are from GM factory except the BP Brooklyn. Dial color and general looks of the watch match what I could find online about the GMF yachtie.
what bugs me tho is that the GMF yachtie that's available now is more expensive (438$ or something), is advertised as 904L and has the infamous SA3135 movement. Here the seller says the watch has (Asian)ETA movement. I don't really care about 904L (well in truth I do but for 275euro you can't have it all), but I will not buy the watch if it has SA3135, only if it has asian 2836.
So I would like to know if anyone can tell me: was there a previous version from GMF that boasted a lower price and 2836 movement? Or is the seller lying to me and the watch is in fact from BP? Or is it the latest version sold for too little money (very unlikely but YIKES the SA3135)? Does the BP yacht master look like the GMF version (I heard those two factories were "linked" just like JF and ARF, but who really knows)?
Jut trying not to buy an unreliable watch...
thanks in advance!
I'm currently on vacation in Bali and there are a few replica watches stores; most sell awful lower-end AAA (there are some decent AAA but these are really off by any standard) and even lower end quartz cheapies, but there is ONE store that boasts a nice selection of "quality" reps. Amongst the watches that pick my interest is a gorgeous Cartier Santos XL (I owned the gen for a while, and besides the cheap croco leather this rep is absolutely stunning, I can't see or feel any difference compared to the genuine) for the equivalent of 400euro; there's the splendid effort from BP to replicate the Artisans de Geneve Brooklyn Daytona (in the flesh a splendid rep to be honest, maybe one of the best BP watches ever) wich at 450euro is probably above what I cn spend (even tho previous enquiries to buy it online show me that I would have had to spend the same amount or more if you take triangulated shipping into account, and what QC pics can come close to handling the watch in the flesh and putting it on your wrist? this is priceless), and the most likely to be in my budget at the end of the vacation, an subject of this post, is a nice GMF Yachtmaster 40mm with Rhodium dial. At 275 euro it's much cheaper than the two other watches, but it is beautifully shaped and finished, feels good (bezel rotation feels a bit cheap tho but whatever), the major obvious flaw being the rhodium dial color: this one has a slight purple hue that doesn't exist on the genuine.
I could live with that flaw (I've never ever met someone wearing a 40mm SS yacht master, people in Belgium are obsessed with Subs and GMTs and Daytonas, with the occasional Datejust 41 or Milgauss; chances to be sitting next to the real deal is close to zero (and even if it would happen, in the end, who cares?)
Anyways my questions are: the guy says all his Rolexes are from GM factory except the BP Brooklyn. Dial color and general looks of the watch match what I could find online about the GMF yachtie.
what bugs me tho is that the GMF yachtie that's available now is more expensive (438$ or something), is advertised as 904L and has the infamous SA3135 movement. Here the seller says the watch has (Asian)ETA movement. I don't really care about 904L (well in truth I do but for 275euro you can't have it all), but I will not buy the watch if it has SA3135, only if it has asian 2836.
So I would like to know if anyone can tell me: was there a previous version from GMF that boasted a lower price and 2836 movement? Or is the seller lying to me and the watch is in fact from BP? Or is it the latest version sold for too little money (very unlikely but YIKES the SA3135)? Does the BP yacht master look like the GMF version (I heard those two factories were "linked" just like JF and ARF, but who really knows)?
Jut trying not to buy an unreliable watch...
thanks in advance!
