GMF released a GMT 3186 clone movement

[immortalchef]

Have you heard back from the TD about this? You've overpaid for a V2, would be crazy if they don't refund what you overpaid or give you an option to return it.

 

[shigetty]

Not yet. I sent an email to the TD 22 hours ago and hope they will reply next Monday.

 

[shigetty]

I’ve just got a reply from the dealer now and here’s exactly what he wrote. It’s very disappointing.
https://imgur.com/HTgh1yO

 

[Hazing]

I’ve just got a reply from the dealer now and here’s exactly what he wrote. It’s very disappointing.
https://imgur.com/HTgh1yO

He may very well get a number of these a week, most of which are just some random customer nervous about his purchase.

Just put a thorough email together with pics and maybe comoarasion pics. Show him what you've got.

Id he willing to bet if it turns out to be the wrong version, that they'd refund the difference. I'm guessing but he did say do research.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[shigetty]

I attached movement pictures yesterday. I’ll sent him a comparison picture too. Thank you.
https://imgur.com/a/MG4pV1T

 

[KJ2020]

I took the picture of the watch in hand by myself, and yes, there’s a 2824 CHS timebomb movement inside the watch. I was surprised and shocked when I opened the caseback, because I ordered V3, paid for V3 and got a non-frisbee GMT hand QC.

Here are an another close up picture I took and a QC picture they took.

Yeah I would have been shocked too. I'm sure this was not Li's fault, this is what the factory sent him. You'll have to try to work something out with him.

Thanks for posting about it so the rest of us know. We are going to have to ask for a movement pic now. Or at least a video of hour jumping.

The 2824 timebomb hour jumps backward with clockwise crown rotation in position 2

The VR3185 (used now in all recent GMF V3's) hour jumps forward with clockwise crown rotation in position 2.

 

[shigetty]

A few hours ago I sent a movement comparison picture among V2, V3 and mine to the dealer, and asked about the movement inside my GMF.

He replied to me as following:
It is the SA3285 movement inside of your watch.
GMF uses SA3285 and SA3186 both in their new V3 watches depend on batches in fact.

I know the 3285 is just an engraving and it’s the 2824 CHS timebomb in fact. Dealers are listing the VR3185 pictures for V3, mine came with the 2824 timebomb, there's a 3186 sticker inside the watch box, then the dealer told me to have deeper research. I understand this is not his fault, but I feel very frustrating with this whole situation.

So the main difference between V2 and some V3 is stainless steel 316F or 904L, which cost you another 150usd.

We are going to have to ask for a movement pic now. Or at least a video of hour jumping.

Indeed. If a dealer deny the request, we have to win the lottery.

I've jumped the hour hand hundreds of times already haha. I won’t change the date and hope this will live until ARF will release Batman.

 

[doggepe]

Yeah it’s pretty obvious from your pictures that it is the 2824 with decoration and engraved 3285 so strange response from someone that is a popular TD. And the watch is advertised as 3186 so why would he say some are delivered with the timebomb depending on the batch? Fishy

 

[shigetty]

I feel fishy as well. I’m following this Thai local seller’s instagram and I like his videos. I’m sure his Batman is a same batch with my GMF V3. It has a 904L sticker on it, a 3186 sticker inside the box, a small GMT hand hole surround and hour jumps forward with anticlockwise crown rotation (5:50). He doesn’t claim the version in the title unlike his other videos. Dealers may know somthing or may have noticed something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSsANABYYts

 

[kingkitesurf]

How do you know there is a timebomb movement inside. This looks like the V3 as you ordered. If you pull the crown to the 3rd position (all out) and turn clockwise, does the hour hand move forward in steps. If that is the case it is a V3 with VR3186 in it.

 

[doggepe]

How do you know there is a timebomb movement inside. This looks like the V3 as you ordered. If you pull the crown to the 3rd position (all out) and turn clockwise, does the hour hand move forward in steps. If that is the case it is a V3 with VR3186 in it.

Obviously he had already tried this and it does not jump forward. And the pictures are easily identifiable as the 2824 if you have read the last few posts, just that the VR has the gold shock absorber as the easiest part to identify

 

[doggepe]

I feel fishy as well. I’m following this Thai local seller’s instagram and I like his videos. I’m sure his Batman is a same batch with my GMF V3. It has a 904L sticker on it, a 3186 sticker inside the box, a small GMT hand hole surround and hour jumps forward with anticlockwise crown rotation (5:50). He doesn’t claim the version in the title unlike his other videos. Dealers may know somthing or may have noticed something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSsANABYYts

Yeah that jumps the wrong way aswell, might be SA as they used in their early versions or the timebomb as in yours. Strange as we’ve seen VR3185’s in the latest ones on here

 

[Hazing]

I attached movement pictures yesterday. I’ll sent him a comparison picture too. Thank you.
https://imgur.com/a/MG4pV1T

This is a weird situation. Keep us posted and let us know how Li responds. In any future email, I’d just be sure to explain everything as throughly and clearly as possible though just so he doesn’t get a chance to dismiss your concern because I’m sure he gets a lot of emails saying “I wanted something as good as gen and expected an $18,000 watch for $500”. Those people can be annoying and they sort of prove to be a road block when those of us with real issues pop up but if you explain clearly and definitively hopefully he'll be responsive.


My only question is ( and I have no idea because I have no exposure to the 2824) doesn’t the time bomb movement have “3285” engraved? Or hasn’t it to this point?

But if they got rid of the frisbee they obviously made some changes. Is that what you’re saying? Because if so, I can really see Lis reluctance to accept because really what you’re saying is “there is a 2824 time bomb movement usually engraved 3285 with a few sure fire details to point that out (like the big frisbee). Well this one is marked 3186 and doesn’t have those “tells” either”. So the details he looks for to ID it as a timebomb movement aren’t there either.

 

[KJ2020]

You need only two pieces to solve the timebomb puzzle.

1. Is the hour hand on the bottom?

2. Is the movement an ETA clone?

One you can see in the dial pic, the other requires caseback removal. The biggest, fastest dead giveaway to an ETA clone is the crown wheel and autowind device. You absolutely cannot miss them screaming in your face although you may have to move the rotor.

You can't rely on stickers or engravings to ID a movement or a bracelet for that matter. 904L is marketing hype anyway IMO but that's another discussion.

There is no way the 2824 timebomb is worth the same as a VR3185. They are the absolute top and bottom of the quality spread regarding GMT movements.

GMT Movements Explained

 

[KJ2020]

I've jumped the hour hand hundreds of times already haha. I won’t change the date and hope this will live until ARF will release Batman.

Regarding date setting and hour jumping on the 2824 timebomb movement, the movement is really not that fragile if you use it correctly. If you need to hour jump backwards you can. Just don't do it between 9PM and 3AM local time on the watch.

For example if you want to create a new GMT offset that needs the hour hand to go back 6 hours and getting there by moving the hour hand forward 18 hours would change the date to 1 day ahead, you can proceed as follows.

Set the local time to at least 9 am. Then hour jump backwards to 3AM. This will increase the GMT offset by the desired 6 hours. Then set the local time to current time in pos 3 and the GMT hand stays at its desired offset.

When changing the date, always change it forward. I hour jump forward from 3AM to 9PM (18 jumps) in pos 2, then manually advance all hands forward from 9PM to 3AM which changes the date. Repeat till you get the correct date set. This dramatically reduces date setting time without putting extra stress on the jump click. The datewheel driving wheel is connected to the intermediate datewheel which is connected to the jump click so hour jumping a date change puts extra stress on the jump click and doing it backwards puts even more stress on it and is a sure recipe for breakage. If you've ever used a 2836 ICHS, hour jumping the GMT uses an identical jump click part. They never break because they never have extra stress on them from trying to propel a datewheel.

 

[doggepe]

You need only two pieces to solve the timebomb puzzle.

1. Is the hour hand on the bottom?

2. Is the movement an ETA clone?

One you can see in the dial pic, the other requires caseback removal. The biggest, fastest dead giveaway to an ETA clone is the crown wheel and autowind device. You absolutely cannot miss them screaming in your face although you may have to move the rotor.

You can't rely on stickers or engravings to ID a movement or a bracelet for that matter. 904L is marketing hype anyway IMO but that's another discussion.

There is no way the 2824 timebomb is worth the same as a VR3185. They are the absolute top and bottom of the quality spread regarding GMT movements.

GMT Movements Explained

He has posted a link with pics of his movement. Looks like a 2824 to me.

 

[KJ2020]

He has posted a link with pics of his movement. Looks like a 2824 to me.

No question about it, easy instant ID.

 

[doggepe]

No question about it, easy instant ID.

Yup. Asked my dealer to send me pics of the movement in QC now when i saw this..

 

[shigetty]

My only question is ( and I have no idea because I have no exposure to the 2824) doesn’t the time bomb movement have “3285” engraved? Or hasn’t it to this point?

This GMF V2 has a 3186 engraving on the 2824 movement.
https://trustytime.shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=21365

This GMF V2 jubilee has the 3285 engraving. This movement looks like exactly the same with mine. Rolex logo on the rotor, etc.
https://trustytime.shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=21367


Li knew there are many batches around, he got a worse batch from GMF, he didn’t care about the movement, and he sent it to me. He act like any other regular dealers and I just had some bad luck. I can't and don’t expect an exchange or any refunds from him. I don’t feel good with high blood pressure these days and I want to stay away from this situation.

Here’s 1st QC which I RL’d. I pointed out the frisbee GMT hand.
https://imgur.com/V9kAw5c

Here’s 2nd QC which I GL’d and what I got.
https://imgur.com/cOWFfQM

My concern is GMF sent him 2 worse batches in a row randomly or not but who knows. I have some respect to him for that at least he tried to send me a better (less worse) one. But I won’t buy from him again. I feel he has changed and he’s not special anymore.

Good luck you guys, and thank you for all of your advice!

 

[maxus minimax]

Have also received additional QC pics of my ordered V3 yesterday. As mentioned in an earlier post, frisbee GMT hand and the new QC pics show the movement that shigetty mentioned above:

>>>
This GMF V2 jubilee has the 3285 engraving. This movement looks like exactly the same with mine. Rolex logo on the rotor, etc.
https://trustytime.shop/index.php?ma...ducts_id=21367
>>>