Well. The old adage "you get what you pay for" doesn't necessarily apply here. Dealers don't care what you are supposed to get, they care for only their margins and growing their business. But I understand what the OP mean. Sometimes its not about the actual product delivered but the psychology behind it. Paying extra "should" get us a better product. But of course, it depends a lot on the watch, the dealer. So I think instead of just paying more. Get to establish a good relationship with your dealer of choice, who will help you make better judgement call on a watch to watch bases.
I think from a technical stand point. Asian clones are certainly on par with ETA IF AND ONLY IF - They are sourced from larger makers. (Seagull or Honzhous comes to mind.) Although there are some variations amongst the different grades of 2836 clones, in general, seagull QC practice is very decent. Other smaller makers might provide similar products, but as Wiz mentioned, some are simply not as well finished nor put together.
smidsy's post some time ago showed us just how "swiss" some of the swiss movements in reps are. Many are basically swiss reject parts watch build under substandard condition with asian parts to fool unsuspecting buyers. This is a very serious problem. Because without disassembling the movements, judging purely by the stamping and parts, not many of us can actually identify such problematic junk. The dealers can not easily ID them so even the best intentioned dealer will not be able to deliver ~ the more expensive and "better" "Swiss ETA"
I think over generalization in the rep world is the real reason why we are even having all these repeated debate of ETA vs Asian, this vs that. Asian 21J ~ there are like hundreds of variation in this type of movement alone, some btw are not even 21J ... they are made by different maker, different grades of the same maker, different parts in the same grades with different functions ... we can go on. Add that different case maker, different assembler, or assembler who switched parts supplier after the first batch runs out. You really never know what you are getting until after the fact. A good dealer can help us verify many of the larger flaws but it is by no means a perfect system. In the end, rep buying is still largely a guessing game. Unless if you source the parts and do the assembly yourself. It is just like getting a piece from that box of chocolate.
I think from a technical stand point. Asian clones are certainly on par with ETA IF AND ONLY IF - They are sourced from larger makers. (Seagull or Honzhous comes to mind.) Although there are some variations amongst the different grades of 2836 clones, in general, seagull QC practice is very decent. Other smaller makers might provide similar products, but as Wiz mentioned, some are simply not as well finished nor put together.
smidsy's post some time ago showed us just how "swiss" some of the swiss movements in reps are. Many are basically swiss reject parts watch build under substandard condition with asian parts to fool unsuspecting buyers. This is a very serious problem. Because without disassembling the movements, judging purely by the stamping and parts, not many of us can actually identify such problematic junk. The dealers can not easily ID them so even the best intentioned dealer will not be able to deliver ~ the more expensive and "better" "Swiss ETA"
I think over generalization in the rep world is the real reason why we are even having all these repeated debate of ETA vs Asian, this vs that. Asian 21J ~ there are like hundreds of variation in this type of movement alone, some btw are not even 21J ... they are made by different maker, different grades of the same maker, different parts in the same grades with different functions ... we can go on. Add that different case maker, different assembler, or assembler who switched parts supplier after the first batch runs out. You really never know what you are getting until after the fact. A good dealer can help us verify many of the larger flaws but it is by no means a perfect system. In the end, rep buying is still largely a guessing game. Unless if you source the parts and do the assembly yourself. It is just like getting a piece from that box of chocolate.