I had the opportunity this last weekend to visit the Guangzhou watch market near the Guangzhou Main Railway Station. As I mentioned in my introduction email, I travel to China quite often for work, normally to Shenzhen and Dongguan.
A few months ago I purchased a Rolex GMT Master BLNR (Batman) in Shenzhen Luohu. This rep was cosmetically good, but the movement was only ok, and it didn't have the hour hand hacking that I've seen on youtube videos for really good reps.
So this time I decided to go to Guangzhou for the first time and actually see the huge market that I had read about so many times. Let me tell you. It is mind boggling how many watch merchants there are. It seems like there are millions of watches for sale, not only reps of course, but everything from really cheap kids watches to Chinese brand watches to reps of various quality.
For reps, there are so many quality levels. Cosmetically, it does seem that even the cheapest ones look fairly good from a distance. I was amazed at reps of Patek with complications. Some were only $40, but they looked really good. For that price I found it hard to believe that they would make money, but probably for the price the movement just sucks. For Rolex, the cheaper reps were obvious because of their quartz movements, but again cosmetically they looked pretty decent.
I was on the lookout for a few different watches including a Rolex Submariner No Date ceramic, 114060. I asked several merchants, but it was almost impossible to find. Part of the problem was that it is so close to Chinese New Year and several merchants commented that inventory was very low. So many of the watches I wanted were simply not available. Another problem was that I wanted really high quality reps and again inventory is normally low for such watches because not many people are willing to spend top dollar for reps. The sweet spot price for reps in the market seemed to be around $20 to $50 dollars.
I finally found a merchant that had an excellent Rolex Submariner and I bought it for $80. Cosmetically I couldn't find any flaws and the rotation of the bezel had a fantastic clicking sound. The dial and markers were spot on. I got the merchant's WeChat account and told her I would be back in GZ again to find other watches. She told me that if you want any type of watch with specific movements you really have to know someone and order it ahead of time. To expect to find a specific high end rep without having a contact is futile at best.
I got back to my hotel room and then I realized I had made a mistake. On the dial of the no date sub it said "Rolex Perpetual Date". Oops . Someone had put on the wrong dial. I quickly texted the merchant and she said to come back the next day to exchange it. I went back the next morning and we couldn't find a suitable exchange watch so she refunded my money, which surprised me.
I had only a couple more hours, but I finally managed to find a correct Submariner (can't get photo to Upload). It supposedly has a chinese 2836 movement. Cosmetically it is perfect and it has been keeping perfect time for the last 4 days.
I will definitely go back to this market again in the future, but I will take the merchant's advice and message her ahead of time about watches that I want to find. She told me she could get me the following on my list:
1) IWC Pilot Mark XVIII
2) Daytona Ceramic 116500 with 7750 (she wants $200 for that)
3) AP 15400 Royal Oak with higher quality movement. The ones they had available were crappy.
A few months ago I purchased a Rolex GMT Master BLNR (Batman) in Shenzhen Luohu. This rep was cosmetically good, but the movement was only ok, and it didn't have the hour hand hacking that I've seen on youtube videos for really good reps.
So this time I decided to go to Guangzhou for the first time and actually see the huge market that I had read about so many times. Let me tell you. It is mind boggling how many watch merchants there are. It seems like there are millions of watches for sale, not only reps of course, but everything from really cheap kids watches to Chinese brand watches to reps of various quality.
For reps, there are so many quality levels. Cosmetically, it does seem that even the cheapest ones look fairly good from a distance. I was amazed at reps of Patek with complications. Some were only $40, but they looked really good. For that price I found it hard to believe that they would make money, but probably for the price the movement just sucks. For Rolex, the cheaper reps were obvious because of their quartz movements, but again cosmetically they looked pretty decent.
I was on the lookout for a few different watches including a Rolex Submariner No Date ceramic, 114060. I asked several merchants, but it was almost impossible to find. Part of the problem was that it is so close to Chinese New Year and several merchants commented that inventory was very low. So many of the watches I wanted were simply not available. Another problem was that I wanted really high quality reps and again inventory is normally low for such watches because not many people are willing to spend top dollar for reps. The sweet spot price for reps in the market seemed to be around $20 to $50 dollars.
I finally found a merchant that had an excellent Rolex Submariner and I bought it for $80. Cosmetically I couldn't find any flaws and the rotation of the bezel had a fantastic clicking sound. The dial and markers were spot on. I got the merchant's WeChat account and told her I would be back in GZ again to find other watches. She told me that if you want any type of watch with specific movements you really have to know someone and order it ahead of time. To expect to find a specific high end rep without having a contact is futile at best.
I got back to my hotel room and then I realized I had made a mistake. On the dial of the no date sub it said "Rolex Perpetual Date". Oops . Someone had put on the wrong dial. I quickly texted the merchant and she said to come back the next day to exchange it. I went back the next morning and we couldn't find a suitable exchange watch so she refunded my money, which surprised me.
I had only a couple more hours, but I finally managed to find a correct Submariner (can't get photo to Upload). It supposedly has a chinese 2836 movement. Cosmetically it is perfect and it has been keeping perfect time for the last 4 days.
I will definitely go back to this market again in the future, but I will take the merchant's advice and message her ahead of time about watches that I want to find. She told me she could get me the following on my list:
1) IWC Pilot Mark XVIII
2) Daytona Ceramic 116500 with 7750 (she wants $200 for that)
3) AP 15400 Royal Oak with higher quality movement. The ones they had available were crappy.
