r/swissreptime

RICH Factory's ( I will refer to it as RF for short from now on) Rolex Submariner MK2 V2 ——Movements are available in free-sprung versions.

1.MK2 bezel:

The color of the updated green bezel is “gold green”. RF can achieve 99% similarity to the original.

For users whose genuine bezel (including ceramic insert) is damaged, this part can be used as a replacement.

2.Dial:

For users whose genuine dial is damaged, RF dial can be directly installed as a replacement.

The reason is that the outer edge of the dial is CNC-machined with a cut, which allows compatibility with genuine watches.

The pattern and details on the back of the dial are identical to the original. RF does not provide further explanation on other details.

3.Hands:

The luminous part is recessed, the edges of the metal parts are chamfered, and the sides have a polished finish.

4.Crown:

Under magnification, the area around the crown logo on the original is uneven, while RF is smooth.

5.Crystal:

The magnifier coating color matches the original version and is highly transparent.

What's your thoughts on these? Info courtesy of ARC Studio. Feedback and opinions from you all watch enthusiasts is welcome. VSF begins to have some competition, but I'm not sure that this product is yet superior, even though it is free sprung while VSF isn't. But it looks promising.

Gen on left, RGF on right (previously called RCF). RGF bluesy has Deep crystal installed, which is a cheap mod (±50€) that basically changes the crystal for a clearer one. After having seen extensive QCs and posts on RWI from RCF/RGF, I believe it's a must on all RGF watches.

The plating on the rep is EXQUISITELY done, gone are the days of having to replate the watch to remove the 🧀 cheesy gold look. I find replating unnecessary on all RGF watches. I'm surprised at how similar they look, even when put side by side. Weight is apparently the same too, so that's another win for us rep lovers. (Not my pics, I'm not a yellow gold guy)

What do you guys think?

For those of you with 12+ mechanical/automatic watches, how do you realistically manage your collection?

Do you:
- rotate naturally and let most watches stop?
- wind dormant watches once a month?
- use watch winders?
- just leave them resting for months?

I was told automatics shouldn’t sit unused for more than 4–5 weeks, but I’m curious what experienced collectors actually do in real life.

Especially interested in people with:
- chronographs
- moonphases
- replica movements
- Chinese movements
- larger collections in general

Looking at picking up an AP 15510 in blue and trying to decide between VSF and TOP factory.

For those who’ve handled both, which one is currently closer to gen overall in terms of:

👉case shape
👉dial/tapisserie (colour accuracy is THE biggest factor)
👉bracelet finishing
👉movement reliability
👉thickness/wrist feel

Not too bothered about modding and just want the best out of the box option for daily wear.

Would appreciate opinions (wrist shots welcome) from anyone who’s owned or compared both side by side.

most people never test this. your watch runs at a slightly different rate depending on its orientation — on the wrist, dial up, crown right. the gap between those rates tells you more about your movement quality than any spec sheet ever will.
this series covers what positional accuracy actually is, why gravity affects the balance wheel differently in each position, how to run the test yourself in 48 hours with nothing but time.is, how to read the results, and why Dandong movements consistently outperform standard Asian movements on this specific metric.
slide 3 has the exact test method. slide 4 tells you what your numbers mean. worth saving before your next QC check.

Why this took so long to get right
VSF's journey with the Submariner didn't start here. It started with the 114060, then the date version, iteration after iteration — movement updates, bezel corrections, bracelet refinements, crystal upgrades. Each batch closer than the last.
The 124060 is where that decade of accumulated refinement landed. Every fix VSF made on previous batches carried forward into this reference. The watch community didn't declare it NWBIG overnight. It took years of side-by-side comparisons, forum debates, and original owners picking up VSF pieces and going quiet.
─
*What NWBIG actually means*
*Not Worth Buying In Genuine*. The superclone community gives this designation to maybe a handful of references in the entire market. It means the superclone is so close to original that the case for buying the real thing — beyond ownership of the actual article — becomes genuinely difficult to make.
The VSF Submariner has held this designation longer than almost any other reference. That's not marketing. That's years of community consensus.
─
*What the community found in direct comparisons:*
→ *Case marking* — VSF is correctly stamped 124060. Most other factories stamp 126610 — wrong reference entirely. Tells you everything about how seriously VSF approaches accuracy
→ *Crystal* — VSF's sapphire is clearer and produces stronger lume visibility than competitors. No blue tint under natural light
→ *Bezel action* — 120 clicks, correct resistance, correct acoustic "tick." Glidelock is smoother than any other factory tested against gen
→ *Dial* — black so deep and correctly grained it's been described as indistinguishable from gen at arm's length and on wrist
→ *Movement* — DD3230 clone. 72-hour power reserve. Correct architecture for a no-date calibre
→ *Weight* — community scale tests confirm VSF 124060 matches gen at 152–158g
─
*The one honest tell:*
The rehaut — the inner ring between dial and crystal — is slightly less polished than gen under a loupe. Invisible on wrist. You need a magnifying glass and a gen side-by-side.
That's the only tell left. On a watch.

Have already had two TDs confirming this info, there have been arrests made by the police. This doesn't necessarily mean the factory will go out of business and we won't know the total scale of the raid until the smoke clears and more information comes, but this is bad news for those of you that love Audemars Piguet, Jaeger Le-Coultre (JLC)or Rolex models, as these factories were some of the best to do many models (AP Royal Oaks, JLC Master Ultra Thin, etc...)

Will keep you updated on whatever info arrives to my ears. Update 1: DukeJones, TimeUltra and some potential new TDs I'm speaking too all confirm this info as being true. Andiot (known RepTime TD) also confirms this info and has removed them from his website. Seems like that's how things are currently

1. ⁠Dealer name: Ethan Watches
2. ⁠Factory name: VSF
3. ⁠Model name (& version number): Yachtmaster 40mm 126622 Rhodium dial
4. ⁠Price Paid: $460
5. ⁠Album Links:
6. ⁠Index alignment: seems good nothing out of order
7. ⁠Dial Printing: very neat imo
8. ⁠Date Wheel alignment/printing: Maybe slighting high but i think that is camera issue.
9. ⁠Hand Alignment: good
10. ⁠Bezel: smooth and no discolouration
11. ⁠Solid End Links (SELs): ok
12. ⁠Timegrapher numbers:
13. ⁠Anything else you notice: Please feel free to inform

I'd recently ordered a PPF Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712 from our TD Duke Jones, and sadly found the model he sent had the most common QC issue on these reps, it was a good experience because he just told me directly about the issue and accepted my RL, promising a new one in a week. Very professional of him, honestly. You can see he's been in the industry a good while, the customer service was great all the way through.

To make this sad event a learning experience for those who aren't that familiar with this model yet, I'll teach you how to look for the most common QC issues on the PPF 5712:

1: Misalignment/bending of the 12 o clock indices. This is the most common of them all. It's often not that noticeable on wrist, but it's visible on QC if the issue is present or not. As a rule of thumb, look here the first place of all before continuing with your 5712 QC. Also, check the 3, 6, and 9 markers; because the dial is "busy," these can sometimes be slightly slanted.

2: Check the Power Reserve indicator (top left side of the dial) sometimes these had an issue for the needle not moving to it's full 48h position, so while it may not be fully winded, kindly ask your TD to see if it moves as it should.

3: The "Minute Hand Jump"

This is the most notorious issue with the clone 240 movement.

The Issue: When you bump the watch or pull the crown, the minute hand may jump or "stutter" by 1–2 minutes.

QC Check: Ask your TD (Trusted Dealer) for a video where they tap the side of the watch or adjust the time to see if the hand is stable. Note that a tiny bit of play is present even on genuine models, but excessive jumping is a RL (Red Light) flag.

4: As basic as this sounds, don't forget to check the Timegrapher, while mine was perfect, the movement on these is prone to being unreliable. The clone 240 movement is beautiful but can be finicky.

The Issue: Low amplitude (anything under 230°-240° for this specific micro-rotor movement can be a bit worrying, though they naturally run lower than a Rolex clone).

Rate: +/- 5 to 10 s/d is fine.

It's a fantastic rep, and to my knowledge one of the very few that has a working Micro-Rotor as a winding mechanism. The real issue with it is the movement being a bit of a Russian roulette, without wishing to get too technical the 240 clone movement is technically derived from the Miyota architecture, which has made it have some of these 5712s die on their owners because the movement stopped working. Having spoken to many owners before making this purchase, they either had 0 issues in years of owning it, or they had to have had it repaired in the first 6 months of owning it.

To those of us that like complications and Patek watches, this is not a deterrent to not buy it, as there are no other rep watches with a working power reserve, Moonphase, small seconds and date indicator as the 5712 has done to the same fidelity to gen as this one has. The 240 movement is still the best mass produced movement for the 5712 (ACE movement is also unreliable and costs a lot more than this, on the 1000€+ price range)

Hope this post on what to look for on a 5712 rep helps any of you in your future purchases and QCs. Have a nice day everyone.💙

every tick you hear from a mechanical watch is the balance wheel completing half a swing. covered what it actually does, what beat rate amplitude and beat error mean in plain language, how VSF and APS handle it in their clone calibres, and the free-sprung vs standard regulation question properly explained. the timegrapher section in slide 3 is worth saving for your next QC check. 6 slides.

most people never think about what's actually powering their superclone. the mainspring — a long ribbon of metal coiled inside a barrel — is the entire energy source for a mechanical movement. and for a long time, clone movements cut corners here.
did a 4-slide breakdown on how this specific component evolved in Dandong movements: why early clones topped out at 40–48 hours, what NIVAFLEX alloy actually is and why it matters, and how current production pushed power reserve to 60–72 hours while also fixing the accuracy drop that used to happen as the spring ran down.
the torque consistency improvement on slide 3 is the one most people miss — it's not just about hours, it's about how the watch keeps time toward the end of the reserve.