1. A true Swiss movement
Many watch lovers have just started to play with replica watches. They know very little about watch movements. When buying replica watches, they think that they must have Swiss movements. They think that if a mechanical watch wants to be accurate, other movements except Swiss movements will not work! Unfortunately, this kind of watch lovers are very likely to be tricked by merchants with sweet words. Why?
First of all, Swiss movements are divided into two categories, one is the brand’s own movement, and the other is the ETA general basic movement.
1. A brand-produced movement refers to a movement that a Swiss watch brand produces by itself and then only uses for watches under its own brand.
For example: Audemars Piguet 3120 movement, Rolex 3135 movement, Hublot 4100 movement, Omega‘s exclusive patented coaxial escapement series movement, etc. It is completely impossible for these brand-produced movements to flow out and be sold on the market.
2. ETA universal basic movement.
The basic movement includes semi-finished products and finished products. The semi-finished products are mainly movement blanks. Different Swiss watch brands then purchase the corresponding semi-finished movements and process and modify them into their own movements.
For example: Longines’ CAL.L619 movement, the basic movement is ETA2892-A2.
Finished movements are the common ETA2824, ETA2836, ETA2892 and other Swiss movements we are familiar with. Many Swiss brand watches also directly use basic finished movements, such as Tissot, Mido, Hamilton, Longines, Tudor many watch models, and even some models of Omega, IWC and Panerai also use ETA’s finished movements.
Seeing this, some watch friends will say, can’t the replica watch also use the Swiss finished basic movement? I can only say that if you are a local tyrant and have high requirements, the Swiss movement is worth choosing. However, due to cost constraints, replica watches rarely use Swiss movements. Major manufacturers in the replica watch market mainly use domestic Seagull and Japanese Citizen movements. After all, most friends want to spend the least money to play a replica watch they like.
There are hundreds of replica watches released every day in the replica watch market, but there are not many watches equipped with Swiss movements. In addition, there are very few replica watch manufacturers that provide Swiss movements. If you want a Swiss movement, you basically have to buy it from the replica watch market, and then assemble, test and ship it. At the same time, Swiss movements are mainly limited to the common ETA and SW three-hand movements. So, if you are an enthusiast player with sufficient budget and high requirements for playing with watches, Swiss movements are a very good choice.
2. Domestic Seagull and Shanghai movement
In the field of high-end replica watches, domestic Seagull and Shanghai movements are the choice of most replica watch factories, and some merchants also call them imitation Swiss movements. For example, Seagull ST2130 and Hangzhou 6300 are actually imitation Swiss ETA2824-2 movements.
Because many of ETA’s movement patents have expired, domestic movement factories can produce such movements, and the structure is no different from that of ETA movements. The difference is mainly in the details of polishing and the quality of assembly process, but domestic movement factories do a good enough job, and it is common to control the daily error within 10 seconds.
- Domestic 2824, 2836, 2892 are the movements commonly used in three-hand replica watches. Replica watches generally choose movement factories such as Seagull and Hangzhou.
- The domestically produced 7750 movement is the most commonly used chronograph replica watch movement, and the domestically produced ones are mainly from Shanghai and Dandong movement factories.
Many friends who have bought imitation watches may have bought low-end imitation watches that cost less than two or three hundred yuan, and found that the movement was very rubbish, the time was inaccurate, the daily error was large, and the watch even broke down within a few days. They then preconceived that all domestic mechanical watch movements are rubbish.
It is ridiculous that the Sea-Gull movement is exported overseas and recognized internationally, but it is denied by most watch novices!
3. Japanese movement
At present, more and more high-end replica watches in the replica watch market have begun to use movements imported from Japan, mainly Citizen and Seiko mechanical movements, which are accurate and stable, similar to Swiss movements, but the price is only slightly more expensive than the domestic high-end Seagull movements.
For example, the most commonly used replica watch is the Citizen 9015 movement. The De Ville series of the MKS factory, the IWC Portofino series. The ZF factory Jaeger-LeCoultre Moon Phase Master is also a 9015 movement with a modified plate, and the JF factory Audemars Piguet 15400 series is a 9015 movement modified with Audemars Piguet’s self-produced 3120 movement. There are too many replica watch styles to list them one by one.
Replica watches from big factories like N Factory, ZF Factory, JF Factory, MKS Factory either use Japanese movements or mostly Seagull and Shanghai ones!