The movement is a clone IWC 52850. Look at the auto rotor, it is in golden and the prince is standing on his planet, and the planet will rotate as long as you shake your hand. The movement is decorated beautifully, base movement plate has polished Geneve Stripes. Each plate is cut well and molded carefully by watch master, so they could maintain the stability and accuracy of the movement. By the way, the replica IWC Le Petit Prince is fitted with a brown leather strap.IWC Pilot always attracts me by their military watch outlook. And among all Pilots watches, Mark series is the most popular. On our market, there are two main factories that are replicating IWC Mark watches, they are MK and V6. Maybe you have bought good quality ones from other small factories, but I have to say they are not in top quality, the best Mark series replicas must come from MK and V6. Actually one friend of mine introduced the Mark XVI replica made by MK factory before on his website at Susanwatches.ru. And now the watch has become a best seller once being introduced on his site. Besides Mark XVI, there are other models that are also perfectly cloned, including Mark XVIII and XVII. Today, I went to our watch market again, and found a new art work on the storefront of MK factory, it is IWC Mark XI, firstly I was attracted by its green nylon band. I love watches with nylon strap. When I checked it carefully, I found its dial design is distinctive, Mark XI has an unique dial that is different from other Mark models. And the green nylon band and unique dial design make Mark XI so special among those watches in MK factory store. So I borrowed this replica watch from the factory and took some photos to share with you guys.
Let us see the dial first. It is in black white white markers and printings. Hands are completely different other IWC Mark series’. Have you noticed the hour hand, it is reverse. Hour markers use Arabic numbers except a big triangle mark at 12 o’clock. Date window is set at 3 o’clock, on the left side of the 3:00 hour marker. The dial also has other subtle difference if you compare Mark XI and Mark XVII or XVIII. Green nylon band is also one highlight. Nylon strap is a great match for the watch, it is perfectly in line with the military theme of the watch. One pair of distressed leather band could also create such effect, but a modern alligator leather strap will not.
The green-tinted sapphire crystal fitted to the reference 116400GV Milgauss has quickly become one of the defining characteristics of Rolex’s anti-magnetic line of watches. The Rolex Milgauss was first introduced in 1956; however, it was not until 2007 that it received its now-signature, green sapphire crystal – an exclusive feature that was originally introduced as a way for Rolex to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Milgauss line.No other watch in Rolex’s current catalog is fitted with a green-tinted (or any other color) sapphire crystal. However, at the present time, all Milgauss watches that are currently in production leave the factory with green sapphire crystals. Rather than simply being a layer or coating, the light green tint is present throughout the entire material of the crystal, and will not fade or discolor after prolonged wear and use.Rolex claims that it took them many years of research and development to master and perfect the secret procedure of manufacturing their green-tinted sapphire crystals and that the actual process of producing the crystals takes multiple weeks. What is most interesting is that despite a usual eagerness to patent their various in-house technologies, Rolex claims that the green sapphire crystal in the Milgauss is “not patented, as it is so difficult to make that no one else would even venture to try.”Rolex will never reveal their exact formulas and secrets about how they manufacture the green-tinted sapphire crystals fitted to the Milgauss; however, we do know some general information about green-colored synthetic sapphire and the production of sapphire watch crystals as a whole.There are a number of different ways to produce synthetic sapphire, all of which fall into the following general methods of production: melt growth, solution growth, and high-temperature/high-pressure growth. It is hypothesized that Rolex uses a hydrothermal method of production for its synthetic sapphire crystals, which is slow, expensive, and uses heat and pressure to imitate the conditions present deep inside the earth that is responsible for the production of naturally-occurring crystalline gemstones.
