Talking about watches and inspiration can spawn some pretty interesting debates, and for good reason – especially in the dive watch category. Of course, early dive watches weren’t “inspired by” anything; dive watches were tools created with a very distinct purpose. That said, as the years went on and the dive watch category moved away from practical utility towards desirable daily-wearers, design inspiration soon came into play. Today we’re looking at luxury watches inspired by the ocean, and digging into the stories behind the creation of each piece and how they relate to the big blue beyond.As mentioned above, there is no reason to go into a Rolex Submariner history lesson here; however, the Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea with D-Blue dial (a variant of the original Deepsea that was first unveiled in 2008) has a very distinct connection to our world’s deepest waters.The origins of this piece come from Rolex’s involvement in (read: sponsorship of) James Cameron’s deep dive into the Mariana Trench. Though not limited in production, the piece is commemorative of the 2012 dive, and features a gradient blue to black dial that mimics the loss of light as one descends into the ocean’s depths. Additionally, the green chosen for the DEEPSEA text on its dial is matched to the color of Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger Submarine that took a prototype Rolex watch all the way down into the trench affixed to one of its robotic arms.The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau is unparalleled in the world of underwater exploration, and many years ago (back in 2004 to be precise), IWC decided to become a partner of the Cousteau Society – a non-profit organization looking to continue the initiatives set out by Jacques-Yves several decades prior. From the onset of the partnership, IWC has included special limited-edition Aquatimer models in their collections, with a portion of the proceeds of each watch headed towards the organization.Of their bigger undertakings, Cousteau’s famed research vessel (named ‘Calypso’) was raised from the sea floor after sinking on account of an incident in Singapore in 1996. Progress on Calypso has been slow-going, and a fire on the ship while docked in Turkey two years ago has slowed things further. Naturally, there are rumors swirling that a redesign of the IWC Aquatimer line across the board will appear in conjunction with the vessel’s unveiling.
I think this is the main reason why this Rolex 116518LN replica is much more expensive than other Rolex Daytona watches, it has too many big selling points.In recent days, AR factory published a lot of Rolex Daytona replica watches that are made of genuine 904L stainless steel, these Daytona replica watches are best of the best in our market, however, these Daytonas have one fatal flaw, that is the non-working minute and hour chronograph. So, although ARF Daytona replica watches are made of the best material, they are still not perfect for watch fans who require full functional chronograph. Today, the Daytona replica watch that is going to be discussed in this article is an old model published last year, by J12 factory. Although the watch is made with 316L stainless steel and equipped with an Asian Valjoux 7750 movement, it works accurate, you know, high stability is very important for a chronograph watch. Nowadays, replica watches from big factories like Noob, J12, BP and ZF could be made 99% the same as genuines in outlook, only the movement is the biggest flaw, so to make the fake movement look closer to genuine caliber, these factories are spending a lot of time and effort in modifying the basic movement to make it look real, everyone knows too much modification on movement will affect its stability, so, in my opinion, these new Super Copy 3135 used on Submariner and clone 4130 on latest ARF Daytona are not as good as you think. However, this yellow gold Daytona uses the old Asian Valjoux 7750 movement, whose accuracy and stability have been tested for years by a lot of chronograph replica watches, so, this Daytona I am about to post is very rare and really good, you will never regret after purchase.Second, the bezel insert is made of black ceramic, Tachymetre scales on bezel is in yellow gold tone, which exactly echoes with the gold dial and case. Black rubber band adopts the most natural rubber material imported from Thailand, it is soft and durable, most importantly, the rubber band does not have smell and perfectly fit your wrist.Let’s check the golden dial, three subdials work the same as genuine, the subdial at 6 is for small seconds display, 30-minute chronograph counter is at 3 and 12-hour chrono counter is at 9. When you unscrew the button at 3 and push it, the second-chronograph hand on the centre will start to work. Hour markers, hour and minute hands are all applied white luminous material.
The case is made of 316L stainless steel and then has 18K rose gold coating plated, the gold coating is thick, which is almost 5 mils. You must concern whether the rose gold coating will fade or not, I must say yes, even gold coating on genuine watches will fade, but on the replica, it will keep its gold tone after two years of wearing, that’s enough for us. The case has a very big diameter, which is 46mm, even though the case is brushed very well, but check its case edge, it does not feel as smooth as replicas made by ZF. The back is see-through crystal, which uses sapphire like the crystal on the front.The dial is in blue color, looks very charming. Amazong all IWC Le Petit Prince models, the one with blue dial is the most popular. Like the case, hour markers and hands all feature rose gold edge. Both subdials have refined circles, the small second hand is runniong on subdial at 9 o’clock. The subdial at 3 is an indicator that is displaying the remaining power reserve. It is marked with 7 DAYS, but the replica has 3-day power reserve. At 12 o’clock, there is a fan-shaped indicator that features three small windows, which displays month, date and week separately. The Annual Calendar function just works the same way as genuine watch. To get a better readability, the replica not only has big hour markers, it also has genuine Swiss lume material applied on markers and hands.
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.
