No, I’m not talking about the Submariner and Explorer II’s famously good looks – we’ll get there in a minute. Both timepieces have a pretty long history with Rolex, and over the years, they have been worn and beloved by many famous faces.The Submariner is famous for its James Bond appearances, author Ian Flemming writing, “He could not just wear a watch. It had to be a Rolex.” Over the years, Sean Connery’s 007 wore a Submariner ref. 6538 and Roger Moore sported a ref. 5513. And as one of the most popular Rolex models ever, we often see the Submariner sported today on the wrists of celebrities and dignitaries alike – whether they’re scuba divers or not.The Rolex Explorer II has graced its fair share of celebrities and famous explorers too. Hollywood actor, Jason Statham can frequently be spotted at red carpet events sporting a vintage ref. 1655 – the very first Explorer II reference. Meanwhile, Prince Harry prefers the modern version of the watch, and owns the 42mm Explorer II ref. 216570 with a white “Polar” dial.This is where the differences between the Submariner and the Explorer II become very apparent. First up, the Submariner has a colored unidirectional timing bezel that today is available in black, blue or green. And before Rolex started using modern, scratch-resistant Cerachrom (aka ceramic) bezels on the Submariner in 2007, it featured an aluminum bezel. The bezel is really one of the main selling points of this watch, as its color really adds some great personality to the wrist, and is one of the defining characteristics of the Rolex Submariner collection.The waterproof Oyster case on the Submariner clocks in at 40mm, and along with the bracelet, can be either constructed from Oystersteel (904L stainless steel), solid 18k yellow gold, or Rolesor (two-tone steel and gold). This is another big selling point for a lot of collectors, as the combinations of alloys and bezels really allow for a lot of style and creativity. And before I forget: the Submariner has always featured an Oyster bracelet, but in recent years was updated with the improved Glidelock clasp, which allows for tool-free adjustment for a perfect fit.
Compared with other common IWC Mark series models, this Mark XVIII titanium watch is very outstanding. Grey Titanium case, track-style minutes markers, brown dial and brown leather straps, these elements make the watch full of vintage flavor. The replica is a really a big surprise from GS factory.IWC Portuguese is a very famous watch and it is one of the best-selling dress watches in the world. In our watch market, there are three factories at least that are manufacturing IWC Portuguese watches, ZF, YL and 3A. Among them, ZF is the biggest and most famous one. Actually ZF makes the best quality replica IWC Portuguese watch, they are also the first factory that started to clone genuine IWC Caliber. Like this replica, ZF equipped a clone 79350 movement inside, this is a great improvement, because it is the first time for a factory to use a cloned IWC Caliber in a IWC Portuguese chrono replica watch, we only saw factories used such type of movements in IWC non-chrono Portuguese. The replica is a V2 edition, the V1 uses an Asian Valjoux 7750 movement, now the V2 uses a new clone 79350 like genuine IWC Caliber. This is the biggest difference, while there are certainly other improvement made on this latest version, let’s check it carefully in the following article.
In my opinion, the competition between them mainly comes from two products, Daytona and Sea-Dweller Single Red 126600, which are the most popular two Rolex replicas in 2019.About Daytona, it is undeniable that Noob makes the best replica, however, about this 43mm Sea-Dweller Single Red 126600, I think both have their own advantages. Noob and AR make it with 904L stainless steel, about movement, Noob has Asia 2836 and 3235 options, while AR factory only has Asia 2824 movement option. AR factory unveiled the replica 126600 earlier than Noob, now the version of 126600 from AR is V3.Both factories make the same case size, which is 43mm in diameter and 14mm thick. However, about the case finish, I think AR factory is better. All clients of mine who bought this 126600 said that the AR 126600 gave them a real feeling when they firstly touched the case and bracelet. Every corner of the case is polished by skilled master, the case of ARF 126600 is completed to be perfect.The bezel uses ceramic insert on both factories. About bezel tooth, AR is a bit sharp, while Noob’s is a bit smooth and has a better touch. The sharp of each tooth on Noob 126600 has a rounded chamfer polishing, so these teeth feel smooth. About the bezel pearl, it looks a little greenish, while Noob’s looks more white, the bezel pearl of AR 126600 is closer to genuine. The inlaid method of the bezel pearl is also different, Noob sticks it with glue, while AR inlays the pearl into, if you check the Noob 126600 carefully, there is glue mark around the bezel pearl, while AR’s is very clean. Because the installation of bezel pearl is different on both factories, Noob’s is a bit higher than its edge around, while AR’s is correct, the same as genuine, it will also not easily fall off. About bezel engravings, AR 126600’s are deeper than Noob’s, because Noob’s bezel engravings are shallow, the platinum coating is exposed to dust and sweat on your hands, so the white coating will easily become black. While the bezel engravings on AR 126600 are much deeper, they can avoid the contact with hand sweat, so after a long time wearing, they still look very clearn. So, about the bezel finish of 126600, I think AR wins.I can hardly find difference. Both Noob and AR have made a good dial. About the letters below red “SEA-DWELLER”, AR’s are slightly plump, while Noob’s are a bit thinner. The lume coating on the dial is a little yellowish on Noob, while AR’s is very clearn.On the side of the helium valve button, Noob has a qr code sticker, while AR factory does not have. Noob makes it correct.
Case lugs have a curved line so the whole case can fit your wrist very well. Do not worry that the rose gold tone will fade, it will not because the rose gold coating is so thick. After many years of wearing, you can send the watch to us, we can do rose gold plating for you in factory. Bezel is real black ceramic with rose gold markings. On solid case back, the center is brushed while the round edge is polished. The back of each lug is engraved with some symbols, I do not know them.Rose gold dial has Swiss lume applied on hour markers and hands, there will be a strong blue lume effect in the dark. The sunray rose gold dial has a high quality texture. Three subdials have their correct function, small seconds subdial is positioned at 6 o’clock, the small dial at 3 o’clock is for 30-minute chronograph, while the small subdial at 9 o’clock is for 12-hour chronograph. These subdials are all working right. In details, they have rose gold edge with black circles on the center.The replica Rolex Daytona watch is equipped with a black leather band, which is made of genuine alligator leather. The leather strap has a rose gold buckle, there is a delicate Rolex Crown on the buckle. When opening the clasp, you will notice the engravings are perfectly done by the factory. By the way, the watch has a water resistant depth of 50 meters.Rolex only published several pieces Daytona watches for women, but every Daytona watch they unveiled is very suitable for women to wear, I do not think Rolex Daytona is exclusive for men. Under current trend, the Daytona, whose case diameter is up to 40mm, looks neutral and is a nice choice for women. Daytona is the only model of Rolex that has a chronograph function. It is only in 40mm and does not have other options, except some vintage models like Paul Newman Daytona. Among all Rolex models, the popularity of Daytona is close to Submariner.Due to its high popularity, Daytona is also highly welcomed in replica watch industry, it is replicated by a lot of watch manufacturers. Different factories make different quality of Daytona replica watches. The general rule is small factories make low quality Daytona replicas, while big factories make high quality ones. However, I do not recommend you to buy the most expensive replicas, you need to find the right one. Sometimes the watch is not very stable even you spent more than $600 USD on it, from a big factory such as Noob, ARF, etc. But sometimes a replica watch from a common watch factory can serve you for years. This situation always happens, some clients also complained that their expensive watches have issues only after several months. I must say this situation is common, you just need to find a right watch supplier who could do a careful quality control before shipping your order.
YL factory makes good quality replica IWC watches like Z factory, while YL is not as popular as ZF because they do not make other brand replicas like Panerai, Tudor and so on. This IWC Big Pilot watch is introduced in the latest 2018 SIHH, it integrates all functions you want in a watch. Some people said there are too many windows on the dial, which have destroyed the balance of watch beauty, but I think it is more practical with these functions. On the replica, it has the same functions as real watch, month, date, week, power reserve, they are all real. By the way, the 7-day power reserve is working the same as genuine watch, but the replica does not have that long power reserve, the clone movement only offers 3-days power reserve capacity, but that has already been amazing for a replica, because in the past it is not able for a watch factory to make such a replica with a long power reserve due to technology limited.
