Movements

In the past five years, whether in material, finish or movement, the replica watch industry has made a big huge progress, do you agree?

Today, I will give a brief introduction of the movements used in the super clones. These movements were different from the ones used in the replicas made eight or ten years ago. Now, people are knowledgable in this field, they know every factory, their background and their famous watches models, they also know which movement is more trusted. The movements in the market are usually made by the movement factories in three places of China, which are Dandong, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

First, the movements from Dandong. Too many, there are 4130, 4131, 3235, etc. Many people know this movement factory because of the 4130 movement firstly used by Noob Factory. Now, the 4130 is being used by a lot of factories, including Clean, VS, BT, New Noob. Dandong 4131 is being used by VS and Clean. The Dandong 3235 is only used by VS Factory. Dandong 4130 is the most successful movement developed in replica watches industry, it is also the most stable chrono movement. It seems like every movement from Dandong is very stable, except the 925 and 938.

Dandong 4130
The best chrono movement in replicas – Dandong 4130

The two pictures below show the Dandong 3235 movement, also called VS 3235 or Custom VS 3235, it is only used by VS Factory, you can find this movement in their Datejust, 41mm Submariner, Oyster Perpetual, YachtMaster, Sea-Dweller. This is the best clone 3235 movement in the market, known for its high stability and long power reserve that is up to 72 hours.

Dandong 3235 Movement
Best clone 3235 movement- only used by VS

One movement from Dandong should be avoided, that is the 938, which is equipped by the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Q1372520. This replica is mainly made by two factories, AZ and ZF. Do not buy this watch, this movement will easily have issues during use. Almost every replica of this watch sold by the two factories will have movement issues.

Replica Jaeger LeCoultre Q1372520
938 movement, developed by APS, we should not buy the replica with this movement.

Another movement from Dandong is also not too stable, it is the 925, which is equipped by Jaeger LeCoultre moon phase. This replica is made by APS and ZF, a very popular watch, but its movement is even not as stable as Dandong 7750.

Replica Jaeger LeCoultre Moon Phase 1368430
Replica Jaeger LeCoultre 925 Movement

SL6000 movement from Dandong. Equipped in the replicas of IWC Portuguese 7 Days PR and Big Pilot, currently used by AZ and ZF. This movement is nice and has a power reserve of more than 50 hours. The Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve from ZF is also the replica I highly recommend, very classic.

8500 and 8900 from VS Factory, also developed by Dandong. The replicas of Omega Seamaster 150m and Seamaster 600m from VS are using these two movements, which make VS Factory famous all over the world.

P.9000. Only used on Panerai by VS Factory. 8500 and P.9000 these two movements are the cornerstone of development of VS Factory.

Next, let’s talk about the movements from Shanghai. First, it is the SH3135. There are two generations, the first generation has been abandoned, now all watches are using the second generation of SH3135. This movement has the same high stability as that of Dandong 3135.

SH3235. Except VS, other factories are all using this movement, for example, Clean uses this movement in their Datejust, 41mm Submariner and Sea-Dweller. This movement’s stability is ok, but the power reserve is around 45 hours. If you want a Submariner from Clean Factory, I do not suggest you buy the 41mm model, the 40mm Submariner with Dandong 3135 movement is a better choice, it is more cost-efficient.

Shanghai 3235 Movement
SH3235

Shanghai 7750. This is not a very good movement, but it is being widely used in the replica watches. In the past, Z Factory random used Shanghai 7750 and Dandong 7750 in their IWC Portuguese Chrono replica watches, people who got the watch with Shanghai 7750 was unlucky because this movement is not stable.

In the last, it will be a movement from Hangzhou. The movement is 72a0, which is being used in the Datejust and YachtMaster of EWE Factory. EWE modified its look to Rolex 3235. This movement is great, its power reserve is up to 60 hours. The Blancpain 50 fathoms from Z Factory also uses this Hangzhou movement.

Hangzhou 3235
Hangzhou 3235

About ZF

I have introduced the stories and development of some watch factories on my blog, including APS, Clean and 3K, a lot of people read these stories and thought they are interesting.

Clean factory: https://www.susanreviews.com/2024/02/17/the-development-of-clean-factory/
3K factory: https://www.susanreviews.com/2024/02/10/about-3k-factory/
APS factory: https://www.susanreviews.com/2024/01/26/secrets-about-aps-factory/

Today, I will give an introduction of ZF. I have talked some things about ZF in another recent post, it is the relationship between APS and ZF, please read it here, https://www.susanreviews.com/2023/12/23/the-bromance-between-aps-and-zf/. Actually I know more things about Clean, Noob, AR and other factories than ZF, there are not many stories about ZF, in the past, I always thought that ZF is a big factory because they have published replicas involving many brands, but I was wrong, ZF is not big, they are not even a watch manufacturer, they just got replica watches from other factories and put “ZF” sticker on, and then sell to their clients, so I finally understand why the watches from ZF have higher prices than other factories.

Not like the other three factories we talked before, ZF is not a watch manufacturer, however, some watches from ZF are still worth buying.

First, the IWC Big Pilot, ZF bought the watches from AZ and changed with a better dial, price is a little higher than AZ Big Pilot. Worth buying.

ZF Big Pilot

Second, the IWC Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve, this watch from ZF is equipped with a custom-made 52010 movement, which was developed by APS and is the first generation of custom-made movements in this industry, that movement has about 3-day power reserve. ZF also changed with a better dial on the Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve, and this watch made ZF well-known all over the world. It is worth buying.

ZF Portuguese 7 Days

Third, Tudor replica watches from ZF all have a great quality, they are worth buying.

ZF Tudor

Fourth, about AP Royal Oak 15400 and 15500, I always recommend ZF, but now my thought changed, you can directly buy from APS factory, because ZF also got these two models from APS, but sell them at a higher price.

Sixth, it is Patek Nautilus 5711, ZF makes the best replica in the past before 3K factory developed the super clone 324 movement. Now, besides the blue/grey dial version, the replicas of other Nautilus 5711 models, I suggest you buy from 3K.

Seventh, replica Patek Nautilus 5712, only ZF makes it and this watch is really good and the movement is very stable. Worth buying.

ZF Patek Philippe 5712

Eighth, the last two watches are Franck Muller V45 and Breguet Tradition, these two watches have a very high quality and are worth buying.

ZF Bvlgari Tradition
ZF Franck Muller V45

Secrets about APS factory

In one of my articles published in the end of last year, I talked about the friendship between ZF and APS, today, more interesting stores about APS factory will be shared.

First, have you heard of BF? I thought it was a new factory when their AP ROO Diver 15710 and 15720 firstly appeared in the market in 2021, but BF has been in the market for more than 5 years, even has a much longer history than APS, there is a relationship between APS and BF. Their bosses are cousins. BF introduced APS into this industry.

The relationship between ZF and APS is very solid, we talked about this in the article https://www.susanreviews.com/2023/12/23/the-bromance-between-aps-and-zf/. In the early time when APS just entered this market, almost all replica watches were using Asia clone ETA 2824 and 2836 movements, they wanted to use better movements to create better replica watches, so they focused on researching and developing movements at the beginning, absolutely the new movement development process is mainly completed by Chinese traditional movement factories. Take the Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve as an example, the earlier model with old movement looks werid, check the picture below.

Old Portuguese
The Portuguese with old movement

Then APS cooperated with a movement factory in Dandong and developed a new movement, after being installed, the Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve below with new movement looks very nice. At that time, APS only sold this Portuguese 52010 movement to ZF. But one or two years later, APS realized that they could not earn enough money by only developing and selling movements to other factories, then they started to sell the Portuguese 7 Days Power Reserve replica watches by themselves, with the latest 52010 movement they owned, but under another name “AZ”, someone also call it AZF, so, APS and AZ are actually the same team.

New Portuguese
The Portguese with new movement from APS

The clone IW52010 is a great success for APS, they wanted to develop another great movement now, especially after seeing the release of Dandong 4130 movement by Noob, APS took the action immediately. They also cooperated with Dandong and developed two movements in 2020, one is JL925 for the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Moonphase, the other is JL938 for the Jaeger LeCoultre Reserve De Marche. The first batch of clone JL925 movement was sold to YL factory, later APS also equipped JL925 in their replicas of JL Master Ultra Thin Moonphase and sold under name of “AZ”. Later this clone JL925 movement was also supplied to ZF and GF two factories.

Next, it is the 3120 movement used in 15400. We know 3120 was developed by JF before, but JF was closed, later the 3120 was improved by a movement factory in Shanghai. Then APS seized the opportunity and accepted all 3120 movements from Shanghai. Now we can see the 3120 in Royal Oak 15400 made by APS is very stable. Later APS offered a small amount of 3120 movement to ZF. And then APS and this movement factory in Shanghai developed the 4302 movement together, we can see 4302 is now used in Royal Oak 15500 made by ZF and APS. The last movement from APS I want to mention here is the 5134 used in Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 26574, this movement is also very stable, for AP 26574 replicas, I still recommend the ones made by APS, which are more stable than those ones just published by BBR a few weeks ago.

AP 26574 Black