Category: Watch

There are layers of complexity. The simplest might be a simple calendar. You put the numbers 1 to 31 on a disc, stick it under the dial, add a couple of gears, make it move forward one increment per day, and you’ve got it. Nonetheless, it’s hard to mention replica Patek Philippe today without conjuring up some blue dial cliché on Instagram. What has given Patek Philippe its place in history and has remained there is its mastery of the entire repertoire of high-end and complex watchmaking. This means mastering not only all the decorative watchmaking techniques but also a profound institutional knowledge of how to handle the complexities of watchmaking.
The “Rare Crafts” exhibition for 2021 runs from June 16th to 26th in Geneva. Under normal circumstances, we would be there to cover it in person, but we’re not quite there yet in terms of travel. We can tell you, however, that Patek Philippe has used the opportunity to introduce some new replica watches at the show, including a new version of the Tourbillon of the Sky Moon, and it has also introduced three new minute repeaters…
This is very much a modern watch, albeit filtered through the more decorative lines that Patek Philippe has tended to steer in recent years in terms of case design. But if you’re interested in mechanics, you can’t do much better. The back of the watch gives you a good view of the minute repeater action, but what you see on the dial side is something you don’t normally see.
When this fake watch was introduced in 2016, it had a platinum case with a black enamel dial. The new version is a white gold case with a blue enamel dial. I’m a big fan of platinum minute repeaters because platinum is generally a very tough material to use for chiming complications. In white gold, with a blue enamel dial, it’s classic Geneva watchmaking with the emphasis on classic – discrete, quiet beauty that you don’t look at more than once unless you already know what you’re looking at.
Flinqué is an enameling technique in which translucent enamel is covered with guilloché or a machine-turned dial. Guilloché is more often found now than it was ten or fifteen years ago – Breguet, for example, is famous for its guilloché dials. It is an interesting craft technique because it requires both a very specific type of machine tool and considerable manual skills. The machine that did the guilloche was called a rose machine and was not made at all for decades; until today, some of the machines used for high-end replica watches are antique, with decades of use and very careful maintenance.
It is great to see this movement and this model return in any way. It’s not the most obvious technical piece from Patek Philippe at the Geneva Rare Crafts Show, but of all the watches they announced, it’s very close to the one I’d most like to have in my collection.

Since Baselworld did not take place this year, many of the watch industry’s top brands joined Watches & Wonders as a means of debuting their new products. As usual, Rolex’s new products tend to get most of the attention on the first day of the event, but a number of other brands also unveiled some truly noteworthy luxury watches that will join their respective lineups in 2021.  
More than thirty of the world’s top luxury brands have unveiled their new models on the Watches and Wonders Geneva digital platform, and while the Geneva event is entirely digital, there will be a limited live event in Shanghai from April 14-18 where people can experience the new fake watches in person and see them in their metallic glory.
In the weeks leading up to Watches & Wonders, Patek Philippe announced that it would be discontinuing the extremely popular stainless steel Nautilus 5711. Prior to its discontinuation, the model was easily one of the most popular replica watches in the world, with a reportedly decade-long waiting list for retailers.
Although the Patek Philippe Nautilus stainless steel model 5711 has been discontinued, Patek Philippe will continue to produce it. 5711 has been discontinued, but the brand is bringing back its fan-favorite with a striking olive green dial, which can only be described as a lap of its success. Patek Philippe is offering new green dial references to the 5711 as standard or with diamond-set bezels, and there are rumors that these models will only be in production for about a year. Given that there has been a 10-year waiting list for the recently discontinued blue dial models, we can assume that almost all of these new green dial Nautilus watches have been claimed.
Panerai also debuted some new Luminor models at this year’s watch show. Panerai has an extremely consistent design language, and almost all of the brand’s watches fall under the Luminor or Radiomir collections. However, when it comes to materials, Panerai is a major innovator and, in addition to the usual choices such as stainless steel, titanium, and ceramic, the brand produces a number of options that are entirely proprietary to its replica watches.
There is also a new Panerai Bronzo with a blue dial that has the bold aesthetic of the Bronzo, but with a smaller case diameter of 42 mm. A favorite, the Panerai Bronzo was one of the first big-name luxury watches to feature a solid bronze case – a trend that has become an industry-wide trend.

With 2020 now officially behind us, it is time to turn our attention to the new year and what luxury watch trends might be on the horizon. The watch industry is notoriously slow-moving – most modern mechanical movements are still based on a technology that is more than a couple hundred years old – however that doesn’t mean that things are not always changing and advancing within it.   
Seldom is a trend confined to a single year within the cheap watch industry, and many carry over from one year to the next. In truth, these “trends” actually reflect the real-time changes in both consumer and manufacturer preferences, and sometimes these can remain remarkably constant over time – just like how cheese pizza will likely always be popular. So, what are the luxury watch trends for 2021?
Stainless steel Rolex sports models are a staple of the luxury watch world and this is not something that is likely to change very soon. Iconic, durable, and more than capable of lasting multiple lifetimes, they are often considered the ‘blue-chip’ investments of the replica watch industry, and the overwhelming global demand for them virtually guarantees their continued popularity well into 2021 and the years beyond.
Given that most models have lengthy waiting lists at retailers around the world, virtually all stainless steel Rolex sports watches are incredibly popular and will likely remain popular into 2021. The Daytona and GMT-Master II are two of the most popular Rolex models currently available, but our top pick for 2021 is the Rolex Submariner collection. Given that the Submariner just got a complete update in 2020, many individuals are looking to add one to their collections, and both current-production models and discontinued references are likely to be really so popular in 2021.
Gold watches have never been flat-out undesirable (after all, they are made out of solid gold); however, their popularity has fluctuated over the years depending on both the price of gold and general fashion preferences. With that in mind, much of the watch collecting world’s attention has been fixed firmly upon stainless steel watches over the last decade or so, and it has only been within the last few years that gold watches have really started to experience more resurgences in popularity.
As we enter 2021, the price of gold remains extremely high, and with prices for stainless steel luxury watches, and gold watches are starting to offer a lot of relative value for the additional investment that is required to obtain them. When it comes to gold luxury replica watches, arguably none are more iconic and instantly recognizable than the Rolex President, and this legendary model stands to be among the most popular collections from the brand on the pre-owned market in 2021.

At first glance, the watches look almost identical. And that’s pretty much true since both of these are Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 watches from the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, there is one unique difference between the two watches – the dial. Here we will compare the tritium and rail dial ref.1665 this is only a few years apart and the key details. Let’s take a closer look!
This is not a fancy name for a dial design, but an indicator of an important dial element. Tritium, a luminous material used in these early ocean dwellers’ best replica watches, is actually radioactive. So, to determine how much of this potentially dangerous substance was used, Rolex used a code on the dial to represent it. You can always identify a tritium dial by the “T” mark at the bottom, under the 6 o ‘clock mark.
Moreover, some later-era service dials are marked with ‘T Swiss T <25’ but they actually feature LumiNova on their hour markers. To be clear, ‘SWISS’ can also indicate radium, but this was only used on watches in the early 1960s, and the Sea-Dweller was not released until 1967.
While there are so many different dial variations for the Rolex Sea-Dweller 1665, the Rail Dial is incredibly rare since it was only produced for two years. Between 1977 and 1979, the ref. 1665 could be found with a particular feature that involved the ‘Superlative Chronometer’ and ‘Officially Certified’ lines of text that appear above the six o’clock hour marker. 
You see, if you look closely at the image above, you’ll notice that the ‘C’ in both ‘Chronometer’ and ‘Certified’ line up almost perfectly. Take a look at the Tritium dial below for comparison and you’ll see they’re not in line at all. They are almost parallel on this dial (kind of like the rails on a train track), hence the ‘Rail Dial’ nickname. These wines are hard to find today, both because they are old and because few were made.
Now, if you keep looking at the six o ‘clock position in the figure above, you’ll notice that this dial also has a tritium mark. Therefore, all rail dials are actually tritium dials. However, not all tritium dials are rail dials.

Working in this industry, we often hear the question “if I could only spend money, what watch should I buy?” There are a lot of factors to consider, and one person’s answer may not be everyone’s answer, but it’s still an interesting game.”
To make things more interesting, we don’t focus on a particular brand or type of watch. We’re also making some cohesive choices so that if someone wants to build a reliable five-watch line, they can do it from this list and end up with a fairly comprehensive luxury replica watch portfolio. 
A new arrival in the shop and a watch that we’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for, the Tissot Heritage Navigator is a very unique vintage-style world timer from the cheap Swiss brand. It’s based on a model from way back in 1951, and even brand-new it was a wonderful value proposition. This particular model adds a very legible vintage-style dial and casing, powered by the ever-reliable ETA 2893-3. At 43mm across, it’s a bit on the large side, but it safely dances the line between dressy and casual; a strap change would make a world of difference, and a NATO strap would quickly take it from collared shirts to a t-shirt and shorts look.
The great thing about this piece is that even if it’s meant to commemorate an anniversary for the Williams F1 team, you wouldn’t know this unless you flipped the best watch over and read the details on the case back. To the rest of the non-F1 fan world, it’s just a sharp steel chronograph with a black dial and subtle blue accents.
So, we opted for the Blue version, as it has always been an unsung hero alongside the classic red, the bronze, the GMT, and of course the more compact Black Bay 58. The blue hue is as much reminiscent of vintage Tudor snowflake divers as it is a nod to the faded ghost bezels often seen on vintage Submariner references. 
At this price point, we must add another icon to the list- enter the Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch. The Speedmaster has a legacy that rivals the Rolex Submariner and Daytona. It is not difficult to write its legendary status off as just hype, but the watch was the official go-to for NASA. In this instance, the hype is well deserved.
Speedy Pro is still standard equipment for U.S. astronauts operating outside the international space station. There must be a Rolex at the top of this list of luxury replica watches, and while there is ample supply in the category, we decided to choose a modern model for this last position. Oyster’s 36 white grape dial is one of the few color watches released in the Rolex oyster permanent collection over the past decade or so, and a combination of smooth bezels, 36 mm cases and a color dial make it slightly retro in feel on the wrist.

The Oris grand Crown, which first appeared in 1938, is characterized by its highly visible dial and oversized crown twists. These features are aimed at pilots because the large winding crowns make them easier to operate and they wear thick gloves. Today, the modern Oris Grand Crown range includes a variety of models; But all the dials are clearly discernible, with huge spiral crowns, like the first models from the 1950s.   
While the Big Crown collection contains a number of vintage-inspired watches such as the Pointer Date lineup, it also is home to a range of modern pilot’s replica watches that take the defining elements of the Big Crown collection and re-imagine them for the modern era. These Oris Big Crown ProPilot watches often feature utilitarian designs, and just like the rest of Oris’s lineup, most can be bought for rather below $5,000.
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot range features standard time and date watches, alongside other models with chronographs or GMT complications. Apart from that, there are even certain Oris Big Crown ProPilot models that feature built-in analog altimeters for a truly special and purpose-built package.
Oris actually has two different incredibly popular fake watch collections. While the Divers Sixty-Five is a vintage-inspired line of timepieces, the Oris Aquis collection is a series of highly-capable professional dive watches with a distinct and totally modern aesthetic.
The Oris Aquis collection covers a huge range of sizes from 36.5mm all the way up to 48mm, and it consists of simple time models along with others that feature chronographs and GMT complications. What’s more, there are elegant Oris-Aquis models that are set with diamonds, and even some that feature an innovative analog depth gauge built into their sapphire crystals that allows water to enter and be read against a scale printed along the periphery of their dials.
With the exception of the models that are either set with diamonds or feature solid 18k gold cases, nearly all Oris Aquis models can be bought for less than $3k. Besides, on the secondary market, you can even find the simple time and date Oris Aquis models fitted with rubber straps for under $1,000 with a little bit of searching. Given their performance-oriented design, the Oris Aquis models are some of the brand’s best-sellers, and the range is the first choice for those seeking a modern luxury replica watch at an affordable price.

Oris is still one of those amazing underdog brands in the watch collecting world. Sturdy construction, particular design, and meaningful value are all hallmarks of the brand, whose catalog mostly runs in the sub-$5k price bracket. Whether you like watches, pilot watches, timers, or replica watches, there is a choice, and often a variety. Today, let’s take a look at the diver and four watches that will impress even those more familiar with the luxury watch industry.
That’s just the thing with Oris, they operate in a special window of price and general market position. Though affordable, they aren’t a big mass-market fashion brand selling themselves on a logo. Nor are they trying to become a great luxury brand, but they have wisely chosen their sources of manufacturing, finishing, and parts suppliers so that they can still offer quality and value to collectors who want to get rid of the first or second automatic watches. As you’ll see below, these Oris watches aren’t the kind of things that just blend into the background.
Relatively speaking, its design is quite close to the original, other than an increase in case of size up to a still-compact 40mm diameter, and the repositioning of its date window down to the six o’clock location – a common design choice that you’ll see in many Oris models. Its large screw-down crown, aluminum bezel insert, slender case profile, and domed sapphire crystal all add to its vintage charm, while its 100m water resistance ensures that it can handle any water-going activities.
This special version stands out from the pack, being a rather rare “lefty crown” configuration. Designed for left-handed folk who prefer wearing their replica watch on their right wrist, these pieces can also appeal to right-handed people, as they can be worn on the left with a looser fit without having the crown dig into your wrist.
Stepping it up both in size and complication, the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge is unique in that it’s one of the very few mechanical fake watches to feature a built-in depth gauge. To execute this, Oris stepped up the Aquis case size to 46mm, but thanks to its lug design the piece does not feel as overbearing as one would think. This is an interesting topic rather than a practical tool, but an entertaining diver can surely use it for the next time they fetch water.
Now, it’s not for people with weak wrists, but here we have the mother of all the Oris diving watches. She is a beast.51 mm titanium case with bracelet, safety locking bezel, screw under crown and push, diving extension bracelet clasp, 1000 m water resistance, helium escape valve – this is the peak level diving watch features in a surprisingly affordable package.

Maybe I’m going color blind, maybe it’s becoming more common — anyway, I’m seeing more and more panda dials on my wrist. Actually, who am I kidding? It’s definitely a trend, one that comes from the overwhelming retro onslaught that has dominated replica watch design over the past decade or so. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a panda dial is a white dial with a black subdial, similar to a panda.
Yeah, we had to include this. The latest gen-Daytona is still one of the hottest properties in replica watches, even though it was launched in 2016. And while we’re fully aware this model is stretching the panda definition thanks to its black rim only sub-dials, thanks to fake Rolex’s huge panda legacy we can’t include it.
So two of the three sub-dials are a panda, which is pretty good for us. Plus, the size, style, and unimpeachable history of this anniversary Seiko make it an obvious choice in this line-up.
You can’t have a list of racing Chronos and not include TAG Heuer. And the Autavia Jo Siffert Collector’s Edition, an exceptionally limited edition put together by Calibre 11, is one of the best in the business.
Tissot is another brand with a proud motorsports heritage, and this cushiony panda is an especially hot take on the genre. Cherish those highlights! 
Finally, the first, El Primero, was Zenith’s homage to its pioneering high-beat automatic chronograph, with a sleek case shape that matched the sleek dial and was a perfectly positioned panda.

The Bob’s Watches vault is like an adult candy store for people who love watches. We can buy all kinds of things here, from brand new luxury watches to vintage watches, and all kinds of collectibles. Today, we’re going to highlight the vintage watches that everyone on Bob’s team loves to talk about. Once you have a look at it, you will be fascinated by it. Friendly reminder: shop rationally.
Rolex’s Submariner is one of their most popular models for obvious reasons. This watch is cool and durable. The number 5513 was so popular that it has been in production for a long time, in part because of the watch’s natural affinity. The ref. 5513 has been in production for nearly 30 years, making it one of the most common vintage Rolex sport watches on the market. However, we have a special watch in this line that will make you want to invest in one anyway.  
Let’s start with the bezel, which you might give a second look. In the industry, we call it the “ghost” bezel, and its unique fade finish naturally occurs from years of wear. Despite its “worn” look, the ghost bezels are indeed popular among collectors, and the nice lighter blue/gray color of the bezels is a huge advantage. Most importantly, it’s a fat font with a “kissing 4” bezel that makes it even more collectible. Look at the Mk1 tritium meter – the first dial you’ll notice that those wonderful creamy lume plots have also aged for years. If you want to buy a one-of-a-kind vintage submarine, this is your best choice.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when the GMT Master was a relatively new watch, Rolex made it with a glossy dial with gold-plated lettering. Because these “gold-plated” dials were only used in the early days of the GMT Master, they have become increasingly rare and popular over the years. The replica watch shown here was released in 1966. It was actually made in the last set of GMT masters watches, which come with these shiny gold dials.
But aside from the fact that it has a unique dial, we can’t ignore the fact that the markers have aged to an incredibly creamy-yellow color that has collectors swoon. Of course, we know and love its iconic red and blue Pepsi bezels. While many vintage watches (especially sports ones) will show some stretch in their bracelets, this only shows how much fun they have been over the years.
You’ve flipped, haven’t you? There is a vintage Daytona on any collector’s list – but Paul Newman’s Daytona is the real holy grail. Demand for Paul Newman’s Daytona watch only grew after it sold for $17 million in 2017. But don’t let their high prices scare you away, as these vintage watches are an investment in your bank account and your heart.
How can you not love this new three-color Paul Newman dial? Condition is everything to these replica watches, and in this example, all the lume plots are complete, the original bezels wear minimal, and its tritium handset matches perfectly. In a way, the stainless steel case seems slightly polished, but with the rest of the watch in such beautiful and undamaged condition, the s vintage Rolex Daytona still has great value — and some serious investment potential.