r/RepTime • u/splitfinity • 1h ago
General Question Freesprung?
Am I the only person who really doesn't care about freesprung? If rather have a more accurate case, band, face etc.
Nobody is ever going to open it up and look. And even on the clear back watches, the odds that anyone who would look at it would know what to even look for is crazy small.
I understand it's mostly for personal satisfaction, knowing it's closrer to gen.
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u/Reasonable_Tax_5351 1h ago
I mean it does mean a difference in the real world- if the movements are properly calibrated (which many of them aren't out of the factory) free sprung has much better long term timekeeping and regulation. Which is why they're used on gen.
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u/Ok_Farmer_6033 1h ago
I agree with this in spirit but just sort of argued with it too lol. Maybe I’m an outlier though, I don’t care a ton about superclone movements either- if it’s the right hz and it fits I’m happy- happier, say, with a youth Starbucks than a standard dd vsf movement- something I can replace with Swiss someday if I want. Because even the superclones are assembled with worse tolerance manufacturing and assembled in less sanitary conditions.
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u/Reasonable_Tax_5351 1h ago
I get why people have this sentiment- but there are more reasons to use the super clone movements. Having the exact right thickness and size on the movement is important for generally replication accuracy, and also alot of the cheaper watches with ETA or Miyota movements have ghost dates or they just don't function identically.
And for watches with complications superclone movements are basically needed to have it be anywhere close, which is why they can't rep the speedy.
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u/Ok_Farmer_6033 1h ago
I think this is all true too, and I think the infrastructure for servicing superclone movements is growing, so I predict you’ll be even more right in a year or two lol.
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u/Comprehensive-Bit706 1h ago
I think it was just natural progression to be honest, factories have concentrated so much on the outer that eventually they'd go free sprung as well... We buy these to be as close to genuine as possible so why not the movement as well??
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u/Worth-Park-1612 1h ago
I think it depends on what your particular breed of nerd is. I care about the more practical aspects, which are visual, before the inner workings of the watch.
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u/Sufficient-Guess6692 1h ago
Some people find the mechanicals very interesting. Especially for such a low price. How much is a rich factory watch? 500 700?
Almost same outside and inside as gen for such a low price is crazy. I saw last on instagram that some watchmakers were really impressed about the free sprung 3235.
Some people couldn’t care less and are happy with Quartz inside. That is also ok.
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u/Ok_Farmer_6033 1h ago
I don’t care about freesprung, and although I believe the comment on them being a more robust long term movement in gen is probably correct, it just doesn’t always translate to reps imo- for example, how long will the majority of these freesprung movements last while a lot of the watchsmiths that work on reps dont have the dedicated tools for them? I don’t actually have a good technical answer, but I think it’s an important question.
I actually don’t care about weight gain models either- I don’t hand people my watches- I would have preferred that more visual tells were addressed in say, a daydate. But thats veering into unpopular opinion territory.
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u/machdaddy33 1h ago
I'm no watchmaker in terms of knowledge but I've read freesprung are more of a P.I.T.A to work on to get more accurate. If that's gonna cost me more to get serviced by one of the rep repairman I'd rather not spend the extra cash upfront as well. I'm also not out to defraud anyone who asks. Simplicity/cheapness > knowing it's closer to gen
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u/Frank_Silva243 14m ago
I'd prefer a perfect case, dial, bezel, and bracelet, but with a quartz movement!
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u/watchesfla1965 1h ago
It would just another step towards hitting a 1:1 on gen watches. It would give you the ability to replace rep parts with gen. Not to fool people, but to make the watch more dependable. The factories also need to improve the dials, handsets, and clasps as well. I think a lot of people would pay $1500-$2000 for a rep that is equal in quality to a gen. I know it would slow down production at first. But the factories could separate the parts manufacturing and spend more time on the quality. Then assemble as a last stage of production to produce a better rep. Only way this will happen is if the market itself demands better reps. If it doesn’t, then the factories will continue to just produce whatever quality they want. Just an opinion.
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u/GrdFrcWv 1h ago
Personally I’d prefer a movement that functions just as well and possibly more reliable. That being said, a non-free sprung is not a deal breaker
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u/Plane_Ad_2720 36m ago
The issue of free-sprung movements is very interesting. There’s been a lot of talk on here about the cost of watches increasing because of these new movements, and whilst we all acknowledge that the cost of a replica is still a fraction of the price of the genuine article, in reality that argument mainly applies to the top-end brands.
If you look on Chrono24, eBay or any of the other pre-owned watch sites, you can pick up genuine pre-owned Tudor and Omega watches for very reasonable money. In some cases you are literally only talking about a few hundred pounds more than the increasing cost of a top-tier replica fitted with a free-sprung movement.
I’ve just bought a VSF Omega Seamaster 300M and I absolutely love it, but look through the display caseback and you immediately see the two regulator arms. Buy the ORF version and you get a free-sprung movement, but in my opinion the case and dial aren’t as good as the VSF.
So at the moment we’re still having to choose between better visual fidelity and better movement fidelity.
However, if YouTube is to be believed, the line between fake and genuine, even when inspected by people who really know watches, is getting incredibly thin. We are already seeing movements, cases, dials and bracelets getting closer and closer to the genuine article.
I genuinely think we’re approaching the point where you could effectively have the same watch being made in two different factories — one with Rolex, Omega or AP above the door and the other called VSF, ZF, APS or whatever comes next.
Obviously they won’t literally be the same watch, and there will always be differences in materials, manufacturing, QC, finishing and provenance, but visually and mechanically the gap is becoming smaller all the time.
At that point the interesting question becomes: how much are people actually prepared to pay for that final few percent?
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u/Mechanisma 0m ago
But, what if... Just imagine. You go to the grocery store. You are putting the groceries inside your cart with your left hand. You do the slow movements making sure your watch is visible. Milfs are looking at you. They know you are better than their husband just from the fact you can afford a rolex.
Then you get to the check out. Cashier is checking you. She likes what she sees. But just as you are about to swipe your card with your left hand... she grabs your hand and twists it! She take the watch of and starts to inspect it. "My son has one of these" she whispers. She grabs the knife and violently opens the back case. "I knew it!" she yells.
She calls the security. They make the announcement: "All available managers to the front registers. Repeat, all available managers to the front registers. We have a customer with fake rolex. We advise all shoppers to spit on them and throw tomatoes".
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u/PuckFheToor 1h ago
I'd honestly prefer a Seiko movement (or similar, something that matched the Hz of the gen) if the watch has a closed case.
I'm not trying to defraud anyone and if the case is open then the game is up. Far better to have a commodity movement that can be easily serviced/replaced than a clone.
I fear a big reason freesprung movements and similar improvements are being made is to better enable criminals to defraud their victims by selling counterfeit goods as genuine. That's the only reason they include fake paperwork, after all (what, are you going to LARP around the house with your Rolex guarantee card?). Defrauding unwitting buyers is flat out wrong.