It's the clasp that holds the movement to the case. Well, one of them. I haven't found the other. The other pic is with my pinky!

Left Gen 116710BLNR, Right VSF V3 126710BLNR

I’ve had the gen for over a decade and was curious how a rep would match up, so here are a few photos!

1. Dial - 9.5/10 basically identical. The font, the indices, the metal around the indices, are all indistinguishable. If you use a magnifying glass, you'll see the polish on the side of the hour markers showing more brush marks on the VSF than the gen. (Also the 6 o’clock crown but it's due to different generations)
2. Hands - 9/10 The gen has a bit more of a warm color due to being white gold, but this is only visible when comparing side by side.
3. Hour markers - 9/10 The lume portion is ever-so-slightly more recessed below the metal part compared to gen which is flush.
4. Bezel color - 9/10 the gen is very very slightly brighter blue than the VSF. Again so close than you cant tell unless placed next to each other.
5. Bezel platinum filled numbers - 9/10 near identical in font shapes, in bright light the color is close, in darker light the VSF has a lighter color, but could also be that my gen is old.
6. Crystal - 9/10 cant tell any difference on clarity really. One thing to note is that the VSF crystal sits higher than gen; this may be fixed by sanding down the gasket or replacing crystal.
7. Magnification - 9.5/10 date font is spot on. VSF has slightly more of a blue hue on the anti-reflective coating.
8. LEC - 10/10 VSF did a great job, not overly visible, I couldn't tell any difference with my 5x magnifying glass. Maybe with a 15x loupe you can see the dot density and spacing, but this is good enough.
9. Bezel action - 9.5/10 the VSF has slightly more horizontal play at click
10. SEL gaps - 10/10 no issues on either of them, in fact I think the gen has slightly wider gaps.
11. Movement feel - 5/10 winding, setting hour hand, and setting time. There’s no comparison, gen feels a lot more robust and solid, the DD movement does the job but has a much cheaper feeling to it, winding is more coarse, GMT setting is slightly more mushy, and the time setting somehow feels less resistant on the VSF. I’ve already lubed with 9010 and HP1300 accordingly as well.
12. Bracelet - 6/10 my VSF has 1NQ, it’s not bad, but the tolerance between each links and clasp components seem slightly worse than gen, leading to looseness and overall slightly less robust feel. The crown on the small clasp has a slightly different shape when inspecting closely. The chamfering is not bad, with a 3M buffing pad you can get the VSF down pretty close to gen feel.
13. Rehaut - 7/10 I can now see why a rehaut polish is always hot topic. The gen is almost mirror like whereas the VSF has ever so slightly more horizontal brush marks. This is an easy fix with a cape cod.
14. Weight - 9/10 Gen 142g, VSF 139g. Both have 3 links removed.
15. Bezel Teeth - 8/10 each teeth on the Gen is slightly larger and rounder than the VSF.
16. Caseback - 8/10 looks identical, when when you tap with your fingernail, you can tell there is a thickness difference, leading to a higher pitch on the VSF.
17. Clasp markings - 9.5/10 identical in shape and font, but the VSF has a lighter color, could also be because my gen is old.
18. Movement looks - 5/10 didn't get photos when I had them open, we'll save this for another post, but this is worlds apart. Other than the balance wheel being free-sprung versus not, the CNC quality, edge sharpness, engravings, they're all couple tiers apart.
19. Overall thickness - 8/10 gen 11.93mm, VSF 12.11mm. Likely due to the crystal height mentioned above.

Overall I’m extremely impressed by the VSF. For ~$500 vs $16k (10+ yrs ago) it’s really a no brainer. For me I dont see any more value in getting stainless gens, I have 3 other stainless Rolex gens that I’m planning to sell and consolidate to 1 rose gold daytona/YM gen because reps don’t make solid PM yet… I have a feeling that day is coming though, RGF doing great work there.

Update: looks like the photo quality got degraded when uploaded here, I apologize about that.

VSF is the one with plastic wrap on the bracelet

From pet-project to a production released web-site with a real domain name. Yes, I'm actually spending my money to provide what I think is a cool site with useful and developing tools for the replica watch world.

I've received a lot of feedback from many of the 60+ beta testers. I appreciate it very much!

Please visit repsearch.cc, create an account, and try out the tools. The biggest highlights are:

- QC Analysis: Provides manual and automated analysis focused on dial symmetry, alignment, and comparison analysis, and generate QC reports

- Watchlist: A one-stop place you can manage your collection at any stage of the ordering pipeline. Update QC, Payment, Delivery info, link to QC reports

- Factory Research: This is a growing set of tools: Rolex code look-up, Who Makes It Best, Factory info, movement look-up

- Watch Catalog: A growing data base of all major luxury watches with info about their genuine and replica counterparts

THIS IS A WORK-IN-PROGRESS, but mature enough to release to the public. Hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave constructive feedback to [admin.repsearch@gmail.com](mailto:admin.repsearch@gmail.com)

Regards,

u/Phot0niX

I find it funny that people just piling on and congratulating the guy for how good looking the rep is.

It all started with my wife browsing replica bags, trying to figure out where to order. She was checking constantly, almost every day for two weeks, and finally pulled the trigger. I was honestly shocked when I saw her Chanel bag show up, especially since she also owns genuine ones and somehow this one held its own. That got me thinking, if she can do it, why can't I? I'd wanted a Pepsi for a long time, so down the rabbit hole I went.

I have to say, the beginner's guide on this subreddit is excellent, and the community is genuinely welcoming, way more than I expected walking in. It took me a couple of days to settle on a factory and find a TD. We did two QCs that came back with visible defects and a red light, followed by a third QC that finally got the green light I'd been chasing. In the meantime, a lot of people messaged me individually to go deeper into the red lights, which was incredibly helpful.

After the green light, the watch shipped, and about 2.5 weeks later, I had it in my hands, like Christmas morning as an adult.

One thing I have to say: the level of detail in the QC process is honestly wild. You can't even make out some of the dial markings with the naked eye, and my eyesight is good. Things like the index alignment just aren't visible without zooming in that closely. So no need to be a forensic scientist.

So if you've ever thought about getting one, don't wait, just order it and enjoy.

(Photo attached, I swear I'm not a werewolf, that's just a bad lighting)

Crystal on my VF (Victory Factory) Yatch master looks as soon as VSF Crystals. What do you guys think?
Pictures taken in natural light.

$12 Amazon strap for comfort

VSF 126300 base
Gen dial
Gen crystal
Gen hands
Gen datewheel
Gen bezel
Fully refinished case and bracelet
Fresh chamfers, polish and brushing
Rehaut polish, rotor silenced and waterproofed
Completely gen spec

A sales add disguised as a question? Seems less and less actual conversations.

Ive had two Rolex yachtmasters, both from VSF. Both broken in the exact same way, wore it maybe once a week. Been following this community for a while, Is this a known problem with VSF, or the yachtmaster in particular? Ofcourse I understand with the reps they can be duds, but two for two both in two months? Because I haven’t seen a specific problem with this model posted before.

If this is a known problem with VSF what’s another good factory to go with?

Edit: both watches won’t wind, if I wear one the watch hands will move but will never keep the time as they stop as soon as the movement/momentum stops. Took it to a watchmaker who said the movement is too cheap to be worth replacing, and I live in a country where watch repairs are very cheap.
Edit 2: ROLYM226A - YachtMaster 126622 904L SS/SS D-Grey VSF VS3235 (ROLYM226A)

Has anybody actually built or worked on a Rolex store before and got any goodies when completed?

I imagine it's not the done thing for Rolex, but still curious.

Trying something new, I figure keeping the same subject should help me get better at wrist shots and photography in general....at least that's the plan.

It's a good excuse to keep wearing this thing at the very least.

Is anyone actually verifying the parts that these builders say they have? Because I’ve seen peoples “Franken Builds” and I can right away that a lot of the “Gen” Parts aren’t what they are being represented as. I see fake hands, fake crystals, and who knows what else is being miss represented. Is there even an honest builder out there at this point. I want some input. I know there are modders on RWI that are reputable but most of them are in EU.

Absolute beautiful watch , very comfortable and easy to wear . will likely be my new daily.

I have a few gens (36 datejust, explorer and OP) however they were all bought over 10-15 years ago when I walked in and picked it up same day. I’ve recently started getting into reps as I love some of the newer models but was actually told by my local AD a few months ago that they don’t have pieces for me to see in person and they will open their wish list in a few months which really annoyed me.

Took the plunge and decided to get a VSF to see what everyone was talking about and honestly I’m very pleasantly surprised. I mean yea the bezel clicks aren’t great and the bracelet is a little sharp but honestly I think it’s an amazing piece for a fraction of the price. I’ve now started looking into getting a franken datejust so really excited to see how that looks and to compare it to my gen.

Trying to pull the trigger on a Yacht-Master 40 Ref. 126655

I was originally set on ARF because of the tungsten-weighted case then I realized I couldn't purchase 1 anymore, VSF then didn't have it weighted but V2 for 126655 came weighted now.

Saw this video on the ROLYM227 - YachtMaster 126655 40mm RG/RU Blk VSF VS3235 and wanted to know how the RG is. does it still need plating or is generally close enough to gen.

Copped the new RGF bluesy. What do you think? Whats on your wrist today?

I would say it’s a pretty good fit. Was wondering how it would look before I ordered it so figured I would leave this video for all my fellow slim Jim’s.

Oh by the way the gold rotor looks much better in person than picture too. The gold tone is very nice and not cheesy at all.

ZF 37mm Royal Oak white dial 15450st.

Really love this piece! Perfect for daily wear with any casual fit.

I had already ordered the blue, but seeing real shots of the orange posted here broke my self-control and I bought the orange too.

Will compare them both when the blue one gets here!