Swiss ETA VS Asian Superclones VS Asian Clones

[Guest Malik A King]

Introduction

The proposal of this Thread is to establish what is the best choice between some current movements in the replica watches:

Swiss" ETA

New Asian Superclones

Conventional Asian Clones.

The movements which are installed in replicas that we are talking about are as follows:

Swiss" ETA

The thoughts about these movements are:

These "Swiss" movements are not really authentic NEW Swiss ETA, they are refurbished Swiss ETA movements.

These "Swiss" movements are really new Swiss ETA.

These "Swiss" movements are made with a part of authentic Swiss parts and a part of good Asian clone parts.

These movements are sold more expensive than the Asian and the question is if it is worth to pay this difference.

Many people (myself included) even say that the installed "Swiss" in replicas are worse than Asian clones at this moment. Because the Asian clone is NEW and relatively controlled but the "Swiss" has an unknown origin and age.

There are:

Swiss ETA 2836 movements,

Swiss ETA 2824 movements,

Swiss Sellita movements (They have not made a clone Sellita in China yet so the movements on sale must be Swiss)

There are also Swiss 7750 movements, Swiss 2892 movements, Swiss 2893 movements, and others...

Most of the replica watches sold with 'Swiss ETA' movements, that are priced between $200 and $300, contain 2824 and 2836 movements. Their price is not that high because of how simple the movements are, and also because about 60% of the parts in the 'Swiss ETA' are actually made in China.

There are different grades of movement available too:

plated

brand new

refurbished

used

and other grades.

Swiss Sellita movements usually cost the same price as 2824 and 2836 movements.

When choose a 7750 or 2892 movement, they are more rare and more complex, and the price is correspondingly much higher. For example, you can't buy a replica watch with a Swiss 7750 movement for under $600.

The movements like Swiss ETA 2824 or 2836 are available to buy from retailers in the USA for about $150 (from Ofrei, for example) but you can also buy them much cheaper, so don't forget you can get these movements for less than $150.

When you buy a watch sold as Swiss but you get a Clone movement, it may have happened for two reasons:

the Dealer is trying to make some extra profit because the Clone and Swiss movements are very similar (and the dealer hopes you won't notice).

or there has been miscommunication between the dealer and the factory, and the dealer made an honest mistake."

New Asian Superclones

These movements are the last generation of Asian clones, they have a good price and, besides, they have seemingly a very good quality. The accuracy of these Superclones to the gen Swiss ETA is very good. And seemingly all the parts are interchangeable.

Please bear in mind the last words of Smidsy in his thread:

The movement I got could have been the best or worst in a bunch and we have no way of knowing. Please bear in mind that these are my opinions of the movement I reviewed".

Threfore we must be cautious.

Just read these threads and judge by yourself. Asian Superclones maybe a new possibility!

Conventional Asian Clones

These movementes were and are considered until this moment the best choice: reliable, precise enough, cheaper and…NEW.

Most of fans at this moment think that this is the best option to buy.

But if you read the opinions in the above mentioned threads you could change your opinion.

Because, If we confirm that the Smidsy review is correct in the future and, besides, a big percentage of Superclones are in this way, we will have to change our thoughts and purchase decisions.

I hope in some weeks to have a lot of opinions from the members in order to obtain sound conclusions soon.

Therefore, as always, this thread is open to receive the opinions from all people.

[Elchino]

Interesting, it seems like buying a "swiss" ETA in these days is like throw a coin in the air.

[Nightwatch]

Asian ETA are the best price/quality relationship and most reliable. If it breaks or needs a service it´s easily replaceable for another Asian ETA, Sellita or Swiss bought from Cousins, O.Frey or another source.

[panerai153]

1. There are no "cheap" 7750 alternatives. to the A7750. The Swiss alternatives are all going to cost you 300+ up to close to or above 500 USD depending on the dial/date configuration. There are no 7750 alternatives to the sec @12 that the AP ROO uses, their is and alternative movement, however it requires modifying the case to be used.

2. One of the best alternatives if your watch uses a 2824 movement, is to replace it with the Seagull ST 2130. this is a very good quality movement, definitely on par with the ETA 2824's for around 100.00 USD for a brand new sealed movement. I have two of these in AP ROO divers, and they are very accurate.

 

Personally, I would not buy a "Swiss ETA" movement in a  modern rep. Just too many shenanigans going on with these, from old worn out movements "cannibalized" from used watches, amalgam movements using some ETA parts and some Asian parts, to out  and out fraud where the movement doesn't even have any ETA parts at all. You are going to pay a premium price for something that you hope is what you paid for, but more than likely isn't. Buy the Asian movement, and if it's a watch that you like and intend to keep and wear, swap it out for a serviced ETA from a used watch, buy a new ETA, or buy one of the other brands available like Seagull, Sellita, Soprod, etc.

[droptopman]

+1 on the "Swiss" upgrade.  Been burnt twice on upgrading to Swiss.  One was mix of parts and dead on arrival and the other was a nice A2836.  Paid the up-charge for no reason.  Last two OTB reps I specifically looked for dealer who had the model I wanted with the A2836 and not the fancy super clone or Swiss versions.  Both arrived in good working order and are still keeping good time now.  On pieces that I plan to keep or if the A movement dies, I would source a gen Swiss ETA either new or from M2M sales board.