Hello everyone, this is Steve. Today we made a comprehensive comparison of 116610LV from two cheap factory, GD and U1. You might know about U1 factory as many cheap models are marked that it was produced by “U1”. Actually, this ‘U1’factory is not the U1 we discussed today. In the cheap model market, after my observation and comparison, some models from GD are good.
So I made a detailed comparison for your reference, hope it will be helpful to you, my friend. Let’s cut the crap and get started!
Front Dial View and Photos by Phone
The color difference of the dial is inevitable. After all, even the dial color from Top factory, there are also differences compared to GEN. Through the comparison of the watch, the color of GD is better, the green of U1 is lighter.
Bezel Side View
For the bezel color, GD is also better, nice gloss. The green of U1 is too dim, it looks like faded, the color difference is obviously too big!
Crystal Side View
The transparency of the crystal is almost same in both factories, and they both have kit lugs treatment. However, GD’s treatment is too obvious, and the side section is actually frosted! U1 is better in this part.
Teeth Side View
The teeth shape of U1 is obviously wrong, which is completely opposite to GEN. The main cause is that the upper section is too long and the side section is too short! The teeth shape and section length of GD are correct!
Bezel Digital View
The engraved color of GD is too bright, U1 is too dull, and both are too grainy. There is no obvious winner between these two factories in this part! From the bar scale view, there is no depth for both factories, which is obviously different with GEN!
Pearl View
In terms of shape, the two factories are too full, the center and edge are too high.
The color of GD is very commendable; it is close to GEN which is jade-like white. Even many top factories are not very good in this part. The color of U1 is obviously in milky white.
Stick Side View
Neither factory does edge kit lugs treatment. The shape of GD is better. For U1 factory, the triangle scale is a bit shorter, and the difference of the stickers is obvious, the length is much shorter, and it is too wide!
Luminous Fill View
The luminous filling of the hands has a certain graininess.
The round scale of GD is also grainy, which is very good. The U1 factory is too fake, their round scale is too smooth and raised, the watch is very obvious in reality and the material looks like plastic!
Oil printing Font View
Overall, the regularity and 3D effect of GD are better. Better mimeograph means higher cost.
For U1 factory, the font at 12 is a bit off, and the ET in PERPETUAL is connected together. For this reason, I checked some other Submariners produced by U1, they have same problem. I think it should be batch issues.
Middle Axle View
The middle axle of GD is solid, which is commendable, although there is still a certain difference in shape from GEN.
The U1 is fully skeleton, and it is copper yellow which is an obvious mistake. After all, it can be easily noticed by eyes.
Window Side View
The window shape of GD is good, if the kit lugs treatment of edge is more obvious, that would be better. And there is blue light coating treatment in window.
The window height of U1 really shocked me, it is too thick! And no blue light coating treatment.
Rehaut View
The two factories are more casual in rehaut. The ROLEX of GD is actually engraved by adding outline. The font of U1 is too small, and the regularity is very bad, especially the crown logo is actually broken! Checked other watches and did not find same problem, it should be batch issues.
GD’s encoding is starts with letter‘GD’, and the encoding font space of U1 is very small.
In order to distinguish products from others, cheap factories’rehaut seems like they do this on purpose.
Crown Side View
From the second picture we can see, the shoulder pads of U1 are a bit higher.
The two factories made waterproof gaskets on the axis of the crown, which is very good.
Case Side View
There is no much difference in the shape, we could only know the tiny differences by compare the data comparison pictures at the end!
Case Back View
There is actually an engraved ‘18K’on the bottom lug of U1, which is puzzling!
Let’s look at the position marked by the red circle in the picture of U1, there is a raised circle on the bottom, and the case back is directly covered on this circle, which leads to a relatively high raised back case and increases the watch’s thickness!
Strap Details View
Both factories use 316 stainless steel, GD has a better feel and is more compact overall. The sides of the strap links are polished and it feels smooth when you touch. However, U1’s strap is looser overall and no polish treatment, it feels very scratchy.
The buckle can be fine-tuned by sliding. The inside detailed engraving of U1 is deeper, there are engraved numbers below the code position. Moreover, the side surface of the crown logo is sandblasted.
Laser crown and Luminous View
Although the shape is very different from GEN, at least both factories have laser marker, which is better than nothing. GD is a little better, U1 is more like sticking on the inside of the glass.
The luminous effect of GD is same as GEN, U1 is DARK BLUE which is really a joke.
Movement View
GD uses Japanese 8215 movement, and U1 uses Mingzhu 2813 movement, 8215 is much better than 2813 in stability, and with the use time increasing, the failure rate of 2813 is very high.
In addition, we can see from picture that GD uses a copper solid-state film(for fixed movement purpose), while U1 is a bit unkind for using a plastic solid-state film!
Data Comparison View
Note: All measurements are in a clamped state, and there may be tolerance due to slight deviations in the position of the caliper. The protective film has not been removed from either factory.
Overall, GD is definitely better than U1, including some details which GD is also doing very well. Of course, the price of GD is tens of dollars higher than U1. It depends on if you think it is worth it or not. After all, everyone cares about different parts. The most correct choice is to follow your heart.
After this detailed comparison, you guys must have a certain understanding of cheap factories’ workmanship details. Compared with top factories, there are still many deficiencies, but after all, their price is low, which is still very good for such quality.
Well, this is today’s post, thank you guys for browsing, if there are any mistakes, please correct me. If there is anything else I overlooked, you can put it up, and I will try my best to do it complementary and comprehensive, welcome to comment and exchange!
(Description: Some photos deviate from the real object due to the angle of the light. The details are mainly written in text. The size of the comparison picture is relatively large. You can download it and enlarge it for comparison.)
There is no perfect replica, only your favorite replica.
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