Published comparisons and guides
VSF vs Clean Plus
What happened to Clean Factory, what Clean Plus actually is, and the details buyers argue about — movement and crystal against case shape, SEL fit and bracelet feel.
Read →VSF vs Victory Factory (VF)
VF is a newer line reported to build its GMT on Clean's parts supply with the DD3285 — and the two names are one letter apart, which is where the confusion starts.
Read →Reading movement codes
What the DD and VS designations across our catalogue mean, which references use which calibre, and what we deliberately do not publish.
Read →How to read any factory comparison
Factory comparison threads are useful and they are also, frequently, wrong in ways that are not obvious from inside them. Four things worth checking before you let one change your mind:
- Who wrote it. The most detailed side-by-side we have read in this niche recommended a replacement bezel and was written by a seller of that bezel. It may still be accurate — but you are reading a shop window, not a lab report. The same caution applies to anything written by us.
- How many watches were on the table. Most comparisons are one unit against one unit. In a market where the recurring complaint is a crooked marker or a visible lug gap on one watch out of several, a two-watch comparison cannot tell you about the line — it tells you about those two watches.
- When it was written. Factories revise parts quietly. The crystal on one line is described as updated in one thread and fielded as a lottery in the next, because both were true in different months. A comparison without a date is a comparison without a context.
- Which reference. The verdicts flip by model. A comparison about a Submariner is not a verdict on a Datejust, and an 11-series verdict is not automatically a 12-series one.
What we will and will not put in a comparison
We will tell you what buyers report, name where it came from, and say when the threads contradict each other — because they usually do.
We will not rank factories by reliability, quote a specification we have not measured, or publish a "winner" for a comparison involving watches we do not sell. If that makes our comparisons quieter than other sites, it is also why the numbers we do publish — the factory line, reference and movement for every listing — are ones you can check against the item in front of you.
The comparison that actually decides it
Every order here is photographed and filmed before dispatch, and the watch ships only after you approve that specific watch. If unit-to-unit variation is the biggest variable in this market — and the buyer threads say it is — then the useful comparison is not VSF against Clean Plus. It is your watch against the QC photographs of your watch, which is a comparison you get to repeat until you are satisfied. The QC process is set out here.
Questions buyers ask about comparisons
Straight answers, no filler.
Do you rank the factories?
No. We publish one factory line — VS Factory — and we have not measured other factories' watches on a bench ourselves. A ranking without our own measurements would be marketing dressed as information, so we do not publish one anywhere on this site.
Which factory is the best?
Anyone answering that with a single word is guessing about at least some of the models you care about. The buyer threads that compare factories split by reference: the same two lines trade places depending on whether the case is an 11-series or a 12-series, a Submariner or a Datejust. Decide per model, and weigh the details you personally care about.
Why do comparisons disagree with each other?
Three reasons, in order: some are written by people selling something, including the component being recommended inside the comparison; some compare one unit of each line and generalise from it, when unit-to-unit variation is the biggest variable; and some are comparing batches a year apart, because factories update parts without renaming anything.
What is the most reliable thing to compare?
The specific watch you are being sold, before it ships. Every order on this site is photographed and filmed first, and you approve that exact watch — which is the only comparison that involves no generalising at all.
Browse the VS Factory catalogue
Every reference is listed with its factory line, reference number and movement — and shipped only after you approve the QC photos of your own watch.
View all references