How Do Homage Watches Compare To Luxury Watches In Terms Of Craftsmanship?

When we think of homage watches we often think of affordable versions of luxury watches. A lot of homage watches are “heavily inspired” by luxury watches and often they are a very similar looking.

This is the appeal of homages, you can get a watch that has the look and feel of something that is a little more luxurious, but how do these two type of watches actually compare in terms of craftsmanship?

The honest truth is that they are worlds apart. These watches may look similar, but their different price points are justified and I will go through some ways that you can see the difference in craftsmanship in these watches.   

The Production Time Is Different

I think the first thing to look at is the time difference between the production of these two types of watches.

Basically a homage is quickly put together and they do not take much time at all to build, where as a lot of luxury watches are going to be slowly made by hand.

When you look at some of the high end watch companies, the number of watches they produce each year is rather small. The demand is certainly out there for these watches, but as they are all hand crafted it just takes a long time to make a watch.

Homages Are Usually Assembled, Not Crafted

A lot of the difference in production time is due to how the watches are assembled.

This sounds kind of stupid, both watches are “assembled”, so it should take the same amount of time …but it’s not quite about that.

When you look at homages, they are usually just assembling different parts together from various places. These companies buy movements from one place and dials from another and so on. Of course some of the companies produce these parts themselves, but usually one or two things are brought in from elsewhere, most noticeably the movements.

This subtle different does matter especially when you start to look at the luxury watches, where each piece is made in their own factory and then delicately put together by hand.

Of course some luxury brands do “assemble” watches and they also buy in movements from other companies, but usually the very high end watches do not do this, they hand craft every part of the watch and it does make a difference to the quality of the final watch. 

(You can read more about – Are Homage Watches Considered To Be High-Quality Timepieces?)

Fingerprints and Dirt

When you look at some of the movements inside homages, they are not great. You can often find dirt or see fingerprints and this is not what you want inside a movement.

This is normally on the very cheap watches that are not the best quality. The components are quickly put together to save time and money and this does mean they get a little sloppy.

There is also going to be less quality control, so these little mistakes are going to slip through and these movements will end up on your wrist.

This is extremely unlikely with a luxury watch where a little bit more time and care is put into keeping everything perfectly clean.     

Oiling

Movements need oil to keep everything lubricated and turning nicely, but this is another area where you can usually see the difference in craftsmanship.

I am not sure if it is just the application of the oils, or if they are using better quality ones, but in general, a luxury watch will be oiled to a higher standard than a movement found in a homage.

The low quality homages are often drenched in oil, which is not ideal. This is also usually why they end up covered in finger prints and dirt. Often less oil is better and the precision craftmanship that goes into the luxury watches makes sure that this is the case.

The Finishing Is Different Between Luxury and Homages

If I were to hand you a luxury watch and a homage, you may think they are pretty similar, but once you get a little closer you will start to see the differences in their finishing and it is clear that one has a higher level of craftsmanship than the other.

The first thing you will notice is the feel of the watch in your hand, and this is due to the finishing of the case. The luxury watch will just feel perfect, where the homage may have rough edges. Any polishing will also be done perfectly on a luxury watch, especially of any edges.

The difference here can be hard to see and feel at times, some homage watches actually have really good finishing, especially brands like San Martin, so this isn’t always a big a difference as you might think.

However, once you start looking at the dial you will start to notice the little differences and if you get a loupe out, you can really see how the craftsmanship is much higher on a luxury watch.

The first thing to look for is the alignment of everything such as the bezel and minute markers. This is often done pretty well by both types of watches, but if anything is wonky …it is going to be on the homage.

You will notice the application of lume is usually a little sloppy, or patchy on a homage and you will also see the hands can often be quite rough around the edges too. You may also see that anything that is printed on the dial isn’t of the same quality. Printing on a  homage dial can look a little rough around the edges and some of the ink can bleed out.

These are all very small differences that you can often only see under a loupe, but they are there and when you start to compare the luxury and homage you will see the difference in the craftsmanship.

You can also sometimes get dust on the dial, this is quite rare, but it does happen and when it does, it is usually on a homage.

These may all seem like tiny imperfections, but paying attention to these little details and getting them right is why there is a price difference between these watches. One is just made to a much higher standard than the other. 

Quality Control Is Much Higher In Luxury Watches

A part of the craftsmanship will see come down to quality control and a lot of what I have already mentioned is due to a lack of quality control, where little mistakes are allowed to sneak though.

In general luxury watches will have more quality checks and the expected standard and pass rate required will be much higher.

Some brands will inspect the watch at every step along the way and will demand perfection at each point, anything less than this is removed from the production line and while this can slow production down, it insures the end quality is always much higher.

You will generally find that the quality control can be a bit lax with homages, some little imperfections can slip through and these can happen at each step, which is why you end up with a watch that has a number of little issues that all compound to make the overall quality of the watch quite low.

The Accuracy Tolerances Are Different Between Luxury and Homages

As there is a general difference in the quality, it should be no surprise that there is also a difference in the accuracy between these watches.

Luxury watches can be very accurate and this is both due to the precision of their components and how they are assembled. Little things like the pivots of the cogs are just going to be made in a lot more precise way and therefore fit together with less friction, then when you add the fact that they are oiled and lubricated with a little more care it makes sense that these minute details can make the watch run smoother and therefore more accurately.

Luxury watches can also be designed in a way that just makes them more accurate and they are also regulated and tested to make sure they have very tight tolerances.

When you look at something like a Rolex it is accurate to +/-2 seconds a day, where as an NH35 that is used in a lot of homages will have a much broader tolerance like -20 to +40 seconds a day …this doesn’t make a lot of difference to your wearing experience, but at the same time that is quite a big difference in quality and that all comes down to the craftsmanship you find in luxury watches.

Blued Hands and Screws Are Different

You will sometimes see watches with blue hands and the movement may also have blue screws.

These look awesome and you will see these on both homages and luxury watches, however there is a huge difference in how these are produced.

The traditional and more complex way of producing these is to heat the hands or screws up and then quickly chill them which somehow makes them turn blue through the magic of chemistry. This is still how they are made in luxury watches, and it takes a lot of craftsmanship to get this right.

The homages tend to just coat the hands with a blue paint. It can still look good, but the quality really is not the same and is of course it going to be done by machines, rather than being handcrafted like the luxury ones.

Luxury Watches Have Perlagae

Perlage is something you will see on very high end watches and is often poorly emulated by homages.

Perlaging is when parts of the movement are decorated by with polished swirling pattern. These little circles are delicately drilled by hand and this takes real craftsmanship, one slip and the whole thing is ruined and they have to bin it and start again …this is why it is only really found in the very high end watches.

Any homage that has this done, is probably going to do it with some sort of machine and while it can look alright, the fact that it is not painstakingly done by hand does show.

Luxury Watches Have More Complications

When it comes to complications, the more complex ones are more likely to be found on a luxury watch and this is usually due to the fact that it does take more craftsmanship to make mechanical movements with these features.

Basic complications like a date function can be found on both styles of watches but when things get a little more complicated the movement’s starts to get a little crazy. If we look at something like a chronograph, this can get very complex. Most homages get around this by using a quartz movement which will help keep things simpler and also cheaper.

A lot of this does comes down to price, more than craftsmanship, but I guess they are interlinked as you do need more craftsmanship to make these types of movements, which is why they cost more.

However, I did recently see an Aliexpress watch with a tourbillion. I can’t remember if it was a homage, but it was fairly cheap compared to the usual price tag a watch with this complication would have, so maybe things are changing and we will see less differences between in this area going forward.

Luxury Watches Can Have Hand Painted Dials

Some luxury watches have hand painted enamel dials, which is pretty difficult to do. These types of dials take a long time to produce and the craftsmanship needed to make them in extremely high.

If there is one little mistake, everything has to be binned and started over. This does mean that it does take a few attempts to get things perfect, so it is maybe not the most efficient way to do things, but the end results speaks for itself.

Homage dials are only going to be printed, and they will also not be using enamel due to its complexity and the craftsmanship required to use this material.

Really it is only a very few high end watches that do this technique and that really just shows how much craftsmanship is needed, if it was easy to do, a lot more brands would be doing it.

The Diamond Setting Is Different

You can get some very high end watches that are covered in rare diamonds, which are all individually picked out for the watch. They are all the perfect size and colour and then they are placed by hand on the watch.

This takes a lot of time and skill and this is exactly why these watches are so expensive. When it comes to homages …well I will be honest, I have no idea what they are using but I am pretty certain it is not diamonds and they will probably not be set by hand too.

I imagine they are some sort of coloured glass moulded to shape and glued onto the watch, the quality and craftsmanship really is going to be day and night here, but this is to be expected when looking at a $100 and $100k watch.

If there wasn’t this difference a lot of people would be very upset with the high end brands.  

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that the craftsmanship that goes into a luxury watch is worlds apart from a homage.

I would actually say that you could take any one off the street and get them to work in a homage factory. They might need a day or two of training, there really isn’t much craftsmanship involved at all.

Then if you want to work for a luxury brand …you really need some watch making skills and you need to actually a high level of craftsmanship.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Homage Watches)