First off, that reference number, 3880, pops up all over the place when you’re talking about IWC Pilot chronographs. You’ve got the classic TOP GUN, the Antoine De Saint Exupery (love that name, sounds fancy!), and the Miramar. All cool watches, all with the same basic chassis, it seems. And they all have versions floating around in the, shall we say, “replica” market.
And let me tell you, reading about these replicas is kinda wild. You see stuff like “IWC Aquatimer Chronograph 1:1,” which, come on, sounds like they’re trying *really* hard to convince you it’s the real deal. Then there’s the whole “IWC Pilot fake” and “IWC Portugieser fake” mentions. Like, duh, if it’s called “fake,” it probably isn’t coming straight from Schaffhausen, know what I mean?
I saw someone asking about a ZF 3880 coming out. ZF, from what I gather from poking around online (and I’m no expert, okay?), is a factory known for making pretty decent replicas. So, if that’s true, and a good ZF version of the 3880 is hitting the market, that means the quality is probably gonna be… better-ish? I guess. Depends on your standards, I suppose.
Honestly, the whole thing is a bit of a gamble. You might get something that looks the part from a distance, but up close… well, let’s just say the devil’s in the details. The movement, for example. The real 3880s have IWC’s own in-house calibers, the 89365 or 89361. These are supposed to be super reliable and well-engineered. A replica? Probably some generic Chinese movement. Will it tell the time? Maybe. Will it last? Who knows?
And that’s the thing that gets me. I mean, if you’re gonna spend hundreds of dollars on a fake watch, wouldn’t you be better off just getting a *real* watch from a more affordable brand? Like a Seiko or a Tissot or something? You’d get something that will last and that you can actually be proud of.
