VSF Submariner 124060 No-Date Review

I see the VSF 124060 in QC threads every week. Necoclock, Steve at TheOneWatches, Andiot, GeekTime — every TD ships them. And the question that comes up most: why pay $500 for a no-date sub when you can get the dated 126610 for similar money?

Two reasons. One you can see. One you only notice the first time you pull the crown.

First click should do something

Pull the crown on a real 124060. First click moves the time. That’s it.

Now pull the crown on most replica no-date subs. First click does nothing. Empty position. You push it back in and try again at the second click.

It’s a small detail. But it tells you everything about which factory took the no-date version seriously.

Here’s why it happens. Most clone factories use one generic movement to cover their whole lineup — dated and no-date alike. The movement has a date-setting position built in. Stick it in a watch with no date and that first click becomes a useless empty slot.

VSF didn’t take that shortcut. They use the DD3230 — a movement engineered specifically to remove the empty slot on no-date watches. I’ll come back to it later.

On the wrist — 124060 sits flat

41mm case, same as the dated 126610. The only visual difference between a 40mm and a 41mm no-date sub: a tiny crown logo at the 6 o’clock position. Hold them side by side and you almost can’t tell.

Real measured diameter is 40.8mm without the bezel. Thickness 12.5mm — same as gen. The watch sits flat on the wrist, no top-heavy feel.

Weight comes in around 153g on the full bracelet. Gen-level.

Dial work on the VSF 124060

Pure black dial. Glossy lacquer finish. Dust shows easily — that’s just how lacquer behaves.

The printing is oil-press, not flat. The Rolex coronet logo has visible lift. Index markers have rounded chamfering on the edges. The “A” in “SWISS MADE” is the flat-top variant, which matches recent gen production.

Lume comes out ice blue in the dark. Slightly bluish even in daylight on the bigger plots. The lume domes sit just barely proud of the surface — not flush, not catching on cuffs.

Center pinion is solid, not hollow. Some factories miss this. VSF doesn’t.

Bezel snap — VSF nails it

Single-directional rotation. 120 clicks. Crisp, springy feedback with a clean ceramic ring on each click.

This is the fastest way to tell a VSF 124060 apart from a Clean factory 124060. The Clean version turns muffled and dead by comparison — same bracelet, same dial, but the bezel action gives it away.

The teeth on the outer edge are sharp. The chamfer running around the ceramic insert is sharp too — close to gen tolerances.

Insert markings are deep, evenly spaced. The pearl at 12 sits proud but not so much it catches lint.

DD3230 inside, the empty slot gone

This is the part nobody talks about until they’ve already owned a fake.

The DD3230 is VSF’s in-house movement for every no-date Rolex they build — 124060, Explorer I 124270, Explorer 40mm 224270, Oyster Perpetual 36/41. The DD3230 is the DD3235 with the date-setting position stripped out.

Not just hidden. Removed.

That’s the whole point. Pull the crown on a 124060 with DD3230 inside and the first click directly engages the hands. There is no phantom position. No empty travel. Just time-setting.

Specs: 70-hour power reserve, gen-matched. Bidirectional automatic winding. 27-jewel rotor bearing. Hairspring with the Parachrom blue treatment as a visual match. Lifespan we see from customer feedback runs 5+ years.

One thing most buyers don’t know: DD3235 and DD3285 movement access is held by VSF and Clean only. Every other factory claiming “Dandong inside” on a sub or a GMT is almost always shipping a relabeled Shanghai movement. DD movements cost the factory more to make — that’s why most clone makers don’t use them.

You can verify by looking at the regulator on the balance wheel. On a real DD3230, it sits at the top of the balance bridge. Shanghai copies put it at the bottom. Some upgraded Shanghai versions moved it to the top to mimic Dandong, but the engraving depth on the bridge stays shallow — that’s the tell.

Where the fakers get sloppy

Most “VSF 124060” scams aren’t about the case or the dial. The visible parts are easy enough to copy.

The give-away is always the movement.

If a seller’s “VSF 124060” arrives and the first click on the crown does nothing — empty slot — it’s not VSF. It’s a clone with a generic dated movement crammed into a no-date case. Cheaper to source, cheaper to ship, no quality control.

Same pattern with “VSF” watches priced under $400. The math doesn’t work at that level. Either it’s not actually VSF, or someone is taking your money and you won’t hear from them after the QC photos go out.

VSF 124060 price — $450 to $600 USD

This is the honest retail range I see across dealers right now. Necoclock, Steve, GeekTime, Andiot, Ficotime — they all land somewhere in this band.

The variance isn’t random. Different TDs charge different markups for different service levels. Some include insured shipping. Some don’t. Some run their own pre-ship QC, others rely on factory photos alone.

One warning. Some sellers offer “VSF 124060” at $200-300. Don’t.

The dealer cost on a real VSF 124060 sits around $400. Below that, there’s no margin — meaning the watch they’re shipping isn’t actually VSF. It’s a cheaper factory clone, branded “VSF” to bait the search. The first click on the crown will tell you everything.

These sellers run a one-shot game. Take your money, ship the cheap version, ghost you when you complain. They don’t need repeat customers because the markup is the whole business model.

Final take

If you want the cleanest no-date Submariner in the replica space, the VSF 124060 is the one to get. The bezel feel matches gen. The dial work is honest. And the DD3230 inside removes the one bug that makes other no-date subs feel like an afterthought.

Stick to the $450-$600 range. Check the first click yourself the moment you get the watch.

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