They’re all made in the same place, you’d be a mug to pay full price.
All someone does is take the Chinese wheels, slap a name on them and sell them for 4x the price.
Right?
I've heard these phrases said a lot. In person, and reading comments on Facebook and Instagram. There are actually a lot of people that will go to great lengths to argue this. Well, like all great balls of bullshit, there is a small kernel of truth in the middle of it.
Let us explore it in the terms that someone who loves watches will understand.
Hugo Boss are a massive fashion brand, and they make some fantastic clothes. I have some myself, as they fit me nicely, and the styles and fabrics are nice. They also sell accessories, including watches. This is one of their nice looking examples, for £379.
What movement does it have? It will have a non-descript quartz movement from whoever they can get to supply it cheaply. The movement itself inside will cost pennies, and they’ll just ask a manufacturer to slap their name on it. Then they’ll mark up the price significantly, it probably costs them £10 from the supplier, who probably provides them for a dozen other brands that sell watches.
The reason being that Hugo Boss don’t make watches, they never have. They just need to have the relevant accessories for sale that their customers may want to go along with an outfit. It’s not the core focus of their business, it’s just an up-sell.
Sound familiar?
When you buy wheels from reputable firms in the UK such as Khan, or Overfinch, or Urban, Or Revere, or Twisted, or Mulgari, it is exactly the same thing. They don’t make wheels, they provide a service supplying and fitting parts to improve the look and performance for their customers. Let’s leave taste out of things for a moment.
Those companies will do exactly the same. They want wheels to sell for their customers, they can’t and won’t make them for themselves, so they buy them from a company that will make something to their design for a low cost. I’m quite sure all these companies go to Chinese manufacturers with their own designs. Who cares if they’re multiple kilograms heavier, the owners certainly won’t know or care.
So, does that mean that if Hugo Boss buys their cheap movements from wherever, that all watch manufacturers are the same?
Of course not!
Rolex, IWC Schaffhausen, Patek Philippe, Audemars Pigeut, Omega, to name a few. They all make their own movements in house, because they’re watch manufacturers! They’re expensive, but they’re super high quality, and they have had a lot of years of manufacturing experience. They take a lot of time and great care to design and engineer their products to the best of their ability, and they take pride doing so. "That'll do" is not good enough.
Buying Chinese rep wheels and claiming they’re the same as a BBS/TWS/Rays/OZ, is as stupid as saying your fake Rolex bought from Walthamstow Market is a smarter buy than getting a real one, because “they’re all made in the same place”.
There is no shame in admitting that you can’t afford something. I can’t afford a GT3 RS, I can’t afford a holiday home in St. Moritz, who would think less of a person for admitting that? Only a clown would, and their opinion is not worth listening to.
So why is there such an issue with people admitting they can’t afford real wheels? People act like it’s a stain on their character, and they will come up with convoluted stories and reasons why their fake wheels from China that are 3kg each heavier and have no safety testing, are somehow a smarter consumer decision.
If some company is called “XYZ Forged”, Est. 2025, and is based out of a lockup in Romford, then yes, they’re using Chinese wheels. Wheels that have no R&D, FEM, or safety testing (I will go into that in another blog). They will have bought their wheels from a company like this, that is an old farmer’s barn filled with CNC machines. You won't see a die forge anywhere. In that instance, cutting out the aforementioned middleman is not the master stroke of consumerism that people think it is.
That doesn’t mean a company whose sole purpose is manufacturing high-quality wheels since the 1970s, is the same.
This is what a real wheel manufacturer will feature, a die forge that is compressing the wheels in the shape of the design, for optimal strength. Each size and offset will have a unique die, or mould, and a CNC machine then trims the final shape.
That logic is the same for all things. Milltek, Remus, Laptorr, Supersprint. They make exhausts in house, they don’t get them from China. There are plenty of companies re-selling exhausts though, so if you can get one direct that is rebadged then fine. But if you find a company in China making fake Remus exhausts, no they’re not the people who originally made it, it’s just a fake.
This “they’re all made in the same place” needs to stop. Defend authenticity.
