James Brittain-McVey isn’t the first perfect 1:1 Rolex super clone watches collector to say his hobby was jumpstarted by lockdown YouTubers, and the musician and watch enthusiast John Mayer.
But the latter holds a particular resonance.
“Not only is he influential to watch collectors, but when you’re a watch collector and a musician, that’s like the pinnacle of what I aspire to be,” he says.
Brittain-McVey is the founder and guitarist of the platinum-selling British pop band The Vamps, who recently celebrated a decade of being together.
His watch collection began in 2018 with a preowned AAA top Rolex Submariner replica watches, and in short order he’s built an enviable haul characterised by purchases marking key life events, watches from off-the-beaten-track brands and more Rolexes.
The 30-year-old pop star represents a fair riposte to anyone still labouring under the impression that Swiss made super clone Rolex watches are the niche interest of middle-aged men competing to outbore each other with reference numbers and Christie’s catalogues.
“Whether it’s books or cars or cheap fake Rolex watches I do think there’s a growing sense of people my age getting into things that don’t involve screens or blue light displays,” he says. “There’s a beautiful serenity to a mechanical watch.”
He talks us through his selection below.
Super Clone Rolex Submariner ref. 116610 LN Watches
“I got this in 2018. I was filming an ITV competition segment in the Seychelles – quite cringe, looking back. But I had this kind of James Bond-thing, where I thought ‘I love the idea of being able to have high quality Rolex copy watches while I’m swimming’. I didn’t care about wearing a suit with a watch. I wanted to be in the water. It was just at the point, pre-pandemic, where watches were starting [to have a much broader appeal]. The fact I was being switched on to them… there was a movement building for my generation. So, I thought, ‘I would love to buy luxury UK Rolex Submariner super clone watches’. Like, harking back to James Bond [Sean Connery’s 007 wears a Sub in Dr No].
“I got it second-hand, it’s from 2016. It’s stupid to wear a Submariner in London [in case you become a target for thieves]. It’s done a word tour, though. It’s pretty beaten up. The bracelet was battered by the end, so I put it on one of Adrian’s staps [Adrian Barker, of the watch platform Bark & Jack]. So, this was my whole initiation into Swiss movements replica Rolex watches.”
Replica Rolex Day-Date ref. 1803 Watches
“It’s a linen ‘Sigma’ dial [a linen dial is named for its pattern that resembles fabric. The sigma sign was used on some watches during the 1970s, denoting the use of 18ct gold on the indexes and hands]. The consensus is that ‘Sigma’ dials didn’t start until 1970. This is from 1969 which means that this case can’t be original to the dial. But I know it’s all real, and it’s all best Rolex super clone watches. It’s just that the case and the dial are at least a couple of months apart. Or, up until the 1980s, you could ask Rolex to swap the dial. So maybe someone did that. Rolex don’t know either, because back then they didn’t keep logs. It’s the ‘Sigma’ dial that makes it really rare.
“It’s 36mm, which, for wholesale fake Rolex Day-Date watches, makes it a little bit more understated. I wear it to the odd event. I always feel special wearing this. It does something, and I can’t quite describe what it is. It’s probably because whoever bought that watch in 1969 was surely living a very different life to me now. They probably had really high-flyer vibes, rather than a 30-year-old musician. And that’s part of the charm of owning vintage pieces. You don’t know where they’ve been before, or where they’ll go after you. The watch is on a journey, and you’re just a part-time keeper of it.”
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust ref. 16233 Super Clone Watches
“I got this Swiss made super clone Rolex Datejust watches as a 30th birthday present from my parents and Nico. My dad worked for the council and my mum was a health visitor and a midwife. They could never afford to spend this sort of money, so they’d saved for quite a long time. They sent Nico an amount of money and then I think he made up the rest – which was very generous of him. My mum had been walking into watch shops and saying, ‘What do you have that’s vintage?’ Knowing how people are in some of those shops, and that my mum is not a watch expert, I put her in touch with Nico. ‘He’ll know what to do, and I trust him’.
“I was never interested in diamonds before. But to wear that China 2024 super clone Rolex watches with jeans and a t-shirt – there’s just something about it. It’s 36mm, from 1994. It’s a cool bracelet, as well. When I did my first headline solo show in London last year, I wore it for that. And I tend to wear it for anything special that my parents are at. That’s one that will never leave the collection.”