I receive a lot of advertisements from various online watch stores every day. Most of them go straight to the trash, but every now and then, something catches my eye. One such case was an ad from a shop offering a massive discount on GEVRIL watches. I’ll admit, I had never really heard of the brand before—or to be more precise, I was aware of its existence, but that was about it. So, I clicked the link.
I was surprised by the variety of watches on offer, branded either as GEVRIL or GV2. Another surprise: most of them were automatic, and almost all were labeled “SWISS MADE.” But nowhere was it clearly stated what exactly was ticking inside.
One watch stood out in particular—named Roosevelt. A beautiful blue dial, octagonal case shape, sapphire crystal, titanium case and bracelet, and an automatic Swiss movement. All of that, marked down from $3,500 to just $400. Sounds too good to be true, right? Something’s definitely fishy here. But since I genuinely liked the watch, I decided to dig deeper.
First, I checked eBay. A search for the Roosevelt model gave me my first positive sign—same watch, listed for around $900–$1,000, also claiming a price drop from $3,900. Then I visited the official Gevril website. Their brand history sounds impressive—they claim to have been in business since 1742! Apparently, Gevril was the first Swiss watch exporter to the King of Spain. You can read their official story here.
But that “official” history includes a mysterious 100-year gap, right up to 1990. Reading between the lines, it seems likely that the current Gevril brand actually started fresh in the 1990s—probably after someone acquired the rights to the old Gevril trademark. So, all that history? Most likely just a smokescreen to make the brand seem like a traditional, centuries-old Swiss watchmaker.
Then I checked the official description of the watch on Gevril’s website. You can take a look here. Skipped it? Don’t. Go check it. Read how state-of-the-art this watch supposedly is—and take a look at that $4,000 price tag. Don’t just take my word for it.
Digging a bit deeper, I discovered that GV2 is essentially a sub-brand of the same company—Gevril being the premium line, and GV2 the more affordable one (similar to Rolex and Tudor). Both brands are better known in the U.S. than elsewhere, as the company’s headquarters, sales department, and most operations were moved to the U.S. sometime in the 2000s. However, at least part of the official factory remains in Switzerland, meaning the watches assembled there can still legally carry the “Swiss Made” label.
I also came across several reviews of Gevril and GV2 watches. Most of them were clearly paid promotions and couldn’t really be trusted. But some went deeper and explained the reason behind the massive discounts. Apparently, Gevril follows the same pricing model used by some other watch brands: set an absurdly high MSRP, then offer steep discounts. I’m not a sales expert, but this strategy seems to work—Invicta is probably the best-known example of this approach. For inexperienced buyers, it creates the illusion of a great deal. For seasoned watch enthusiasts, it’s more of a running joke.
What I still couldn’t figure out was: which Swiss movement is inside the Roosevelt? I had only a few clues. The movement appeared to be quite slim (the total case height is listed at just 10 mm), and from the exhibition case back, I could see the balance wheel's bridge positioned on the right-hand side. Most of the movement, however, was hidden beneath the rotor. Based on what I could observe, the best candidate seemed to be the Soprod A10.
After gathering all this information, I decided to go for it. Everything I had read pointed to the watch being well worth the $400 (plus import duties for the EU). As for that $4,000 “official price”? Clearly just marketing fiction.
A few days later, the watch arrived. First impressions? Very good. It came in a quality box—not some cheap junk. The titanium bracelet looked solid, and the case was impressively thin. The crown was well-marked, and the blue dial? Just beautiful. I’m not a fan of the oversized Gevril logo on the dial, but that wasn’t a surprise—I had noticed it before buying. Still, everything else on the dial was nicely executed.
The obvious next step was to resize the bracelet to fit my wrist and start wearing the watch.
I’ve resized plenty of bracelets before and have all the necessary tools. This one didn’t seem like a big deal. The links were screwed in—easy task. So, let’s get to it!
And that’s where the problems started. I tried to unscrew the first link—no go. Tried the second one—no chance! Hmm... maybe the screws are fake, and the pins need to be knocked out, like in most bracelets. But if that were the case, there should be direction arrows marked on the inside. There weren’t any. Still, I tried gently tapping from both sides—no success.
So I gave up and decided to take the watch to my watchmaker. “He’s got better tools and more experience—he’ll know what to do,” I told myself. The next morning, I visited him first thing and explained what I had tried. He took the bracelet, tried the first screw—and unscrewed it easily. I was stunned. What had I done wrong?? Nothing, really. He just got lucky and picked the one that wasn’t stuck.
Most of the screws were impossible to unscrew. I needed to remove five links, and with a bit of luck, we managed to find several consecutive screws on both sides of the bracelet that we could get loose—two links on one side, three on the other. Any more, and we would’ve been out of options. Luckily, the clasp has three extra holes for micro-adjustment, which helped us fine-tune the fit.
As you can see in the photo, most of the screws holding the remaining links now have tiny damage marks from failed attempts. Easily one of the worst bracelet-resizing experiences I’ve had—at least with a new watch. (I’m not counting old, rusty, dirty bracelets.)
But in the end, all the trouble was worth it. The watch feels great on the wrist. The titanium keeps it light and comfortable. Although it's officially listed at 43 mm, it wears a bit smaller thanks to the inward-sloping case design. I also checked the lume: the hands have a thin layer, but the hour markers have none. Then again, for a dress watch, that’s not really a dealbreaker.
After all that, my next mission began: identifying the mysterious “Swiss automatic movement” hidden inside.
First step—photos of the movement. One thing was immediately clear: this definitely wasn’t a Soprod. And honestly, I couldn’t think of any Swiss movement that looked like this. I was quite certain that a watch at this price point wouldn’t be using an in-house caliber, so it had to be a clone. But which one?
Then came my next clue—“Ruben & Sons.” I hit the web again, and suddenly, things started to make sense. Ruben & Sons is an obscure company that produces clones of the MIYOTA 8215 movement. And since they’re based in Switzerland, their movements can legally be labeled as “Swiss Made.” What a joke.
Still, I wasn’t convinced. The movement in my watch didn’t look like a standard Miyota 8215. Then I noticed the engraving on the rotor: 24 jewels. That was a key detail. Combined with the Miyota clue, it pointed me in the right direction!
This movement turned out to be nothing more—and nothing less—than a clone of the Miyota 9015.
That settled it. Ruben & Sons had clearly expanded their cloning operations from the Miyota 8215 to other Miyota calibers as well. Later on, I even found another one of their movements—M39D6—which is a clone of the Miyota 9122.
So, what do we actually have here?
A Japanese movement, cloned (or maybe just assembled) in Switzerland, and therefore legally declared as “Swiss Made.” Has the Swiss watch industry really fallen to this level? Can you no longer trust the “Swiss Made” label on a watch? Can a U.S.-based company, assembling watches in Switzerland with movements based on Japanese designs—built by an obscure Swiss company—really call the result a Swiss Made watch?
Don’t get me wrong—I think the Miyota 9015 is a solid movement. There’s nothing wrong with it. But to be honest, I’d much prefer a genuine Miyota inside rather than some unknown “Swiss” clone. I don’t know what materials were used in this copy. Those black-colored components might even be plastic—it’s hard to tell just by looking through the caseback. I also have no idea about the quality of the assembly or the final QC. Just take a look at the rotor engravings—they’re poorly done, cheap-looking. And no, it’s not a photography issue—it really looks like that in person. Uneven fonts, messy lines. Garage work. If the whole movement is built to the same standard, it doesn’t deserve to be called a Miyota clone.
In the end, this “Swiss Made” mark seems to do nothing but mislead customers—making them believe they’re buying into Swiss quality, when in fact they might be getting something inferior to watches that openly declare the use of a proper Japanese movement. Often assembled in China, yes—but at least by skilled professionals and with honesty about what you’re getting.
Don’t get me wrong. The watch itself is good—I like it. At the price I paid, I think I got a decent deal. For $400, I received a titanium-cased watch with a titanium bracelet, sapphire crystal front and back, and an automatic movement based on a proven platform. Again—for $400. That’s fine.
And yet—I can’t shake the feeling of being a little cheated. I expected “Swiss Made” in the true sense of the term. Paying $1,000, which is the standard eBay price, is already pushing it. Paying $4,000—the so-called official price—is outright robbery. I just hope Gevril never actually sold one at that price.
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Thank you for. Very informative!
Thanks for this. Very helpful. Have been pondering over one but noted the phrase 'Swiss made movement' rather than 'Swiss made' so was still hesitating. Was expecting not Swiss made but didn't think it would be a Miyota clone. I love my Casios but I prefer to call a spade a spade. The one I'm considering is only about US$250 so I think I'd rather part with this amount for a low end Raymond Weil oe Seiko etc.
I just bought the same watch in blue and ended up in the same situation with the links. My jeweler had no problem but mentioned that the links are indeed "Loctited" at the factory so buyer beware to build in additional time/$.
Thank you for the review!!
I also purchased the same watch and was able to remove the screws and they are quite tight but I have the proper tools to do it. As to the movement I also did some research a few years back and what I found was that the original owners purchasedRuben and sons is a wholy owned subsidiary of Gevril. It was then repurchased from the people who restarted the brand by an American enthusiast and moved the company headquarters to the USA. The movements can be miyota but they also use salita which are basically ETA clones. I have purchased Gevril watches over the past 15 years I've never had any mechanical problems with them I've worn them and then I've sold them I continue to buy them when the price is right. Most of the Reuben & sons movement watches should not cost more than $500 USD but they are still fairly well made. However some of the other models they have that use Salita movements are going to be a lot more money especially the 300 and the 330 versions with the GMT. So those models can run somewhere in the $900 to $1,200 range. Again they're watches are good quality and when you're buying within those prices they're very good deals. I would also say if you have any issues with your bracelet call their customer service I have not needed to but I have heard from others who have called and said that the customer service is very good. I've also owned the patente and the Wall Street as well as some of the other models that they've had over the years they are not high resale watches but if you just like a interesting well-made watch at a reasonable price with good quality, they are a very good choice.
I purchased two GV2 in 2007. One is a dress watch, the other is a sport watch. Both are automatic. They have functioned perfectly and maintain time exceptionally well. The finishing work on both ae excellent. In today's world of counterfeit goods ... Who knows. It pays to be careful. Article was very educational.
Gevril watches are poor quailty and they donot stand behind their product
Could you please tell me what the 43mm dimension refers to. Is it across the dial only?
43mm is the diameter of the "round" part of the case (also the bezel) without the crown
Great review, thank you.
This watch was on CBSDeals today and was going to buy one for my watchloving BF's birthday (153 watches from Rolexes (3) to TAG Heuer, Breitling, IWC, etc.) DEFINITELY out of my price range, but he also likes "oddball" other brands. Would this be something he MAY be interested in?
the ones offered on CBS deals were GV2....
To be quite honest, I would not recomend Gevril or GV2 to someone with such a collection. At least not without asking him...
that's kinda what I thought too after reading the review. He has a few Citizens and lower priced ones, and this one sounded too good to be true....and it is!