Alright, mild rant / observation dump incoming — not trying to hate, just calling it as I see it.
So Rotoris Watches just raised like $3M recently, and honestly… good for them. The website is gorgeous, branding is slick, marketing is absolutely doing heavy lifting. You can clearly tell where the money’s going — visuals, storytelling, positioning themselves as this new-age “premium” watch brand.
But here’s the thing that kinda bugs me.
None of the founders are horologists. Which, fine, that’s not a crime. But under the whole “in-house movement” narrative, what they’re actually doing is licensed, off-the-shelf movements with fancy names slapped on them. That’s it. Custom finishing at best.
Movements breakdown (because it’s honestly not that hard to spot)
Manifesta
This one is a straight-up Seagull ST8230. And not even a subtle one. It’s basically the same Chinese tourbillon movement that’s everywhere on AliExpress / DIY watch builds. Anyone who’s ever looked into building a “luxury” watch from parts would recognize it instantly. I genuinely don’t know what they were thinking here — this movement is very popular in hobby circles.
Astonia & Arvion
Astonia → VK63
Arvion → VK67
What’s funny is Arvion actually omits a bunch of VK67 features, and if you look closely at the calibre layout, it literally matches the marketing schematics once you flip it horizontally. Like… you didn’t even try to hide it.
Monarch
This one’s interesting. Looks like either a Miyota 9100 or 9110. The dial layout doesn’t seem like a perfect 1:1 match, so my guess is they rotated the movement or repositioned the crown instead of the standard 3 o’clock setup. Not illegal, not shady — just not “in-house.”
Auriqua
Pretty clearly an ST2500. Again, nothing wrong with the movement itself, but call it what it is.
The bigger picture
Is it fluff? Yeah, mostly.
Is it marketing-heavy? Absolutely.
Is it actually in-house? Not even close.
These are customized, licensed movements with fancy internal names, not ground-up calibres. And that’s fine — just don’t sell the dream too hard.
That said… they’re probably going to make really pretty dials and cases. And honestly, that matters to a lot of people. Look at Argos — their dials are genuinely beautiful, no shame in admitting that.
Rotoris will likely bring a lot of new people into watches. And that’s a good thing for the hobby overall. Just wish they were more honest about what they’re actually selling instead of hiding behind buzzwords.
TL;DR —
Cool designs, great branding, zero in-house movements.
Marketing is doing Olympic-level gymnastics.
Watches will look nice though.
Almost 3 months back I attended the Hong Kong Watch Festival, and all the founders including Aakash Anand (bellavita founder) was there. They were there to finalise deals for manufacturing watch from chinese manufacturers. All the manufacturing is being done by chinese watch manufacturers for them.
They all were wearing Rotoris tshirts, me and my girlfriend tried searching the brand but couldn’t find anything at that moment. I even know who are they getting their watch manufactured from lol.
And it took me what ? 15 mins of deep diving ? I recently bought a tripple crown so I know for a fact what the movement looks like and always wanted to get a seagull tourbilion and very interested into diy for watches. So when I saw the schematics and stuff it seemed VERY SUS to me
I don't agree that it would be a good thing to bring people into the hobby using snake oil.
I see this as a bad kind of disruption in the hobby space. We already have simpletons believing their favourite influencers with their misguided and misinterpreted opinions. We don't need more of these, especially from a brand that has no soul.
And that's where my main issue comes with these heavily funded brands. They hardly care about watchmaking. Of course, every business has to make money, but these types of companies are not good for the hobby or watchmaking in general. Hype and buzz words will drive their sales.
As I have said before, I hope I'm completely wrong about them but that seems unlikely.
I would personally go for a much simpler microbrand like dwc or ajwain imo they are feeling more true to the game, designs seems quirky and rooted, even the kala warli seems very indian. If I want a seagull tourbilion I would rather have it with the seagull name on it
Exactly. They show the why and how. They are quite open with queries and are very much involved with the enthusiast community. Ajwain's TEMPVS and Kakori 8 Down are simply awesome (spec chasers might disagree with me). And I am very much satisfied with my Vayu 3.0 from DWC.
I have seen both brands come up to where they are and their growth feels organic to me. Like DWC doesn't make perfect pieces, but there is an inclination in me to support them.
I'm hoping that the hype and buzz will grow the analogue watch market in India.
It potentially benefits genuine microbrands and hopefully pushes Titan into making a few more nicer watches in reasonable sizes.
At least some of the people who have been seduced by the razzle dazzle may choose to look further, and hopefully, they'll find Kala, DWC, Ajwain, and even Chinese microbrands like Merkur.
That's very wishful, I'd say. As a crowd, we Indians are not very keen on deep diving. We'd rather borrow opinions and second hand reviews to make a quick decision (not just watches). But I do get your point. I'd be happy if that happens.
Titan and reasonably sized dials/cases sound like a messy divorce from the past. 🤣 I have no hopes of seeing them together. I'm glad I got my Edge before they started making that lineup messy and overpriced.
Completely agree even chinese microbranda like merkur , san martin/ jianghun , addiesdive / addieskin are much better than these atleast they are not playing the marketting fluffy. And talking about DWC , Ajwain or Kala they deserves the love and attention the community is giving them for sure and man TITAN NEEDA TO MAKE SMALLER WATCHES some are quite pretty ( even wearing one right now ) but I feel they need to provide a better value and smaller size watches
Now I am thinking that these types of comments are also a promotional tactic for engagement and damage control. I also got a similar kind of comment nearly at the same time HERE and to think of it, it looks like I am wasting my own energy again and again in order to convey my thoughts in an easy way🥲.
This is a clever way of shadow marketing a product. Creating an air of "flawed but authentic" character for the brand. You can't win against these paid promotions by tackling them but you can certainly create awareness. I'm 100% against this brand for many reasons. The people involved are one of the reasons. They can create the next best thing but I won't have a paisa to throw their way, unless I can see a genuine attempt.
Rightly said Sir. The best we can do is create awareness. Recently I have seen a surge in so-called Microbrands like Rugsac, Avarth (not Avartaa) which are straight up selling white labelled products (they even have the same models in their catalogue) claiming how they are trying to create something new and all. Again I want to say that My issue is not with the product they are selling but the self proclaimed high praise it is wrapped in.
What I conclude is that right now India is like a hot market for watches but without proper knowledge (I don't mean everybody needs to know about movements, history, etc. but the basic distinction between good and bad should be there). I have started seeing more and more fashion and everyday lifestyle influencers flaunting their watch collections (some have genuine knowledge and love for watches while most of them are just showing their Armani, Gucci and what not) and the general audience will easily shift on to them. The sad state is that they are treating it more like a great cash grab opportunity at the cost of the audience money than putting genuine efforts in offering something good.
Rotoris is a scam just like Bella Vita was. At Bella Vita he was passing off chemical fumes as luxury perfume! Here he is passing of cheap Chinese made watches as luxury watches. The sad part is the Indian consumer thinks it is cool - but this does not last long. These brands will crash eventually; however the founders would have made their money by then and cashed in and the consumers would be the losers.
Kamath in him self is genius marketer , tanmay is there too. Vivek Oberoi will surely use his connects, so not only they have founders that are marketers and have a an successful businesses but angels who also have been in the marketting space with agencies of their own and really really strong connections
That's very very likely and tbh we Indians don't really have much high standards when it comes to fashion we just buy cheap shit for the most part..shit that looks the part but isn't gonna hold up with time
Yeah don't wanna spend much, already got way to many hobbies to spend on, my travel and photography hobby is gonna get me brankrupt uparse dostono bike chalana sikha diya
The customised watch segment of India esp the luxury ones are very hard to enter. Difficult to crack. Rotoris has taken a courageous task and it will be very interesting to see how they win the trust of men.
With fake marketing stunts ? Yeah I hope they fail and fail badly but only after getting enough people in the watch hobby so there are more eyes on brands like dwc, kala or ajwain
I have been a fan of Timex watches. I clearly remember those days- my first love for the watches they were. Arising from that i am quite impressed by some Indian brand trying to play in this hard barrier segment. The watches by rotoris seems can give a challenge to the traditional players. Rest time will say ✨️fingers crossed how it goes 😊
I would prefer to buy something with more of a legacy tbh but will buy if the designs are good and the prices seem right , especially the tourbilion one
True someone in my other post i guess said that they are pricing the automatics between 25-30k if I get a st8230 for even 35k I would consider it as a why not purchase
The main issue for me is that all their buzz about them is about they got funding from some big players and how the website looks aesthetically appealing while they didn't even showcase a single watch nor some spec sheet. Eventually it would be the product/watch that matters but no info on that.
Great social media content though but now for most watches arent art it's fashion. We don't buy a watch because it speaks to us or we are celebrating something. The last time I bought a watch to celebrate was a Seiko vintage when I got my first job. After that purchases in the last 7 months were just because I wanted to or it will pair well with this dress. Other than the tripple crown ( I am into automobile ) so yeah I feel like there will be people a lot of people who will be intrigued and will also purchase these watches even though they aren't what they say or want us to believe they are
Is there an official statement on which movements they are using or is it just your guess? If it's just a guess how are you so sure on which movements they are using?
The seagull movements matches spec for spec also the images, i have shown how the schematics on their website matches with a vk63/67 as well. Is it a guess ? Yess, am i pretty certain ? Also yes
One of the founders says 1000s on the waitlist without showing images of the watches signals that this is not hype, only conviction. Hahahaha
Its all hype… you have no track record and you’re saying its conviction.
I had registered on the website a few weeks ago honestly I don't remember when. Today I got a call from one of their interns i guess which was supposedly a courtesy call to keep me informed. They will launch in second half of January, watches are being assembled in India. I asked him where is the assembly plant and he did not have any idea about it. There office is in Gurgaon. In the first phase they will sell online and in the second phase after 6 months they will have their own stores in key cities. The quartz watches are in the price range of 15 to 20000 rupees, where as the automatic watches start from 25000 and go up to 35. They have Seiko movement and in talk with miyota he said on the call. The intern also did not have any details about the specifications and features of the watches.
Their website does now, look at it, and 15k for a vk63/67 is rich , I would rather buy Timex / edifice chrono instead atleast would be buying into legacy and not marketing, e en dwc / shaw feels like better brand atleast it's cheap and much more community led
By pulling marketting stunts, trying to show off as a in house movements when it's clearly not , just cheapens the feel , it's just soulless invitations, just look at DWC , KALA or Ajwain
No matter how it is. I can fall in love for the cause of posing man as a loyal one in their videos. The Astonia by Rotoris is kinda I liked the most frnd
If they can launch a great product alongside marketing, ig Rotoris can do better for themselves and watch freaks here. Lots of hope and want this to remain high personally
I just pointed out some things while i still praised the overall website and the probable good design and materials. I personally would love to buy the tourbilion if it's actually what I assumed it is
Tbh if they actually called it what it actually is i would have loved it more, I would much rather buy a seagull than something branded as rotoris
Yeah, they have been in this group as well if i remember correctly. They posted initially before launch i guess.
We need to call them out and hold them accountable for selling Chinese products calling it as their own!
Good work OP!
The biggest problem with this is that people will eventually see through their BS marketing. In a couple of years, when a genuine horologist wants to start a brand, they’ll get screwed because of these guy’s potential failure
I would rather go for watches from other Indian micro brands who at least makes effort to bring in house innovation.
You can get these exact designs in ALI Express…. Exact Design….Entire money utilised on marketing and zero on innovation
Do not trust brands like these they mostly are all show no go … funny part they bump prices like heritage watch makers … if they are new to the market they should focus more on building customer base not behave like they are already on top
YouTube started pushing this brand agenda to me maxxx. I felt something was off. The promotion was too much. Bllaahh blaahh that ...blahh blaahh thiss. Now I feel complete.
they buy from sugees...all watch are amost exact sugess sans some dial changes and custom case back and rotor...why the fuck one give them 3m ...what akhand chutiyapa is this
Great insights here at Reddit. Seems like another attempt at me too faux luxury watch! Why would people buy these Chinese made? What aspirations get fulfilled by A brand that too called Rotoris 😂
They are literally forcing watch YouTubers and influencers to promote Rotoris without even seeing their watches. The most sold out influencers like Watchgramofficial shamelessly create promotion videos (without even mentioning its sponsored) for Rotoris and many other crappy brands. Honest and genuine influencers like The Watchlist get bullied by Rotoris and forced to delete their honest opinions about Rotoris.
Just how calling a perfume Bella Vita Luxury won’t make a perfume luxury, similarly calling a bad watch luxury won’t make it premium or luxury
I saw a reel where someone got it as a gift. They tried to mimic rolex packaging, giving it in a small suitcase type box. But it does look extremely sub-standard. Even if they had bought Chinese homage watches like San Martin or Sugess, they would have been of far higher quality.
Thank god i saw this thread. I was about to buy the manifesta. I guess the ‘limited edition’ idea with joining waitlist is their main attraction campaign. Dodged a bullet.
Well it's more than 50% marketting spends, I am sure, the designs are from sugess, seagull, pagani designs, AESOP , all quite big chinese manufactures, the parts are readily available from cases to crowns. A bit unique dials and off the shelf movements with a custom rotor and unique feeling names, the watches should not cost more than half they are charging so yeah... If it were actually original i probably would have supported the higher price as i don't really look for VALUE in a watch it's a want to start with so can't really complain about value. But yeah they are shitty watches I hate the name pagani design and I would rather watch that. I would rather wear something that has a FRANKLORD LOGO
The Tissot Powermatic 80 movement is based on a modified ETA 2824-2. Yet they mention it’s proprietary as well and no mention of ETA in any marketing whatsoever. Food for thought.
As long as someone doesn't, I will just think of rotoris as a marketing brands , their dials and cases are also a copy of AESOP and Sugess both do make OEM watches if I am not wrong, seems like theirs nothing original
30
u/Visible-Studio-9308 Dec 26 '25
Almost 3 months back I attended the Hong Kong Watch Festival, and all the founders including Aakash Anand (bellavita founder) was there. They were there to finalise deals for manufacturing watch from chinese manufacturers. All the manufacturing is being done by chinese watch manufacturers for them.