The short answer
720.025 does not match any published reference from a major Swiss maker as far as I can trace. It reads like a listing code: a factory batch number, a case style ID, or an internal SKU a seller bolted onto a "grand complication" style replica. So the number tells you almost nothing. The watch behind it does.
When that string shows up in a title, the listing is usually for a watch with a busy dial, a perpetual calendar layout, sometimes an open tourbillon aperture, priced anywhere from about $150 to $2,000. Two watches with the same 720.025 label can share nothing but a stock photo. Judge the movement, not the digits.
What "grand complication" means on a real watch
A genuine grand complication combines several hard mechanisms in one case: a perpetual calendar, a chronograph, a minute repeater, sometimes a split-seconds. Each one is a small machine. A perpetual calendar alone needs a program wheel or a 48-month cam plus a leap-year star to know that 2100 is not a leap year. That is dozens of parts doing one job.
A watch in the low hundreds of dollars is not carrying that architecture. It may not be carrying any of it.
Where replicas cheat, and how to spot it
- Subdials that never move. Printed day, month, and moonphase discs are the norm under $600. Turn the crown through a full month and watch which hands actually track.
- The "tourbillon." A real tourbillon rotates the entire escapement and balance cage once a minute. A decorative open-heart just exposes a balance wheel. Put the watch down and watch the cage for 60 seconds.
- The "repeater." Real repeaters use racks, hammers, and gongs. Cheap versions hide a sound module or a stamped gong that rings one flat tone. Ask for a video of it striking 3:47.
- Subdial spacing. When a maker stuffs a stock movement into a grand complication dial, the subdials drift off center or the date window sits too close to the edge. Compare against photos of the original layout.
Movements worth knowing
Actual tourbillons exist at replica price points. Seagull and Hangzhou both build real tourbillon calibers that factories drop into cases, and that is the one complication you can plausibly get for real. Chronograph modules built on the Seagull ST19 or a 7750 clone also work. Perpetual calendars and repeaters, in my experience reading these listings, are cosmetic at almost every price under a thousand dollars.
What I look at first: caseback photos. Genuine added complications need space, so the case gets thicker. If a "perpetual calendar repeater" is 10mm thick, the dial is lying.
Finishing checks that separate tiers
- Crown and pusher feel. Gritty threads and mushy pushers mean a cheap case.
- Print quality under a loupe. Fuzzy text is the fastest tell.
- Bracelet end-link fit. Gaps at the lugs show up in photos if you zoom.
- Engraving depth on the caseback. Laser etching looks shallow and gray.
- Weight in hand. A thin case with a complicated dial is hollow.
The part sellers leave out
Importing counterfeit goods into the United States is illegal, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes replica watches as a routine matter. Trafficking carries criminal exposure under 18 U.S.C. 2320, and even a personal-use order can be destroyed at the border with no refund and no appeal that gets your money back. There is no warranty, no parts supply, and no watchmaker who wants the job when a fake perpetual calendar jams in month three.
If you still want to evaluate one, treat 720.025 as a label on a box and nothing more. Ask for movement photos, a video of every function running, and a caseback shot. Sellers who have a real watch will send all three.