Newer members keep asking why old threads mention factories that “don’t exist anymore”. A big part of the answer is one wave of raids. Let’s write down what was actually reported at the time, in order, so this has one reference thread.
Related threads: DDF: the week in brief, Is Noob back, Clean Factory: true legend or just nostalgia.
Rispondo in inglese, in ordine. A first news post lists as temporarily closed: VSF, V6F, VRF, PPF and Noob. For VSF and V6F, the post says one of their parts suppliers had been raided, so supply slowed down. Still running at that point: BP/GMF, ZF, XF/JF and smaller factories. Confidence: high on what the post said; it was explicitly provisional.
Then the follow-up a few days later. A dealer statement quoted in the comments called it the biggest raid they had seen, and split the factories into three groups: closed and probably not reopening (including GMF and Noob), closed but reopening (including AR, JF, VS and VRF), and still delivering (including ZF).
What matters is the status of these statements: they were dealer claims, not confirmed facts. The first post explicitly speaks of rumours regarding Noob, and at the time even expected a quick return.
And instead? A community introductory guide, updated later, describes Noob as closed, hit hard by another raid.
So Noob didn’t come back?
Not as the original factory, according to that guide. Later “Noob” releases are a separate story, covered in the New Noob thread.
And the gap got filled. The same guide lists newer names, like JVS described as a newer factory, and ZZF rebranded as Clean releasing Rolex models.
Sequence, as reported at the time:
If someone wants to sketch a simple timeline of the factory names mentioned in the reports, without dates, post it below.
Caveat: these were dealer and community reports, often provisional. Treat any single claim as “reported”, not confirmed.
Report and fact neatly kept apart. That’s how it should be done.