What is a GUG? A GUG is a Gen Under a Grand. GUG is also the name of RWI's new regular column that will be posted here in this section once every few weeks (more or less, depending on how lazy I am, and how much booze I have at my disposal).
After getting sticker shock at seeing the price of some of the newest reps ($1200 for the Hublot Big Bang All Black?!?!? Really?!?!?), I realized that for that kind of money, you could get a pretty good watch that: (a) wasn't illegal in the majority of the world; (b) had little to no risk of being seized by customs; and (c) would likely not explode or disintegrate within two years. So with that in mind, I started to branch out into the wild and wooly world of gens.
Now, full disclosure. One of the reasons I got into reps into the first place is that I think it is nothing short of silly to spend a lot of money for a friggin' watch. I don't care how bloody complicated the movement is, you still can't convince me that I should spend more for a watch than I would for my car. Or, in some extreme cases, my house. Or, in even more extreme cases, my car, my house, and my office building all put together. So my personal criteria for a gen is that it has to be under a grand, and it has to be cool. And once I started looking, I realized that there are a lot of lesser known brands out there waiting to be discovered.
So, the primary purpose of the GUG columns is to bring attention to some reasonably priced brands that you've probably never heard of. So that means, unless I get particularly lazy one week, you won't be seeing any established brands that everyone knows (like Movado, Citizen, Tag, etc.). I may dip my toes into some vintage stuff, but I've got a couple of watches to write about first.
Here's the thing. Most of us put up with the garbage that comes with this hobby (DOA watches, shady dealers, recessed canon pins, etc.) because we love the watches and it's cost effective to buy a rep. But with the ever escalating price of reps (I mean seriously--- $1200 for a fucking Big Bang rep?!?!?!), the cost-benefit ratio is starting to change. And--unless your goal in collecting reps is solely to impress your friends, family, and potential mating partners--you can get some really cool Gens Under a Grand.
After getting sticker shock at seeing the price of some of the newest reps ($1200 for the Hublot Big Bang All Black?!?!? Really?!?!?), I realized that for that kind of money, you could get a pretty good watch that: (a) wasn't illegal in the majority of the world; (b) had little to no risk of being seized by customs; and (c) would likely not explode or disintegrate within two years. So with that in mind, I started to branch out into the wild and wooly world of gens.
Now, full disclosure. One of the reasons I got into reps into the first place is that I think it is nothing short of silly to spend a lot of money for a friggin' watch. I don't care how bloody complicated the movement is, you still can't convince me that I should spend more for a watch than I would for my car. Or, in some extreme cases, my house. Or, in even more extreme cases, my car, my house, and my office building all put together. So my personal criteria for a gen is that it has to be under a grand, and it has to be cool. And once I started looking, I realized that there are a lot of lesser known brands out there waiting to be discovered.
So, the primary purpose of the GUG columns is to bring attention to some reasonably priced brands that you've probably never heard of. So that means, unless I get particularly lazy one week, you won't be seeing any established brands that everyone knows (like Movado, Citizen, Tag, etc.). I may dip my toes into some vintage stuff, but I've got a couple of watches to write about first.
Here's the thing. Most of us put up with the garbage that comes with this hobby (DOA watches, shady dealers, recessed canon pins, etc.) because we love the watches and it's cost effective to buy a rep. But with the ever escalating price of reps (I mean seriously--- $1200 for a fucking Big Bang rep?!?!?!), the cost-benefit ratio is starting to change. And--unless your goal in collecting reps is solely to impress your friends, family, and potential mating partners--you can get some really cool Gens Under a Grand.