1 genuine or several good replicas? Help me decide.

[CaptainNapalm]

Hi everyone! New member here and it's great to be here.

I've always been into watches and many years ago I had a decent collection of replica watches, which were low to mid grade quality but nevertheless automatic and I enjoyed them very much at the time. Somehow I don't remember what happened to this collection. Then I got busy with other things in my early 30s but recently I started thinking more about watches again and in May I bought my first (what one would call) luxury watch, the Breitling Superocean Heritage II 42mm in blue. It cost me over $5,000 but I've been extremely happy with it and it hasn't left my wrist. As I've been enjoying this awesome watch for the last few months I started reading up more about watches and looking at different models and already have one or two other models in mind that I really want to buy - the Tudor Black Bay 58 being the next on the list. Obviously if I stick to buying genuine product it will be another couple of years before I can reasonably afford my next luxury watch and obviously that's a long time to wait. Not to mention some watches have a waiting list to obtain from an AD and the BB 58 is one of them. I however have come across a local watch dealer who sells very good quality replica watches. For example, he is selling a 1:1 copy of the BB 58 for $800. I took a look at it and it looked amazing plus I've been assured it's good for swimming.

So lately I've been toying with the idea of selling my SOH II for $4,200 (already have a buyer at that price) and purchasing four good quality replicas of watches that I would love to have right away. One one hand it sounds very tempting but on the other it feels very good to know that I own a genuine Breitling and I've gotten to appreciate this watch so much already. Been wondering if others have been in my shoes, what you decided on and what advice you can give me.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
Mike

 

[atldml]

Of course you realize you're on a board full of replica watch enthusiasts, right? I think that likely means a certain kind of answer from most people. Bottom line, it's a personal preference. I have a couple dozen reps mixed with about 10 gens myself. I bought a lot of reps simply for the economics of it. As you pointed out, I could have 10 good reps for the price of the gen I wanted at the time.

You can buy a very good SOH II rep at one of the TDs for about half the price your local guy quoted you. Maybe one idea is to buy the rep for ~$400 and see how it compares to your gen. If it's good, then you could move forward with your Gen sale. If it isn't, you could always become a supporter here and re-sell your newly acquired rep at or near your selling price. Limited downside in that. Good luck with your decision.

 

[reppy]

You should hold on to that gen and start buying reps from TDs after finding out more about specific models and factories on here, and then see how you feel about the things you were able to buy. You can always sell the gen later if you decide you no longer like it.

 

[Naughtylus]

Definitely keep your gen, get your next gen if you’re not really into frankening/modding. Tudor is genuinely an affordable luxury watch, I wouldn’t get a rep Tudor myself... but I’d get PP, Rollie, AP, or even Cartier reps... id have two different saving boxes, one for the reps, one for the gen... that’s how I’d go.


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[Naughtylus]

Keep the gen, unless you’re done with the specific gen watch and you don’t want it anymore... if you’re in love with your current gen right now, do not sell it. You can never get the watch back even the same mode and feel the same way ever again.


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[WATCH HACKER]

Keep the gen and buy a lot of reps.


Your welcome =)

 

[Nivka]

Hi everyone! New member here and it's great to be here.

I've always been into watches and many years ago I had a decent collection of replica watches, which were low to mid grade quality but nevertheless automatic and I enjoyed them very much at the time. Somehow I don't remember what happened to this collection. Then I got busy with other things in my early 30s but recently I started thinking more about watches again and in May I bought my first (what one would call) luxury watch, the Breitling Superocean Heritage II 42mm in blue. It cost me over $5,000 but I've been extremely happy with it and it hasn't left my wrist. As I've been enjoying this awesome watch for the last few months I started reading up more about watches and looking at different models and already have one or two other models in mind that I really want to buy - the Tudor Black Bay 58 being the next on the list. Obviously if I stick to buying genuine product it will be another couple of years before I can reasonably afford my next luxury watch and obviously that's a long time to wait. Not to mention some watches have a waiting list to obtain from an AD and the BB 58 is one of them. I however have come across a local watch dealer who sells very good quality replica watches. For example, he is selling a 1:1 copy of the BB 58 for $800. I took a look at it and it looked amazing plus I've been assured it's good for swimming.

So lately I've been toying with the idea of selling my SOH II for $4,200 (already have a buyer at that price) and purchasing four good quality replicas of watches that I would love to have right away. One one hand it sounds very tempting but on the other it feels very good to know that I own a genuine Breitling and I've gotten to appreciate this watch so much already. Been wondering if others have been in my shoes, what you decided on and what advice you can give me.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
Mike

Keep your gen and buy the BB from a TD and save $400

 

[kolincio]

To make one thing clear - your local dealer's bb58 is not better than what you'll get from a TD - it's the same or worse, save for some things like maybe thorough QC on the water resistance and perhaps a Swiss movement? Anyway I wouldn't trust the local dealer farther than I could throw them, most likely just slapping a 800$ price tag on a 400$ rep (if even) because they need to make a living.

 

[schlonz]

selling a rep for 800$ is a rip-off
don't trust that guy

First of all, keep your Gen unless you are 100% sure you don't want to keep it. Likelyhood is high that you will regret having sold it.

ISuggest to buy the Replica version of those you think about buying as a Gen which will help you find out whether you like it so much that you want to spend the big money on the Gen.
If you don't like it sell it off with a minimal loss as there will always be people around who buy a rep with a 10-20% discount on the original price.

Have fun

 

[CaptainNapalm]

Guys, thank you very much for a wealth of feedback. I think you guys are right, I'll keep the gen Breitling and acquire a couple of reps from TD then decide where to go from there. I also appreciate the heads up on the local dealer overcharging, I wasn't aware that $800 is a rip off for a good quality replica. I'll stick to TD. I assumed he was marking watches up as obviously he's not running a charity but he seems to have two grades of often the same watches. What he refers to as mid-grade for about $400 and then the high-grade which range from $800 to $1250. For example, he has the rolex daytona in mid grade for $400 and then he has the best version for $1250 with the following specs:

Daytona Cosmograph 116500 904L Stainless Steel Case Black Ceramic Bezel 1:1 Best Edition Black Dial on SS Bracelet A4130 Super Clone (Correct Thick). Case Diameter 40mm
Thickness 12.5mm（same thickness as genuine）
Bezel Black Ceramic Bezel, correct font and updated depth bezel markers same as genuine
Case Material 1:1 replicated solid 904L stainless steel case, same as genuine
Dial Superlumed Black dial and hands, the sub-dial hand shape is same as genuine. The hands can be used in genuine movement.
Strap Solid 904L stainless steel bracelet with new style flip-lock clasp with polished crown logo. Polished inner clasp and black ceramic spring balls same as the latest genuine Submariner version.
Crystal Scratch-proof sapphire crystal with semi-invisible crown etched at 6:00 position of the crystal (same as genuine and this is the first of its kind, one revolutionary breakthrough of the Rolex replicas)
Caseback Solid caseback
Movement Asian Super Clone4130 movement 28800bph, 1:1 replicated from the genuine movement, fully functional. Blue spring same as genuine.
Function Hours, minutes, sub-seconds display and chronograph
Water Resistance Water Resistance > 50m
Price: $1250. Special order only 20% deposit 3/4weeks

Not sure if this is better specs than what is offered on TD but as you guys point out it's just probably a whole lot of big words for marketing to justify the high price. Again, thank you for the opinions and it's good to be a part of this forum.

 

[tomjoad]

Agreed with the rest of the feedback it’s nice to have a collection of reps and gens


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[freediver]

get gen what you can, get rep what you cannot

 

[kolincio]

Daytona Cosmograph 116500 904L Stainless Steel Case Black Ceramic Bezel 1:1 Best Edition Black Dial on SS Bracelet A4130 Super Clone (Correct Thick). Case Diameter 40mm
Thickness 12.5mm（same thickness as genuine）
Price: $1250. Special order only 20% deposit 3/4weeks

No way it's anything else than this: https://puretimewatch.io/featured-pr...sa4130-v3.html
So a double overcharge, which sounds in line with mid tier reps costing 400$ - means they're actually 200$ reps which would be mid-tier.

 

[micksmith1987]

If I have learned one lesson here, it is: stick to the TDs here. The guy will not get you anything better than TDs can (unless he also does some modding like BK).

 

[Nivka]

If you want the BB, try this: https://www.intime05.co/tudor/6277-...edition-black-bezel-on-ss-bracelet-a2824.html

Whatever your guy is offering for $800 won't be better than the one above.

And as per above, the noob daytona is amazing. Get the daytona and the BB and you will be laughing. The quality of these two will blow you away if the only reps you've tried were low to mid level many years ago