The Steel Shortage - Has it Changed Your Opinion on Reps?

[Sonofalich]

It changed my opinion of reps...

I would never have considered a rep if I could buy some of the Rolex models I want at RRP... but I just can't.
The dealers want a relationship with me to even place my on a waiting list and I'm just not prepared to spend £20k on items of jewellery, just to get placed on a "maybe/if/when" you're lucky you can have the watch you want list.

I can't bring myself to spend the money on the inflated secondary market prices (mostly over double the price of retail) and therefore I've come here to explore the world of Super reps.

Unfortunately, my dream watch is the Hulk of which it seems is incredibly hard to fake. (my favourite colour is green and Submariner is... well it's a Submariner, quite possibly the greatest watch ever made)

 

[Jpt1991]

I would be more than willing to buy a couple daytonas or gmts at msrp. But the shortage has forced my hand. I am not willing to pay a 2x or 3x multiplier in the after market because this is a bubble that will burst.

I work in a profession where i hold meetings with the C level every day. Call it a bad habit, but the first thing I do is look at their wrist and their shoes. It gives me a small indication of the kind of person im dealing with. That said, i have never once asked someone to take their piece off and let me examine it. Similarly, ive never had that asked of me.

In the end, this is an “if you know, you know” kind of hobby, for both rep and gen. Even with me living in one of the most materialistic areas in the country, i still only get a comment of “nice watch” maybe 1 out of every 10 interactions that i have. When you boil it down to that, why would I pay a 2x multiplier for gen, especially when i can have so much fun frankening

 

[xartan]

...Wear your reps or gens because you love them, not because you are trying to fake someone out and lie about a rep vs. a gen.

Excatly. Very well put.

 

[GingerBubba]

Fuck em. I hope reps make everyone doubt the authenticity of every Rolex they see.

+1! And fuck Patek too, if you don't want to sell me a watch, you can fuck off. I'll buy all the reps I can, save a fortune and not give a single shit. I'll save my Gen money for brands that aren't basically mass market like Rolex and that actually want me as a customer.

 

[Lordstar]

I receive more compliments on my reps than my other watches... people want to know where to buy them and how to buy them. The fact that they are reps is not really that important anymore. It’s like a fashion statement where you can have the opportunity to compliment your outfits without breaking the bank.

it had given me the opportunity to have many high end scale watches at an affordable price and still have money to support my 4 children. Without reps I would never have the chance to enhance my collection or knowledge of watches because frankly I cannot justify spending $5-10k on a watch when I can put it towards my children’s education.

to me it’s an affordable hobby and I thank all the artists that spend tireless hours making these fine masterpieces.

just because it’s called a rep doesn’t mean there was no workmanship behind it

 

[zach_1622]

just because it’s called a rep doesn’t mean there was no workmanship behind it

This is very true, and I think many people forget that. The craftmanship and the attention to details and quality-feel on some reps are way beyond other brand watches I've had for similar prices. ($400-600)

 

[2many2choose]

There's no shortage on the SS models, you should come to Hong Kong and visit the grey market dealers here. It's like a candy shop

 

[Hinclimincli]

There's no shortage on the SS models, you should come to Hong Kong and visit the grey market dealers here. It's like a candy shop

Yeah well, but how much are they charging. Don't fool yourselves, fellas, there is a clear shortage of professional models AT THE AUTHORISED DEALERS. But you can buy any, and I mean any, professional model at any time and get it delivered in 24h to your door. The problem is not the shortage (as there isn't any real shortage) but the price. People still think a Submariner 116610LN is a £6,550 watch and that's were they are 100% wrong. It's a £9,000 watch now.

Rolex knows about it and won't either increase production or control secondary market (probably because for them it's the previous step to put MRSP at £9k eventually and step into the AP league). I'm not happy with that and that's why I would never by any chance buy a genuine Submariner anymore (hell, for that money I can get a 5-digit Pepsi which to me is a far more iconic watch!). I'm in a no-reps phase but I surely know which gen I would never spend my money on, and that's a professional series Rolex.

(I would happily buy a steel Datejust, ha)

PS: This same rant applies to AP and Patek. You can get a Nautilus in 24h delivered worldwide. Brand new, with box and papers. It'll just cost you more than £35k over the official price, though.

Conclusion: save your money for a Speedmaster, which you can buy from Omega straight from their website with no delays.

 

[hussain182]

Really wanted to buy a gen SS submariner but the whole shortage thing really turned me off. So i ordered my first rep today.

 

[RiffRalf]

These are mechanical wrist watches which are inherently obsolete. Early 20th century technology and yes it tells time at the Olympics or at the races at Daytona and Paul Newman had one and it's NASA certified and it has Rolexesium in the case and all the little sprockets and springs have a 0.000001 tolerance and it runs at + or - 2s a day but for $200 we can have a watch that tells time, measures your heart rate and how many times you had sex last week and what the weather is like in Timbuktu. And we all drank the cool aid and are willing to spend thousands on a precious"gen."

A new Speedy in 1968 cost $2000 in today's money I read somewhere. Why are we charged $5k now for a watch that is made on machinery that amorticized 50 years ago made by tradesmen who have not had to learn anything new for the last 50 years? Why did I spend $2100 on a 20 year old Speedy and then another $400 on servicing it because it really wasn't as good as the seller with the excellent rep at WUS would have me believe? Why can't I buy a new Batman at the dealer for what would b e a reasonable new price or a used one at a normal 20 or 30 per cent less? Cuz we all drank the cool aid.

So hello rep world. I laugh my arse off each time I look at my wrist with my GMF Batman and say screw you Rolex and screw you dumbasses who judge someone for wearing a "fake" but can't even tell even if I spell it out to you how you can tell gen from rep.

 

[RiffRalf]

I receive more compliments on my reps than my other watches... people want to know where to buy them and how to buy them. The fact that they are reps is not really that important anymore. It’s like a fashion statement where you can have the opportunity to compliment your outfits without breaking the bank.

it had given me the opportunity to have many high end scale watches at an affordable price and still have money to support my 4 children. Without reps I would never have the chance to enhance my collection or knowledge of watches because frankly I cannot justify spending $5-10k on a watch when I can put it towards my children’s education.

to me it’s an affordable hobby and I thank all the artists that spend tireless hours making these fine masterpieces.

just because it’s called a rep doesn’t mean there was no workmanship behind it

Indeed.

7 kids here combined family.

I am a well remunerated professional and have been lucky enough to have been born in a wealthy stable small western European democracy with a very good educational system and I am not going to feed the craziness of the high end watch world

And completely agree on your sentiment in re the artisan quality involved. To get this close to the original article without access to the original equipment, drawings, worker's skill etc is quite amazing

 

[hussain182]

I live in a country where we have only 2-3 companies assembling and selling cars and imports are pretty much banned. So cars sell at a ‘premium’ above invoice price. Either wait many months to get a car or pay extra to get immediately. I always hated it.

Anyway I was shocked to hear the same story about Rolex watches. With cars I can still understand but with with mechanical watches??? They are nowhere even closed to being an essential item. And i don’t understand people who say there’s actually a ‘shortage’. They quite clearly seem to be following th ‘hype’ model we see in the sneaker industry and with brands like Supreme etc.

This will only last as long as we play along and give in to the hype. There are already news about the ‘Rolex Bubble’ beginning to burst. In the meanwhile, reps are the perfect way to get back at these fu*kers. Pay premium on top of your already overpriced bling? Hell No!

 

[stufuse]

Shortage or not, Rep are reps. Neither will ever be the other


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[muiramas]

Anyway I was shocked to hear the same story about Rolex watches. With cars I can still understand but with with mechanical watches??? They are nowhere even closed to being an essential item. And i don’t understand people who say there’s actually a ‘shortage’. They quite clearly seem to be following th ‘hype’ model we see in the sneaker industry and with brands like Supreme etc.

I almost see Rolex as the innocent party here - all they're doing is making the same amount of watches that they ever have, they're doing what they always have done. Blame it on the grey market, blame it on the AD's who back door their stock straight to them. Blame it on 'influencers', blame it on peer pressure and blame it on those morons over on Watchuseek who regard it as some kind of 'insult to the crown' if you pay MSRP for a Rolex - oh no, you have to pay at least 50% over list. Idiots.

Recently, there has been an adjustment of Watchfinder's insane prices which brings them more in line with other grey sellers. Remember Watchfinder are owned by Richmont who are a bunch of thieves. No bubble bursting. Prices are stagnating for most steel sport watches now, and then the cost of some of them will start to soften.

Shortage or not, Rep are reps. Neither will ever be the other

True. Reps are just make believe / fun / hobby / pretend.
Love and enjoy them without the 99.999% of people cant tell / 95% of the watch of 5% of the price nonsense.

 

[stufuse]

Shortage or not, Rep are reps. Neither will ever be the other


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RiffRalf]

Shortage or not, Rep are reps. Neither will ever be the other


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I would argue that they are. After all they are both watches. They both tell time and they both have an ornamental value. And the reps look almost the same to the degree that the public at large, including the average gen owner, can't tell the difference.

So what is so different then? It is just an idea.

 

[kennygconspiracy]

Well, I would argue that they are. After all they are both watches. They both tell time and they both have an ornamental value. And the reps look almost the same to the degree that the public at large, including the average gen owner, can't tell the difference.

So what is so different then? It is just an idea.

Very wise words good sir, the value is in the eye of the beholder. And 99% of people will not even know wtf a rehaut is, or what 2.5x magnification and bezel speedbumps are.

This is an extremely niche hobby. For those who franken, it is an undeniable love for the hobby and the epic journey of piecing together an aethetic. For others, it's a matter of not dishing out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for a shiny piece of metal on the wrist.

It goes back to the "Fake watches are for fake people" propaganda.

A watch is a watch. Comparing a Honda Civic to a Bugatti, the difference is tangible to nearly any human. Helping a stranger suddenly compare a VSF Omega SMP 300 (Or ARF 114300) to a gen is an excercise in madness. We remember what it was like to be a newbie. Loads of reading, time, patience and experience was required to get better and we're all still learning and always will be.

It's all in the eye of the beholder...

Sent from my DHGate Shitter V10 using Tapatalk

 

[stufuse]

Well, I would argue that they are. After all they are both watches. They both tell time and they both have an ornamental value. And the reps look almost the same to the degree that the public at large, including the average gen owner, can't tell the difference.

So what is so different then? It is just an idea.

They are indeed both watches, a rep watch can never be a genuine as the genuine could never be a rep, they are made by different manufacturers with different materials using similar techniques and machinery. It’s impossible that they will be the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[stufuse]

They are indeed both watches, a rep watch can never be a genuine as the genuine could never be a rep, they are made by different manufacturers with different materials using similar techniques and machinery. It’s impossible that they will be the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or to put it simply, one is made by rolex/ ap /Patek etc and one isn’t.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RiffRalf]

Or to put it simply, one is made by rolex/ ap /Patek etc and one isn’t.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But when the technical specs become increasingly similar like we are seeing now with the cloned movements in the Daytonas, the Omegas with the double barrel escapements and now the GMTs, and where the visual aspect is all but indistinguishable except for under the microscope, that is increasingly becoming a moot point.
Of course you can't take a rep into the water like you can take a gen - yet, in a year or two from now who knows the way things are going - but as the differences are becoming increasingly minor- all the gens have to offer is that idea that it was built by a dude, or a robot, in Switzerland as opposed to China. And that warm fuzzy feeling that you forked over $15k instead of a fraction of that.
Which is all testimony to the power of marketing.