I have written enough about my opinion in regards to Gens and Reps.
I'm glad you read my Bible, I was targeting people like you and I hope you learnt something from it. Tell me expert, Rolex sells for $9k their watches? Wow... How many you own? How much does it cost for them to make each of their watch? (The answer for the question is below so you can start copying and pasting next time someone asks you the question and you'll look very cool and like an expert!) - ignorance is a bliss.
Gens aren't perfect either but surely Rolex doesn't build their watches aiming to have flaws, when there's an imperfection people accept it for the fact that "they bought it from AD" not because that's what Rolex advertises or promises to sell. I personally would never buy a crooked Gen.
Some of you mentioned "when you stare at a rehaut"? Well, there are many people who buy Gens for the merit of having one, not really because of the quality of the watch, it's more to show off and a feeling of achieving success or fulfilment whichever hole they're missing to in their lives. If you check a Rolex forum, you'll see that people get some terribly built pieces (and after they have for a few months they start to complain that things don't feel right! These type of people are exactly what you all are judging from what I read from each of you) which I would never buy watches with such obvious imperfections, furthermore to answer your question, most watch lovers and people who actually admire Rolex by what it truly is instead of the "show off" wannabes who buy just to prove something to people who will never care about it but they need the receipt from the AD to prove they bought a Rolex in their lifetime. When I bought mine I did my inspection of the watch and studied a lot before getting it from the AD. Surely didn't want a terrible cyclops or misaligned rehaut. I honestly would never buy any Gen watch with any imperfection for the price tag they have, maybe that's just me and my OCD or I just value details more than others and the reason I love watches, the details are the most important thing in my eyes.
One of you mentioned progress... Reps have been around for a long time and until now they haven't managed to nail not even 50% of a Submariner which is the Rep flagship model, let alone the whole watch. Still a long way to go! Keep defending these factories and thinking they're Gods and 50 years from now you have the same thing and the usual 1 step forward and 10 steps backwards in future upcoming releases.
Lots of ignorance about prices going on. Holding a Rep for $500 with perfect rehaut is crazy? Crazy is how you spit ignorance with no knowledge of anything whatsoever. Funnily enough that's around the price that costs Rolex (500EUR) to make one and they sell for £7k+. Furthermore I'd like to add because you seem to be those ignorant people who think that Rolex watches are handmade, guess what? No it's the same lovely robots which come from guess where? CHINA dear experts... China... (yes write down on your notepad so next time you can copy and paste what you read from the internet again and you can sound expert)
ZZF for example probably sell their V2 / V2s from $280-330 from factory to TDs, and the TDs sell for $470 to foreigners. In China you can find ZZF V2 / V2s from $380 if you have the right connections but it's difficult to find sellers for high end in person! Surely they can make a better Rep since they've got all the tools or else they wouldn't manage to make what they're currently making, all that is needed is perfectionism and willingness for greatness and not incompetent mindset of making "good enough to sell" pieces. All the nonsense thinking these factories are 2x2 meter square rooms with 1 or 2 workers just proves the amount of ignorance floating in the hair. Actually factories like Noob, ZZF and ARF are very well established factories and they all have the infrastructure to provide better products. Quit your "illegal business" excuse that just proves more and more ignorance. Big deal being illegal, the government that manipulates your little lives are illegal and guess what? Nobody gives a fuck! They keep doing their illegal business because that's how the world runs... In China they don't give a fuck about "illegal Rep factories" because that's how the country runs and in fact brings money to the country, China pretends to care and raid one or two Rep factory here and there... They honestly don't give a shit and love the fact they exist! Just like in South America the government love the drug traffickers, that's the source of income and better GDP. I won't give you life lessons which obviously you need some but you've been around the forum for longer than I have and know less about Rep watches, that shows that some just evolve and learn better than others. Moral of story, enough money flowing to make a Rep with close to no flaw especially given they're from China! Most of you probably have no idea what that means but any educated person who owns business and have been to China before would understand.
ARF for example, often has perfect alignment and good serial number placed however their font and engraving machine is not as good as ZZF for example. Surely they can make it right if "they want to" but they're too lazy and think it's good enough for the "stupid Western foreigners", they keep buying... So why would they bother? - which is fair enough their part, the stupid ones surely are the foreigners who often are uneducated and buy whatever everyone's buying and whatever is popular. If it ain't broke don't fix it... That's their mindset and what they think, however it's clearly broken but you keep sucking their little pee pee... At least if it was a big one I'd understand lol.
I can't care any less about labels of being an "expert" nor consider myself one but surely some just know more than others.
About ZF, hope this one will be a great option available and that they will fix the alignment for the release. We don't need another copy of a copy which is broken such as ZZF V2s. Don't get me wrong ZZF V2s is by far my favourite Rep Hulk but they have to fix that case, rehaut alignment can easily be done if wanted to.