To those that own GEN's, why?

[en002k]

Well... it depends on the type of person you are.

If it was me, I'd wear the gen everyday and only wear rep in times I know I'll be in slightly more unsafe places, travelling, night life, etc

But also, there are people who keep the gen in the safe and only bring it out on special occasions. Keep the condition nice and clean for resale. And then wear the rep everyday and abuse the shit out of it. After all. Depending on the damage, a servicing at Rolex could cost 2x the replica lol.

Currently where I'm at right now, been wearing the GEN daily with a CF bracelet so if it gets scratched or nicked it won't matter too much.

 

[en002k]

Tale as old as time this, and it's part of the reason that I only really collect at the Franken level because out of the box reps lacks that special something. Gen dial for example, always makes a rep pop.

Helps if you've been around the "scene" for a while and have seen just how far the quality has come, really can't complain these days.

For me, gen really means more than the watch itself. Reps are so much fun, chasing, sampling, trying loads at once, binge buying. The ones that really "sit well" I end up chasing gen.

Can't beat gen

Yup awesome take on GENs. I think if you work on watches yourself, the intriguing part about Frankens is you can almost always make your $ back by parting out.

 

[MeasurementCraft]

Many comments to make here. Tbh I hate these Why Gen?, Why Reps? posts.....your struggle, your epiphany, whatever you want to call it has been the topic of endless posts. It's nothing new. Everyone is of a different mindset and has their own reasons none of which you will likely change. People are people and what's good for one won't work for someone else and that's ok. You got to do what feels right for you.

I have have both gens and reps. For me.....I've come to the realization it's just a watch. Don't get me wrong I do like watches a lot. If I had unlimited funds I'd have all the gens mainly for quality and longevity purposes. But such is life and I have to choose. I wear my reps more than the gens because I get enjoyment from wearing all the different ones I have. I don't nit pick on the flaws, nobody cares. I'm not dressing to impress, nobody cares. It really comes down to a mindset. You can convince yourself that Gen gives you status, is an heirloom to pass down, doesn't make you feel fake, is an investment, or it has some great history or whatever bullshit you need to make yourself feel better. But maybe just enjoy the watch for what is and maybe the rest won't matter. At the end of the day people don't care about what's on your wrist and you shouldn't either. People care about the person wearing it. So if you are an asshat wearing a $30k watch, the watch isn't going to change that. I sold several of my gens because the rep was perfectly good enough. If you really want to buy a gen, make it something that isn't rep'd. All of us here went down the rep rabbit hole and no going back to what we didn't know. So I've kept gens that there is no good rep for. Apollo 8 Dark Side of the Moon and Moonwatch for example. I think if you can just enjoy a watch for what it is and let go of all of the rest, you will find greater joy in watch wearing. I'm not saying don't buy gen, just buy it with the right mindset and I think you will be far happier.

I would agree with a previous post that the rep is excellent way to see if the watch is something you bond with. We've all bought watches that we ended up selling because we didn't love it as much as we thought. I'd rather realize this with a rep than a $10k gen.

couldn’t have said it better.

I always had a 116520 Daytona on my gen grail list. Purchased a franken rep and was instantly underwhelmed by its size on my wrist moment I received it. I ended op selling a few months later as I just could not gel with it. Needless to say, Daytona’s are no longer on my gen grail list.

 

[peterpl]

To add to my previous post - I buy gens of models that cannot and most likely wont ever be repped. For instance I was lusting over this IWC Perpetual calendar for close to 10 years now. I bought Rolex gens primarily and I finally gifted myself this for my birthday.

I knew no rep would ever come close to this thing of beauty.

 

[Got20Mate]

Yup awesome take on GENs. I think if you work on watches yourself, the intriguing part about Frankens is you can almost always make your $ back by parting out.

Value in the parts is always there, couldn't agree more

 

[en002k]

To add to my previous post - I buy gens of models that cannot and most likely wont ever be repped. For instance I was lusting over this IWC Perpetual calendar for close to 10 years now. I bought Rolex gens primarily and I finally gifted myself this for my 38th birthday.

I knew no rep would ever come close to this thing of beauty.

Yup this is 100% where I might be headed, the idea I mean. Find a GEN that's been hard to Rep and stick with it. Might be looking at a GMT-ii, and sell the GEN 124060

 

[TheBigJS]

Now I wonder that if I dish out the price for a gen Sub, that I will be disappointed though I will not have « lost » any money due to resell value.

That depends, the day I picked my first decent rep up, a few days after my divorce was settled, house was sold, proceeds were split and I easily had gen (grey market) Submariner/Daytona money in the bank.
But sanity prevailed and I paid £440 face to face for a VSF Starbucks sub with the deal being set up from an M2M post.

To the point, back then there was in town, that day a Starbucks in a local shop/jewellers/grey dealer, used....you sat down? £16499!
Today that watch is what, £11500, boxed, still stickered?

And that's Rolex, that's as good as value retention gets!
Down £5k in < 3 years.

 

[Karbon74]

That depends, the day I picked my first decent rep up, a few days after my divorce was settled, house was sold, proceeds were split and I easily had gen (grey market) Submariner/Daytona money in the bank.
But sanity prevailed and I paid £440 face to face for a VSF Starbucks sub with the deal being set up from an M2M post.

To the point, back then there was in town, that day a Starbucks in a local shop/jewellers/grey dealer, used....you sat down? £16499!
Today that watch is what, £11500, boxed, still stickered?

And that's Rolex, that's as good as value retention gets!
Down £5k in < 3 years.

i think you are right
i don't own a gen Rolex, but I do regret not having bought them a decade ago
It seemed so expensive and not worth it at that time...

 

[joshhb8282]

i think you are right
i don't own a gen Rolex, but I do regret not having bought them a decade ago
It seemed so expensive and not worth it at that time...

I paid over MSRP for my first Daytona in 2007ish ... by $300 bucks for a total of $8300

 

[TheBigJS]

One of my best friends (who is salaried way past £200k p/a) has a few nice watches, including a SeaDweller he bought new from Goldsmiths which I've held and worn. He barely wears it for fear of scratching it, this is a guy who drives an M8 Beemer and has a hifi with a £35k amplifier and £2k's worth of speaker cable.

I picked up this the other day. £225. It time graphs at 4 seconds fast per day, I had it pressure tested at Timpsons yesterday, it passed 6atm, 60 meters.

This is a £17300 watch, which you can pick up secondary for £12k or so, that actually makes it a great watch to claim as gen (which I never do, I'm totally open that I'm wearing a rep if asked)

£12k! Vs £225!
<2%!
No, the gen is flat out, categorically not worth £12k (let alone £17k!)... £2 or £3k? Yeah I think so, £17k? Don't be stupid!
Let's not talk about this eh?

 

[muiramas]

Tbh I hate these Why Gen?, Why Reps? posts.....your struggle, your epiphany, whatever you want to call it has been the topic of endless posts. It's nothing new. Everyone is of a different mindset and has their own reasons none of which you will likely change.

This. The topic is just so...

 

[GingerBubba]

I paid over MSRP for my first Daytona in 2007ish ... by $300 bucks for a total of $8300

What's it worth now out of interest? I wonder if it has out performed the market (the same amount invested in a Dow tracker back then would be worth $44324.32 today).

 

[joshhb8282]

What's it worth now out of interest? I wonder if it has out performed the market (the same amount invested in a Dow tracker back then would be worth $44324.32 today

Nah not even close during the height of Covid idiocy they were mid 20's now theyre back to the 16-20k range depending on condition, papers etc.

 

[joshhb8282]

One of my best friends (who is salaried way past £200k p/a) has a few nice watches, including a SeaDweller he bought new from Goldsmiths which I've held and worn. He barely wears it for fear of scratching it, this is a guy who drives an M8 Beemer and has a hifi with a £35k amplifier and £2k's worth of speaker cable.

I picked up this the other day. £225. It time graphs at 4 seconds fast per day, I had it pressure tested at Timpsons yesterday, it passed 6atm, 60 meters.

This is a £17300 watch, which you can pick up secondary for £12k or so, that actually makes it a great watch to claim as gen (which I never do, I'm totally open that I'm wearing a rep if asked)

£12k! Vs £225!
<2%!
No, the gen is flat out, categorically not worth £12k (let alone £17k!)... £2 or £3k? Yeah I think so, £17k? Don't be stupid!
Let's not talk about this eh?

I have a gen 126603 too, its worth it because no matter how much you try to fake it, you can never fake the weight and look and feel of genuine gold. The stainless SD43 on the other hand, you can make this argument.

Worth it is always subjective, but to me fake gold watches make me feel like a used car dealer from 1986 in a plaid jacket. YMMV

 

[TheBigJS]

I have a gen 126603 too, its worth it because no matter how much you try to fake it, you can never fake the weight and look and feel of genuine gold. The stainless SD43 on the other hand, you can make this argument.

Worth it is always subjective, but to me fake gold watches make me feel like a used car dealer from 1986 in a plaid jacket. YMMV

The weight difference between a steel and a two tone Rolex is 16 grams.
A steel SeaDweller is about 212 grams anyway, it's for sure (for me) on the edge of being to heavy to be all day comfortable.
You're not picking it up and saying it's too light, is 50g heavier than a Submariner and 16g too light to be real gold two tone bracelet. It still feels heavy.
I'd say the ARF "gold" is very very good. Compared to my VSF bluesy if you told me it had been replated I'd believe you.


The ring is (possibly only 9k) gold. It's a mile from the cheese of stock VSF.

There's only about £1000 worth of gold in a two tone Rolex, there's a £4.5k extra markup over a normal steel SeaDweller, which the market doesn't fall for at all, hence this being on of the few affordable (ish) Rolex that trades way way under MSRP.

 

[GingerBubba]

On the subject of Rolies that trade inside their MRRP, the white gold, blue bezel sub, 126619LB, is available for almost half it's retail price! Why!!?! I'm tempted to pick one up on the basis I won't feel so ripped off by the whole procedure.

 

[joshhb8282]

On the subject of Rolies that trade inside their MRRP, the white gold, blue bezel sub, 126619LB, is available for almost half it's retail price! Why!!?! I'm tempted to pick one up on the basis I won't feel so ripped off by the whole procedure.

In general precious metal and two tone Rolex don't hold their value, like said above I got my TT SD43 like 30% off msrp without even trying.

White gold goes even less because it's understated, most people want the bling factor when they're buying gold. Great watch great value play.

 

[Reaps]

Liquidity for all those PM models are very low. Despite what social media and whatever shows you, not many people in the world can afford or are in the market for a $35-40k watch.

 

[SOLEX]

Gens are nice to have, and nice to hand down to the next generation. I am not a fan of owning multiple gen watches, I rather put 2-3 watches into one Precious Metal watch (which I did) and have a stainless rep for times I need to wear it.

If more funds were available for toys like watches, yeah I would have another gen or two....

 

[speedyguy]

Personally, I don’t like to wear reps around family or friends. Either I don’t say anything, which feels fake, or I share that it is a rep, which, even as someone with several reps, I consider tacky. That’s just my viewpoint, and I understand that other people feel differently. I tend to only wear my reps when I’m out and about with my fiancée or running errands, just for my personal enjoyment.

The nice thing about reps is I get the chance to test drive ownership of some high end watches before taking the plunge/while waiting to get off the list. That’s helped me narrow down on watches I absolutely want a gen of, and watches that I don’t mind just having a rep.

My first high end gen was a Speedmaster. My second will likely be a Sub Date, as I’ve been promised one in a few months by my AD. My third will probably be an Omega LMPO. Eventually, I hope to get a gen Panda, but that will likely be from the gray market.

I am fortunate to have a great career, as well as a prosperous home business, which allows me to comfortably save towards owning gens. So for me, it is worth it and achievable to buy gen. It means I have something I can wear proudly and eventually pass down. With the Rolexes, I can also feel somewhat secure in knowing they’ll retain a lot of value. Even if they don’t, it won’t be the end of the world.