+1
Wow this is the best response that I've read.
It is a good response. My point was that people buy accurate reps to pretend they are real, even if only to themselves. This to me is fine, if you really walk the talk and plenty of people do casually enjoy their reps. The ultra defensive responses of some members speaks much louder than their words as to how they really feel. "Thou doest protest too much, and such"
If it really isn't about putting if off as a genuine watch, you would be wearing homage pieces, not replicas.
I'll use this quote from Forbes magazine: "
Fake watches exist to satisfy the desires who cannot afford "the real thing" but want to portray the status of those who can."
For myself however, I prefer the real deal and to support the legitimate industry.
I actually only own one "rep" and it is a fantasy rep, as in not a copy of a real piece. It is a VC tourbillon chronograph.
My real purpose here is now complete. I've done my research here and have found that there are no accurate Breguet reps, and there are no accurate thin watch reps which is what I was hoping for.
I have bought a few gens in the last month: Patek Philippe 3919, JLC master ultra thin Rose gold, VC 31160, (you see I have this thing for thin watches that haven't been succussfully copied) and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a huge IWC 5251. My research here was to make sure there are no accurate reps of the gens I am buying, and there are not, everything I have seen in the ultra thin department have been awfully thick fakes.
So now that you know this, the posts projecting "how I wear my replicas" is now exposed as just your projections, since I don't wear replicas, I wear the real thing.
I know this is not a popular issue on a replica board. I wasn't intending to make this my home, just to do my research of which watches there are no fakes of, and I'm sure you all will breath easier when I'm gone knowing you can get back to your usual witty banter without the scary dark cloud of someone who might bring up the scary words of "ethics" or "interdependence" or those even worse words like the "p" word. The dirty truth is some (not all) but definitely some wear fake status symbols to reap the benefits of status symbols. Status symbols are symbols of one's status, unless they are fake, i.e. unless they have
not been earned. You just can't tell me that a Rolex is not a status symbol.
Feel free to call me an elitist, 1%er, whatever makes you feel better. Fact is I prefer the quality of the real thing, and there is a difference. Not when we are talking LV bags of course, they are crap quality no matter who makes them, which is why the LV bags are a terrible analogy. The fiero/ferrari is a better analogy, and I have yet to hear a believable response regarding that.
I prefer to support the manufacturers who come up with these beautiful timepieces. I don't fancy myself a mosquito with respect to the manufacturers.
Like it or not, the replica industry does significantly hurt the legitimate industry, even if you don't care about those people.
A few questions:
Why does it bother people when someone dresses up in a fake high ranking military uniform and walks around?
And why does it bother people when they see some spoiled 16 year old rich kid wearing a real Breguet tourbillon?
Same answer, yes? No?
Be honest in your responses to these two questions
If I were to ask random people on the street what they thought about people who wear fake rolexes, what do you think they would say?
