My observations on rep prices probably don't warrant their own thread, but I'll start one anyway. 
It seems that there has been a substantial increase in talk about escalating rep prices around here lately. I guess that makes sense because prices have steadily gone up over the past few years -- it probably started around the time the Hublot reps started popping up. Furthermore, it probably is an indication that most mainstream folks have nearly reached a boiling point with rep prices.
It would probably be smart for dealers take notice. However, I would guess that they still get a fair amount of orders for watches with lofty prices. I'm sure they have a good grasp of the temperature of the rep market; and if they are raising prices, it's because they think the market will bear it. As I had mentioned in other posts, I don't blame them at all. They certainly have a right to make as much money as possible.
One thing I've noticed (both with myself and with what I see on the forums) is that there is a cycle to the lifetime of the average rep buyer that plays HEAVILY into how much they will spend... it goes something like this:
(1) Newbie to the rep world -- maybe has purchased a Canal-street special or got ripped off on a scam site... or has never bought another at all.
(2) Newbie to the forum and trusted dealers -- they're obsessed with trying to figure out who has the best rep. They read and read and ask the same questions over and over because they are afraid of pulling the trigger on their first "real" purchase. These folks are hard to squeeze much money from since they are so afraid to make a mistake.
(3) Educated Newbie -- now the flood gates have opened. These folks buy and buy and buy. They also tend to post a lot as well. They usually obsess about all manner of watches and a lot of them look to build a collections of different styles and types. These folks are the ones that the dealers LOVE because they are so caught up in the act of acquiring watches that they give little thought to the prices and value that they are getting.
(4) Veteran -- this is where the selling begins in earnest. These folks have bought and sold a bunch of watches... and their collections are substantially smaller than they were at the height of their newbie buying spree. They have also learned the hard way that some watches / movements / finishes / materials / dealers / etc. are better than others. They try to impart knowledge and wisdom upon other folks on the forum, but most noobs need to learn on their own. This is also where people start questioning the money they have spent over the past weeks / months / years. They realize that a lot of what they have bought isn't worth what they paid. Here is where there is a fork in the road.
(5a) Jaded Old Salt -- these folks have started to lose interest. They have a couple of watches left and they wear them, but their buying days are pretty much over. A lot of them drop off the forum or rarely post. They also have zero interest in high dollar reps. Dealers don't really care about these people at all for obvious reasons.
(5b) Seasoned Watch Expert -- the other fork in the road is with these folks. They still love their watches and they still obsess over the latest and greatest reps that come on the market. They know what's worth the money and what's not and spend accordingly. Their collections might be big or little but there is nothing but quality in them. They also might have moved into servicing movements or modding watches to make them better. Most of all, rather than buying on a whim, they are simply on the long, hard question for the holy grail of watches.
I think that, depending where you are in the life cycle, you will have different opinions on the price of reps. Dealers will also have different levels of fondness for you, according to your tastes.
Let's look analytically and objectively at rep prices for a moment. To the seller, the price of a watch is what the market will bear. That goes for gens or reps. A Rolex is priced at what it's priced at because enough people will buy it at that price to satisfy Rolex and keep their company afloat. Rep dealers do the same.
To the buyer, however... what are the components of making a watch "worth" the price paid?
One part is the watch itself. This is the quality of the actual materials, movement, machining, features, etc. In this case, we usually see that reps do NOT hold up. You can buy quite a nice Seiko or Citizen for what most quality reps cost. Heck, you can buy a wonderfully accurate Timex for a fraction of the cost. The longer you've been around the game, the more the actual quality of the watch means to you... but generally reps aren't stellar in this aspect.
Another part is the design. If you can separate the brand from consideration, you'd be looking at just the styling of the watch. Does the "look" of the watch make you feel happy to wear it? Is it too big or too small... or juuuuust right? Is it beautiful or mean or hip or classy or whatever it is you're looking for? When it comes to reps, this work has been done for them by the gen manufacturers. That being said, there are plenty of reasonably priced watches available at the shopping mall that are pretty cool. Fossil has a whole bunch of very stylish watches that will run for a long time accurately and can be had for under $100. So basically reps don't really add much in this aspect either.
The last part is the brand name and the weight that carries. Rolex carries a lot of weight since most people know what that means. Same with brands like Tag, Breitling, Omega. Other brands are less well known... these brands might only add value to the reps based on YOUR OWN personal feelings. Most people out there have no idea what Panerai is. So a rep PAM is worth more to you than an homage or sterile watch simply because you like PAMs. This is where the perceived "value" of reps comes in. (Curiously but to a lesser degree, this is where high dollar gens get a lot of their perceived value as well.)
So is a rep worth $200 or $500 or $800? If you're only looking at the quality of the watch itself versus what you can get on the gen market for that money from Seiko... certainly not. If you wanted the most durable and accurate watch that $800 could buy, it's definitely not going to be a rep with an asian 7750 movement. But it won't say "HUBLOT" on the dial or have "BREITLING" engraved on the back or have a tiny little crown laser-etched on the crystal.
So what was the point of all this rambling? Actually, I don't know.
But seriously, only YOU can decide if the watch is worth what you paid for it. But don't fool yourself by trying to rationalize that it's money well spent because it's a "good" watch. Don't try to convince yourself that your rep is anything but a toy or a piece of jewelry to show off to others... if you were trapped on a desert island by yourself, you'd be much better served to have a Casio G-Shock than a $1000 tourbillion rep. However, if every time you wear your watch, a supermodel falls into your lap, then you did good buying it. If every time you head to Starbucks while wearing your rep, a CEO of a billion dollar company offers you a job because of your good taste, then it was money well spent. If every time you look down at your wrist, you get $1k worth of warm fuzzy feelings, then it was a great purchase.
It seems that there has been a substantial increase in talk about escalating rep prices around here lately. I guess that makes sense because prices have steadily gone up over the past few years -- it probably started around the time the Hublot reps started popping up. Furthermore, it probably is an indication that most mainstream folks have nearly reached a boiling point with rep prices.
It would probably be smart for dealers take notice. However, I would guess that they still get a fair amount of orders for watches with lofty prices. I'm sure they have a good grasp of the temperature of the rep market; and if they are raising prices, it's because they think the market will bear it. As I had mentioned in other posts, I don't blame them at all. They certainly have a right to make as much money as possible.
One thing I've noticed (both with myself and with what I see on the forums) is that there is a cycle to the lifetime of the average rep buyer that plays HEAVILY into how much they will spend... it goes something like this:
(1) Newbie to the rep world -- maybe has purchased a Canal-street special or got ripped off on a scam site... or has never bought another at all.
(2) Newbie to the forum and trusted dealers -- they're obsessed with trying to figure out who has the best rep. They read and read and ask the same questions over and over because they are afraid of pulling the trigger on their first "real" purchase. These folks are hard to squeeze much money from since they are so afraid to make a mistake.
(3) Educated Newbie -- now the flood gates have opened. These folks buy and buy and buy. They also tend to post a lot as well. They usually obsess about all manner of watches and a lot of them look to build a collections of different styles and types. These folks are the ones that the dealers LOVE because they are so caught up in the act of acquiring watches that they give little thought to the prices and value that they are getting.
(4) Veteran -- this is where the selling begins in earnest. These folks have bought and sold a bunch of watches... and their collections are substantially smaller than they were at the height of their newbie buying spree. They have also learned the hard way that some watches / movements / finishes / materials / dealers / etc. are better than others. They try to impart knowledge and wisdom upon other folks on the forum, but most noobs need to learn on their own.
This is also where people start questioning the money they have spent over the past weeks / months / years. They realize that a lot of what they have bought isn't worth what they paid. Here is where there is a fork in the road.(5a) Jaded Old Salt -- these folks have started to lose interest. They have a couple of watches left and they wear them, but their buying days are pretty much over. A lot of them drop off the forum or rarely post. They also have zero interest in high dollar reps. Dealers don't really care about these people at all for obvious reasons.
(5b) Seasoned Watch Expert -- the other fork in the road is with these folks. They still love their watches and they still obsess over the latest and greatest reps that come on the market. They know what's worth the money and what's not and spend accordingly. Their collections might be big or little but there is nothing but quality in them. They also might have moved into servicing movements or modding watches to make them better. Most of all, rather than buying on a whim, they are simply on the long, hard question for the holy grail of watches.
I think that, depending where you are in the life cycle, you will have different opinions on the price of reps. Dealers will also have different levels of fondness for you, according to your tastes.
Let's look analytically and objectively at rep prices for a moment. To the seller, the price of a watch is what the market will bear. That goes for gens or reps. A Rolex is priced at what it's priced at because enough people will buy it at that price to satisfy Rolex and keep their company afloat. Rep dealers do the same.
To the buyer, however... what are the components of making a watch "worth" the price paid?
One part is the watch itself. This is the quality of the actual materials, movement, machining, features, etc. In this case, we usually see that reps do NOT hold up. You can buy quite a nice Seiko or Citizen for what most quality reps cost. Heck, you can buy a wonderfully accurate Timex for a fraction of the cost. The longer you've been around the game, the more the actual quality of the watch means to you... but generally reps aren't stellar in this aspect.
Another part is the design. If you can separate the brand from consideration, you'd be looking at just the styling of the watch. Does the "look" of the watch make you feel happy to wear it? Is it too big or too small... or juuuuust right? Is it beautiful or mean or hip or classy or whatever it is you're looking for? When it comes to reps, this work has been done for them by the gen manufacturers. That being said, there are plenty of reasonably priced watches available at the shopping mall that are pretty cool. Fossil has a whole bunch of very stylish watches that will run for a long time accurately and can be had for under $100. So basically reps don't really add much in this aspect either.
The last part is the brand name and the weight that carries. Rolex carries a lot of weight since most people know what that means. Same with brands like Tag, Breitling, Omega. Other brands are less well known... these brands might only add value to the reps based on YOUR OWN personal feelings. Most people out there have no idea what Panerai is. So a rep PAM is worth more to you than an homage or sterile watch simply because you like PAMs. This is where the perceived "value" of reps comes in. (Curiously but to a lesser degree, this is where high dollar gens get a lot of their perceived value as well.)
So is a rep worth $200 or $500 or $800? If you're only looking at the quality of the watch itself versus what you can get on the gen market for that money from Seiko... certainly not. If you wanted the most durable and accurate watch that $800 could buy, it's definitely not going to be a rep with an asian 7750 movement. But it won't say "HUBLOT" on the dial or have "BREITLING" engraved on the back or have a tiny little crown laser-etched on the crystal.
So what was the point of all this rambling? Actually, I don't know.
But seriously, only YOU can decide if the watch is worth what you paid for it. But don't fool yourself by trying to rationalize that it's money well spent because it's a "good" watch. Don't try to convince yourself that your rep is anything but a toy or a piece of jewelry to show off to others... if you were trapped on a desert island by yourself, you'd be much better served to have a Casio G-Shock than a $1000 tourbillion rep. However, if every time you wear your watch, a supermodel falls into your lap, then you did good buying it. If every time you head to Starbucks while wearing your rep, a CEO of a billion dollar company offers you a job because of your good taste, then it was money well spent. If every time you look down at your wrist, you get $1k worth of warm fuzzy feelings, then it was a great purchase.
