• Tired of adverts on RWI? - Subscribe by clicking HERE and PMing Trailboss for instructions and they will magically go away!

Does your significant other know watch is fake?

Hesekiel

Vintage Watch Enthusiast
Supporter
Certified
4/1/17
1,317
1,817
113
California
Looks like I'm the exception here. Happily married for 16+ years now and one of my secrets of keeping it that way is for me not to talk about certain things. Among those certain things are first and foremost politics. My wife is a bleeding heart liberal, and I have evolved to the libertarian side, so we don't talk politics.
Then there's guns. I carry a concealed gun daily since 2014, and I don't think my wife knows that. I shoot competition for a few years now, she knows that, and I know she's not a fan of it, but that's the extent to it. When I clean a gun I used on a weekend, she just looks disinterested. At some point I was accumulating guns like I did watches, and I don't think she knows about that either. I have since reduced my stack and will continue to reduce it further, because, like watches, I use only 2 or 3 whereas the others are mostly box queens. Similarly to my watches, I usually get my money back or close to it when I sell a gun after having owned it for a while.

Which brings me to watches. I have my 6 watches in a flat jewelry box in the top drawer of our master bedroom dresser. That box is next to another, smaller jewelry box where we keep some spending cash and cards we don't use much. She uses the cash box a lot, but I don't know if she ever even looked into the watch box although she must have because it's right there in front of her eyes.
The other day she noticed my Deapsea on my wrist and said "is that a Rolex?" to which I replied, "yes, an older one." The only follow-up question she asked was "how much is that worth?" to which I replied "a few hundred bucks" (I actually have a good $1K in it). She then followed up with "I thought Rolex are expensive?" and my reply was "not old ones. You have a Rolex, honey!" (In 2003 I bought her a GEN SS 26mm Rolex with 14K Gold bezel for $560 on eBay.) That ended the discussion.
She never asked about my other watches, except once when I had my gigantic Zlatoust on the wrist she said "that's really too much!" which is kind of true. No more questions about watches in all those years and I wear them all. I make the money and there's always money in our accounts and cash in the house, so it's not like anything that would raise eyebrows. She once in a while notices when I wear a new shirt or trousers, but I'm a thrifty shopper, so I only buy something when it's on sale and I really want it. (I think I have meanwhile 12 or 14 pairs of blue jeans which have cost me between $9.99 and $29.99 at Ross.)
I don't wear other jewelry except for my wedding ring, but if I were to buy a $9.99 bead bracelet or a $100 silver bracelet, I'm sure she would notice that immediately. A watch is simply what a man wears, at least old men, and unless it's yellow or rose gold or diamond crusted, it doesn't get much attention from non-watch people.
 
Last edited:

Feefo

CEO, Vaselume (TM) Corporation
Staff member
Moderator Sales
Certified
8/5/22
15,871
38,014
113
EU
Sure she knows they're fake. When I bought the first rolex rep she made big eyes and said "you bought a rolex!" She knows they're expensive and she wouldn't mind me buying the real thing, she was just surprised. My answer was "Hon, you really think rolex sends watches home in a cardboard box wrapped in plastic?". So, she very well knows it's reps, I explained her the why's and why not, and seh also got her diamond OP.
What she doesn't really know is the extent of the operation, and she really didn't keep track of my purchases. And I have an additional" covert" stash at work...
The positive thing is she doesn't recognize one from the other, for her the explorer 1, op and datejust are the same watch. Ah, and obviously they're all 100-150ish worth...
 

zykan

Getting To Know The Place
25/8/15
33
46
18
My missus knows mine are fake, and which ones are genuine. I think it's important for trust within the relationship. A few previous posters mentioned they've kept the truth from them which, for me, is a different kettle of fish compared with outright telling them its real, especially if the gen retails at 5 figures and up. I can see why they've done it and its not deceitful but i buy reps simply because i like a certain model and it's not available without spending some serious money which probably would be better invested elsewhere (or just consumed by my 2 children...):rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bersekre

g00n

Cunning linguist & Master debater
Staff member
Moderator Sales
Certified
1/9/16
10,850
20,337
113

“Does your significant other know watch is fake?”​

She is more concerned about the time I spend browsing the forum, don’t worry I keep reminding her…..
matt damon GIF

Or do I? 🤪
 

jkent83

Active Member
Certified
3/1/22
333
501
63
Oregon
This is the wrong question. We should all be asking ourselves whether we could get away without telling our wives we buy watches at all.

On second thought, if I didn’t get to see her silent judgment every time a new watch (rep or Gen) shows up, I’d have a watch closet instead of a watch box (more accurately watch boxes).
 

serumdiesel

Madman
17/3/21
590
415
63
Of course she does. Why wouldn't she? :LOL:


She was a fashion model when we met and is actually the one who introduced me to brands beyond Rolex (e.g. Patek). Then I discovered reps and the rest is recent history.
 

OI812

Active Member
17/3/06
210
176
43
Well, very few (40+) are "fake," but, she certainly knows I
own/have owned several over the years. Most of which are scraps in parts boxes.... along with many other "genuines" I've scrapped.