None of those involve luck. There's no luck of the draw. You're buying a fake chinese watch. Be realistic about what you're buying.
+1. I think that people are so obsessed now with getting the Vxx version of a watch that will be the most
"gen like" and have almost no flaws under a 10x magnifying glass that they lose sight of what a rep is and what purpose it should serve.
AFIC, a rep is a thing that you buy to try and/or to enjoy for what it is. If it has flaws, so be it. It won't stop me from enjoying it. After CNY, I will be ordering an IWC Pilot Chrono Spitfire even if it has the running seconds at the wrong place. I like the watch and I don't care if it's not "gen like". As a wise man once said: the watch will be 1:1 when the price will be 1:1. And guess what even gens have flaws sometimes. You just don't bother to put them under the same stringent "QC" 10x zoomed in photos because... they are gens so in your mind there is no point looking for flaws. But if you look hard enough, you'll inevitably find some.
I also think that the community bears a responsibility in creating that kind of mindsets. That and the fact that reps have come that far quality wise. I have a bone stock VSF sub and I hardly believe that it's a rep when it's on my wrist and I've had gen rolexs for years so I know what a gen feels like on the wrist. Still, every time I wear it, I am blown away and it gives me great pleasure. Same thing with the 116500. Hell I like it better than the gen daytona I had a few years back as I never bonded with the steel bezel.
On the right wrist, most of the good reps (not even the NWBIG super reps) or even the decent reps will fool 99,x% of the population (if that's your endgame). On the forum we are commenting on flaws that we pick up on magnified pictures of a static object. If you are able to pick up these flaws IRL on a moving object at arms length then you must have been a Hawk in a previous life or will be be reincarnated into one! Remember that the person wearing the watch will always be the biggest tell. But at the end of the day it's still a rep. You can fool some people sometimes, buy you can't fool all the people all the time and most of all, you can't fool yourself
Another issue I see is the reliability concerns of rep movements. Except for some modified 7750s that could potentially be ticking time bombs, I don't see any reason to overthink this issue. If you have the opportunity to get a rep that you like, just go for it. I don't understand the nonsense that goes like: I love this watch but it has the SH4130 so I'll pass... Just get the damn watch and enjoy it! If it works it works... No movement is 100% safe. Hell being a long time gen owner, I've had my share of issues with sometimes brand new gen watches malfunctioning (once with a Rolex GMT and I've had a Bulgari watch spend so much time in service that they had to replace it).
The only difference is that when you buy gen you have the corporate warranty (if you know however how to stand your ground and navigate through their BS ). But then again, if a rep movement fails you can get a new one for less than the cost of service of a gen one. Hell you can get the whole watch for less than the service cost of its gen counterpart.
If you like a rep. Get it and try it. If it suits you, keep it and enjoy it. If it doesn't you can always sell it to someone who will enjoy it. You can even get that heavy hitter that you love so much but are afraid to get because it is way out of your league. You can always wear it and enjoy it at home...
