Is paying nearly $500 too much for a rep

[arcadia]

I'll be honest, I didn't believe in modifying when I started this rep hobby. To me it was too much nitpicking on things that not too many people will actually compliment on. On the hindsight, I was wearing a pretty bad (yikes!) Navitimer rep to a number of events in the past and no one even noticed.

But my view totally changed when I started to see people here building amazing frankens, not to rip others off, but because they wanna overcome a challenge faced in front of them. In doing so, they become more knowledgeable in their chosen brands, more than most pompous ass friends I have who boast on their gens.

That's worth more than $500.

 

[sempire]

I enjoy this hobby, and many people do, that's why they spend the money. Maybe they spend some good cash on a good rep and then to mod it, bit to them it's priceless.

I guess you have people that spend money because they enjoy it, and you have people that try and spend the least amount because it just needs to be good enough to fool people.

 

[guru]

if you don't want to spend so much money on a rep, just buy a casio. i never read so much BS in one thread. i spent more then 500 on one rep, i always will do. if you spend 100, use the money for a good dinner, it is better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RWIGWH]

You know what they say about opinions...:shlug:

if you don't want to spend so much money on a rep, just buy a casio. i never read so much BS in one thread. i spent more then 500 on one rep, i always will do. if you spend 100, use the money for a good dinner, it is better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sempire]

if you don't want to spend so much money on a rep, just buy a casio. i never read so much BS in one thread. i spent more then 500 on one rep, i always will do. if you spend 100, use the money for a good dinner, it is better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

+1

 

[slimslim]

i'm pretty happy with the 100dollar reps i have bought. will i buy many more? maybe. i think you are better off looking in the 170-300 dollar range for something you are going to keep for a long time (and service it). if you want to pump a pile of money in to a rep that will never be a gen then that is your choice. it's not such a bad way to spend money i guess...

 

[RWIGWH]

I have many reps around 100 bux that look great, function perfectly, and have done so for years. Telling someone they should buy a Casio because they are not willing to spend 500 on a replica is not the most comprehensive statement.
That being stated, I am sure those who spend 500 + feel the same way when they are told they are dopes for spending that kind of money on....Lets face it, a REPLICA, when in fact they could buy a nice gen at the same price point. Two sides to every coin.

 

[sub4me]

slimslim, agreeded and you grasp the concept perfectly.imp:

MrZoSo, well thought out and I agree.:sub4me:

guru, we can disagree and thats ok, but I do think perhaps you may have misinterupted what I was saying and for the most part my advice was being put forth to noobs and the like, e.g. a guy saying is it a good idea to spend five bills on a rep?? I will almost always say no, but of course I do agree that some wont see it that way for various reasons.

My point is a rep that cost five bills and is running a clone ETA, a clone 3135, or a used rusty ETA is by no means better quality then say a noob sub 21J movement. Alot of guys get confused into buying the more expensive reps thinking somehow their gonna end up with a high quality rep just because it has a clone 3135, is labeled as a super rep (LOL), and cost three or five times more, this is just not the case. I have many many many times got a supposed ETA model and paid the premium price only to be disappointed time and again and when you spend a few hundred and end up with just another cheap rep it doesn't feel to good. But when you spend a hundred and get bascially the exact same watch and if fails in a year or whatever you don't feel as :screwed:.

 

[kook]

Well most of us that have been here a long time have bought at varoius price points, time was you could buy e.g. a sub with a real (new) ETA, lubed (don't believe it), waterproofed (yea right), and regulated (within reason) for about two or three bills. Now considering you were getting a ETA and not some clone movement most of us would buy at that price and modify it or just wear as it was and be pretty darn happy, however don't be fooled many of us including me have gotten some preety sh-tty watches after paying for and buying what we considered the better watches. The point is no matter how much you spend, how much the dealer insists its a super watch, 1:1, perfect rep, or whatever the story is its all just a replica and the more you spend does not equal more or better quality, fact is its a total crap shoot sometimes you get a great one, often you get a medicore one, and alot of times you will get a sh-tty one with lots of problems. With that in mind your far better off buying the 21J models and wearing it for what it is as opposed to throwing good money after bad to get what you most likley will never find.

I am on about my 10th rep. The first 3 or 4 were ALL watches that were purchased while on vacation in Thailand or Hong Kong. They were all pretty much CRAP, but that is all that was paid for. They seemed to range in $75-100 USD. The accuracy of the design, datewheel, materials, build quality, etc... Were all junk (it is before I knew what to look for). The ONLY one that still runs is a Quartz Brietling (that I hardly never really wear because it is a quartz).

Since I started doing more research and coming here and dealing with Trusted Dealers, I have typically been spending $200-350 (this most recent $450 watch was the highest) and the watches ALL still run and they are much better built and look much more accurate. So even though it can be a bit of a crap shoot, I do think you still get what you paid for (for the most part).

Well, I picked up the piece yesterday. So far, it looks like the quality and materials are very good. So good that I no longer regret paying that much for it.

That being said, I don't think I will pay that much for a rep again. I think my personal ceiling will be self impossed around the $350 range. That seems to be about the sweet spot where you get really good materials and build quality.

 

[sub4me]

kook, I agree with you and hope all the reps you get are good ones. I think one of the bigest problems is we often buy a rep and are very happy with it, but you can also use the same dealer buy the same watch from the same batch and it can be total crap. Thats one of the reasons I advise against the high priced reps, it causes the buyer way to many problems they just don't want or need and if I spend hundreds you can bet I'm gonna be pissed when it arrives, DOA, or the hands fell off during shipment, or the dial color is wrong, or the pearl is missing, or the bracelet is junk, or it doesn't wind, and on and on and on. I'm sure you get my meaning.

 

[Shayno]

I say we all work hard and can spend our $$$$ on what we like,
If someone finds it a waste of money that's fine even voice your concerns but at the end of the day it is up to the individual what they spend there $$ on.

 

[mydnytrydr]

Before I found RWI, I spent over $600.00 for a rep from a site that recently was shut down by the Attorney General of NY for being a scam site. They used pics of gens to represent their "all Swiss" watches, and were very convincing on the phone as well. As it turns out, I still have that watch. It is a pretty good piece, but I can find it from a TD for half the price. Bottom line is it IS your money to spend as you see fit, but the beauty of RWI is you have a forum of folks with the same Passion for our hobby as you, and we really do try to help each other out with our experiences with certain sellers and watchsmiths.

 

[giobo]

Thank god rwi exists...
I would still be searching the best super sub 1:1, with the gen completelly dissected...

 

[guru]

The point is, what kind of watch you want to buy. if you want to buy a HBB or an AP you are in the price range of >400...you buy these watches for 100 it is junk.
I bought the new Sub with ceramic bezel and Eta for 190 USD and it is a great rep. I would not invest in a Sub for 600.

The watches below 100 which you get in bangkok on the street have a manufacturing price of less then 10 USD, so what do you expect from them.

 

[Ruprekt]

Depends on the rep. Would you buy a WM9 Sub for $600?

 

[sub4me]

guru, good points makes sense and if you got a new sub C with a real ETA then you got a real good deal, but I not sure your average noob is gonna get that deal, but I could be wrong.

Ruprekt, I wouldn't. Please keep in mind its still a rep and no amount of mods will change that, absent replacing everything in which case you almost building a gen e.g. a guy buys the best 16610 he can find replaces the case, bezel, insert, crown, tube, stem, crystal, bracelet, end links, spring bars, dial, hands, date wheel with gen or similiar parts. Great right?? Well unless you put a 3135 movement in it you still have a rep, now if you buy the gen movement also then why bother with all the above steps and expense?? You'd be better off getting the gen sub. To me finding the best $100-$300 sub and not nitpicking over minor flaws that no one will notice makes more sense if you don't want to buy the gen.

 

[honeybear]

Ruprekt, I wouldn't. Please keep in mind its still a rep and no amount of mods will change that, absent replacing everything in which case you almost building a gen e.g. a guy buys the best 16610 he can find replaces the case, bezel, insert, crown, tube, stem, crystal, bracelet, end links, spring bars, dial, hands, date wheel with gen or similiar parts. Great right?? Well unless you put a 3135 movement in it you still have a rep, now if you buy the gen movement also then why bother with all the above steps and expense?? You'd be better off getting the gen sub. To me finding the best $100-$300 sub and not nitpicking over minor flaws that no one will notice makes more sense if you don't want to buy the gen.

To me, there is a point of diminishing returns with replicas. I don't really understand the concept of spending 1/3 the price of a preowned gen 16610 on a franken BK WM9, since the rock solid free-sprung 3135 movement, and the precision engineered Oyster case are worth something to me. Heck, there was some fool on RG asking for $1.2K for an unmodded BK LV WM9.

If you fit the exponential curve in replica prices as a function of accuracy to the gen, then I almost feel that the ultra-frakens start making the gens look like good value for money.

Look, I understand if you view the journey of building your franken, hunting down gen parts, and putting it together as a hobby, but buying one preassembled for an inflated price is a less sensible endeavor for me. I find it a bit silly when people talk of fraken watches as having more soul than a gen, again this almost makes sense if it's your labor of love, but not otherwise.

For me, if I were ever to embark on a franken project, it would probably be for a gen watch which has an artificially inflated price based on scarcity, maybe a Daytona Paul Newman project with a V72 movement. My reasoning is that a watch which has a very high regular retail price involves finishing and execution that is beyond my ability to replicate realistically, and if the price was not artificially inflated by demand, then I would rather put my money towards saving for the gen.

 

[jonasprivate]

I cant afford to buy a gen AP for 25k or a gen Hublot for the same price.
So i pay 500 for a rep.

 

[honeybear]

I cant afford to buy a gen AP for 25k or a gen Hublot for the same price.
So i pay 500 for a rep.

Fair enough, but you're not pumping in another $5K to make an ultra franken, so that it is more believable... But that's precisely what some people are doing with the franken watches, they're putting in close to 25% the price of a gen in such watches. To what end? Most people will still judge whether a Rolex is real or fake based on who you are, what you do, wear and drive, and perhaps whether it ticks, as opposed to whether the cyclops is AR coated, the rehaut is aligned, the crown guards are shaved.

 

[sub4me]

honeybear is very wise.:sub4me: