My six phases of rep collecting

[makoberry]

1. The Inception
You find a replica forum and are overwhelmed by the amount of information. You drool at all the great wrist shots and feel the urge to buy a high quality rep for yourself.

2. Pulling The Trigger
After some studying in the forums you find a dealer you like and start negotiating. You are impressed by the quality of your first rep and want more.

3. The Collection
Your watch box is filling up and you get more experienced. There is always a new watch on the horizon. Your new hobby is getting expensive.

4. The Cooling-Off
You are getting pissed off at the non-existent quality control and the small, but important tells. Movement problems, dealer problems and bad experiences pile up and make you want to forget this hobby.

5. Mr. Frankenstein
You sell most of your collection and start focusing on a brand or a specific model. You want to get your favorite rep as close to the gen as possible. Modders, genuine movements and Superluminova are your new best friends.

6. Nothing Like The Gen
You realize how much money you spent on counterfeits and that you might as well get the gen.

A few years later, it starts over again ...

 

[fakemaster]

Gotta bump the five stages thread up.

 

[jhudson]

*reading and scared because I'm halfway into Phase 2* :facepalm:


lol

 

[gapple]

OMG! I'm not the only one!

I thought I was being cool about this and you have nailed me.

I am on step 4, and 5, and 6 simultaneously.

Is there a rep shrink in the house?

Good stuff. ;-)

 

[rooster133]

lol very funny! great post!

 

[pcsam]

im on level 17 ......nothing to worry about folks ..........:wacko::sam:

 

[optical]

Im deep in the cooling off period

 

[Positive]

Good to know I'm not the only one. I'm at stage 4-6 as well at the moment.

 

[jimmyboy]

After phase 1 and 2 now, my first few reps have taken me to phase 6. So starting gens now.

Yet Reps are way cheaper. My first gen made me spend a few thousand dollars.

Good luck all with this hobby.

 

[therebel]

Ha, so funny this was posted, as I mentioned the phases yesterday. After being in this hobby for ~5 years (reps and 12 years as a gen watchnut) I have added two additional stages. I think this is true with most of the collectors who have been around a while.

7. Repeat steps 1-6 anywhere from 5-50 times.

8. Randomly buy a 'super rep' once a year to compare to your gens and sell quickly. Realize even the newest and best just won't cut it once your stage 6 lasts for a while and you get used to the quality.

Obviously not all agree, but I know many who share these additional phases. Reps are the gateway drug in the watch world to gens.

 

[wisrep2010]

4 years ago I went to step 6 and now I am back going thru steps 1-6...let's see how long it lasts this time...

here is a picture how it looked 5 years ago

90% of the watches in the picture have been sold - some of you here still wear them with pride )

cheers
WR

 

[Helmet]

LOL, I think after seeing the steps to this hobby is has become abundantly clear that this is an addiction and not a hobby.

 

[tommy_boy]

Very true for many of us and very funny!

I went crazy with reps and moved back to gens. I haven't bought a rep for a long time but will pull the trigger, I'm sure.

The rep tractor beam will grab me eventually! Probably for another PAM or a MM from Jackson Tse.

 

[Positive]

Even though the genuine manufacturers complain that replica industry costs them millions it's only because of replicas that I went out and bought the real thing. By buying the replica you can see if you like the size, shape and weight of the real thing and see how it feels on the wrist. Then you feel you have to get the real thing to be completely satisfied.

 

[jiddy]

Stage 3 here, mixed with bits of stage 5....

Even though the genuine manufacturers complain that replica industry costs them millions it's only because of replicas that I went out and bought the real thing. By buying the replica you can see if you like the size, shape and weight of the real thing and see how it feels on the wrist. Then you feel you have to get the real thing to be completely satisfied.

True, getting a really good rep and wearing it on the wrist to really try it out and see if it still feels great after a few months is a must id say if you plan to get the gen version in the future.

Ofc tons of watches look good in magazines, websites etc and then you go into a watch shop and tries it on for a few minutes with a stiff assed salesperson eyeing you up and down and you feel the urge to leave asap, but personally if I were to spend say 10-20grand on a watch I would like to be REALLY sure I would love it like my own child before I buy it.

Good thing with a rep is the fact that you can face up to yourself and admit it wasn´t the watch you thought were your dream watch and search further.

If I spent say 20grand on a Hublot and after a few months felt that I didn't like the design or something, only thing you could do is suck it up and keep wearing it since it dropped plenty in value and just start saving up for your next dream watch you will be getting in 10 years time...

Damn that was a lot of rambling. :SLEEP:

 

[horologie_unitas]

it worked differently for me....

i bought many watches, Panerais, IWC, chronos....
but realized what i liked best.

back down to basics. BASE Panerais. FA Jones IWC, Breitling Heritage
the more basic, the better.

from once 30 watches and 80 watchbands......down to what has survived what i like best.

so many new watches every month - but you get overdosed.

 

[ryryur]

Wisdom not just information

Great post for someone new to the game (like me). I love it when you get a good insightful post based on someone's accumulated wisdom, so informative and in this case, funny too

 

[tangle]

fortunately I was lucky, I have 2 breitling gens but can not afford gens any more, so the reps keep my hobby alive, If you love watches reps are a fanastic way to get familar with a watch before considering getting a gen. There is no way i would have bought a PO gen from lookin at the watch in an AD, only by wearing the rep now do I consider it high on a list of gens if the world economy ever improves enough to give me a another very well paid job.

On a second thought I have a gen house and a gen mortgage, I can live with rep watches for a while, you can't live in a watch !

I love this hobby and this forum, keep up the great work.

 

[countit]

Crap. I'm at stage 1. Should I "run to the light" before its too late?

 

[cgn1017]

Crap. I'm at stage 1. Should I "run to the light" before its too late?

@ countit: Don't even think about it.. I'm flip flopping between 4-5, its totally worth it. I will admit I am selling some UPO in the future because I want the gen. The faults on that omega frustrated me so bad I gave up on franken. Anyways, I LOVE my rollies and modding them is a complete blast! I think that is a good place to start, with rolex noobmariner.