Noob question.

[iwcdavinciiwish]

Hi. First post here.

Has anyone had any experience or rolled the dice on one of those IWC Grande Complication reps? (Google: iwc grande complication replica).

Or is it just the old bait-and-switch with the photo of the real thing, then what you get a week later is closer to a Cracker Jack toy...?

Just asking because I already got burned once (before I discovered this forum, and have since learned a lot) on a so-called Da-Vinci the same way, bait-and-switch. The thing I got was a joke: I literally chuckled when i saw it, it was so bad. And then the joke was on me.

Anyhow, about the GC. I understand that it won't work like a gen, but if it LOOKS like one, then I might consider it.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Fiddo]

I don't think a rep of that exists. It would be terribly difficult to rep that. Anyway, check out the Trusted Dealers here for other IWC stuff- http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/forumdisplay.php/trusted-replica-dealers-168 You won't need to worry about getting scammed if you stick to the Trusted Dealers.

Welcome to RWI!

 

[deloreandmc]

one way of telling if the dealer is using a real picture is if the hands are at 10:10, if they are at that then it is a real picture

 

[iwcdavinciiwish]

I don't think a rep of that exists. It would be terribly difficult to rep that. Anyway, check out the Trusted Dealers here for other IWC stuff- http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/forumdisplay.php/trusted-replica-dealers-168 You won't need to worry about getting scammed if you stick to the Trusted Dealers.

Welcome to RWI!

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I know now, based on what I've learned here, that it is practically impossible to rep that, at least for a rep price.

Which begs the question: What constitutes a rep anyhow? I mean, does "rep" imply a certain level of quality/similarity to a gen? And if so, what would something inferior to that (like what I described with my Da Vinci experience) be called?

In other words is there something lower than a rep (rep, imitation, total farce) on the scale, or are there just different shades of rep, for better or for worse (excellent rep, good rep, fair rep, awful misrepresentation)...?

Also, thanks for the advice on the trusted dealers. I've been eyeballing a Big Pilot from one of them.

Cheers.

 

[ahw676]

one way of telling if the dealer is using a real picture is if the hands are at 10:10, if they are at that then it is a real picture

This is true to a degree. But some of the dealers will deliberately pose their watches that way anyway, just because it tends not to cover up important bits of the dial this way. But if you look at the pictures closely, you'll be able to tell that there are subtle differences between the pics and that it was taken by the dealer. MReplica, for example, does have his watches all set to 10:10 in his pictures, but they don't ALL look exactly the same.

 

[tommy_boy]

Which begs the question: What constitutes a rep anyhow? I mean, does "rep" imply a certain level of quality/similarity to a gen? And if so, what would something inferior to that (like what I described with my Da Vinci experience) be called?

In other words is there something lower than a rep (rep, imitation, total farce) on the scale, or are there just different shades of rep, for better or for worse (excellent rep, good rep, fair rep, awful misrepresentation)...?

I think we can say that rep is short for replica and try not to make it too complicated. It is a watch that is a deliberate copy of another, usually very expensive watch.

Be careful not to equate price with quality when comparing reps. And stay with our trusted dealers for the best experience.

Are there grades of quality among reps? Sure, as you have found out by now, I imagine. The trick there is that only diligence will uncover which rep is better than another. You have all the resources here to qualify reps as good/better/best. Or as crap!

Hope that wasn't long-winded. Good luck and enjoy doing your research.

 

[LHOOQ]

In other words is there something lower than a rep (rep, imitation, total farce) on the scale, or are there just different shades of rep, for better or for worse (excellent rep, good rep, fair rep, awful misrepresentation)...?

I've been to markets in Asia where the word 'Replica' is reserved for the expensive, triple-A, best-of-the-best, fake watches available. Those are usually a year or two behind what's available from the trusted dealers here.

In practice, 'rep' is a catch-all for any watch that happens to have a familiar brand name slapped onto it, irrespective of quality. The meanies at the gen forums will call it a 'fake', irrespective of quality. Erase the brand name and it becomes an 'homage' and potentially acceptable in polite company. Attach even one genuine part to it and it turns into a 'Franken'. Sell it on eBay and it's called 'fraud'!

 

[coop]

I've been to markets in Asia where the word 'Replica' is reserved for the expensive, triple-A, best-of-the-best, fake watches available. Those are usually a year or two behind what's available from the trusted dealers here.

In practice, 'rep' is a catch-all for any watch that happens to have a familiar brand name slapped onto it, irrespective of quality. The meanies at the gen forums will call it a 'fake', irrespective of quality. Erase the brand name and it becomes an 'homage' and potentially acceptable in polite company. Attach even one genuine part to it and it turns into a 'Franken'. Sell it on eBay and it's called 'fraud'!

UKASIA? LOL!

A year or two behind for the best reps? I doubt it. Some of our dealers have actually commissioned the makers for some of the new greats. If anything we are AHEAD of whats generally available to most.

 

[LHOOQ]

A year or two behind for the best reps? I doubt it. Some of our dealers have actually commissioned the makers for some of the new greats. If anything we are AHEAD of whats generally available to most.

Read my post again, and you'll see that's exactly what I said.

When I say 'markets in Asia' I refer to the public places in Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines &c. where locals and tourists buy and sell goods. You pay huge amounts of money for a V2 or a V3 of something we on these forums are up to V5 on.

 

[tommy_boy]

Read my post again, and you'll see that's exactly what I said.

When I say 'markets in Asia' I refer to the public places in Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines &c. where locals and tourists buy and sell goods. You pay huge amounts of money for a V2 or a V3 of something we on these forums are up to V5 on.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Some of us are not so fortunate to be able to travel in the East.