These news confirms what we already knew in one form or another, in brief: China is trying to clean up his name as a counterfeit nation, the reasons for this involve a long talk about politics; which I will spare you of here.
I have been in this rep "hobby" for 10+ years and a watch enthusiast for 20+ years, and my view of the future is not too exciting.
I foresee a decline in the interest of all mechanical luxury watches, those that will still be sold will be just because of status, not because of history or design. And as we have started to see in the past years, all mayor players will play the "limited edition" or "hard to get" game to keep the -wealthy- buyers interested. This will eventually end up in having many variations of the same design with different brand names at a price set just "because". To backup this claim, just see how this is the same thing happening to all other luxury items, not only watches.
As far as the replica industry goes: the demise of these top factories will scare the not-so-glamorous factories, dealers, e-money merchants, parts manufacturers and ecommerce sites as well. This does not mean that they will not be sold anymore, but that most likely the quality will not be the same and that many newer models will not be replicated. So yes, the "golden age" of replicas is a phrase that may catch up as we look back through some kind of sepia tone filter at the past 10 years with nostalgia.
Both scenes, the genuine Swiss watch industry and the replica Chinese industry are changing, and to my eyes not for the better. This can only be translated into a slow decay of interest in mechanical watches and their collecting (whether real or rep).
Then again, I am just another guy with an opinion, and I truly hope to be wrong.
