Rep scene aint the same no more

[Karbon74]

Well I guess I am fated to continue wearing modded Pagani

 

[Reaps]

Well I guess I am fated to continue wearing modded Pagani

Alexa show me Bill Gates wearing a Casio Duro

 

[tomriddle]

for introduction, I have been a member at RWI and repgeek since 2008

way back then i feel the rep scene was quite different than today
from noob factory to h-fac to v6 and now clean, ARF etc etc
id say we used to have more choices than we have now

gone are the days where new panerais were released every month
obsecure brands were repped such as chairrol and paul picot

post covid and post apple watch era
all we have no is overpriced (shall i say) rolexes, omegas, patek and AP
sure quality have improved significantly

but back then the most expensive reps were the v6.65 hublots

anyway i miss those days where we have more choices to go by
anybody share the same opinion and what are youre thoughts ?

I disagree

not sure what "back in the day" is for you but back in the day.. it's not as much as today.

Or maybe it's just easier these days to see a dealer's inventory whereas before it was harder.. look at pt, trusty, andiot, theone, jtime, etc etc all these websites just go to any of them and you see an insane amount of watches. I don't remember this kind of inventory/access "back in the day".

it is to be expected though.. years go by so obviously more and more watches get rep'd so it makes sense that the choices now are far more than what we had before

 

[tripdog]

The quality of watches has increased massively - it wasn't unknown for good quality Submariner reps to have bezels that didn't rotate - but the choice of brands and models has dropped significantly.

 

[MESSI]

I miss the franken builds.
Building a 116520 was a lot more fun when the best stock rep you can get was a tell from a mile away
the new builds are incredible out the box so you save a lot of money not needing to swap in so many gen parts to make it look good, but the hunt for parts etc was half the fun.

Overall, the quality and variety of watches today is significantly improved which is a huge plus

 

[YYZSollyTapatalk]

I don't understand all the Daytonas I see these days. Bay far my least favorite Rolex and it's everywhere. I agree with the above comment that the baseline quality of what we're seeing today is really good. I remember some reps I had in the 2005-2010 time window that were just brutal. But, at the same time, yes, it was easier to find reps such as Chopard Mille Miglia, Oris divers, and the like.

 

[tripdog]

it was easier to find reps such as Chopard Mille Miglia, Oris divers

 

[mclarendude]

Were buyers just as critical of what they bought back then? I feel like the chase for "1:1" replicas is killing many of the factories that produce the less in-demand watches. They produce watches that are 80–90% accurate, but in today's market, that's not good enough and they are dying out. Sad, really. We're too spoiled today

We were critical but it took a long ass time to get revisions done. Some watches never got revisions.

 

[Reaps]

You can still find both Chopard Mille from V7 and Oris Diver from OF! They are just difficult to source now and if I could speculate, it's just not worth it for some TDs to go through the hassle of sourcing certain models.

 

[Aquanautilus]

it wasn't unknown for good quality Submariner reps to have bezels that didn't rotate

Or bezels were too loose and you had to put some threads or cords in it to prevent it from kinda spinning around - still have one of these...spinning^^

 

[JayBee0815]

As I've only been around in the "Rep-Scene" for about five years myself, I have a question for the old hands. I often read here in the thread that the choice of brands and models used to be much larger. Is that really the case? Or is it not more the case that our TDs only offer models that are high-quality reps and sell well internationally? When I look at the shops of Chinese ‘domestic dealers’ at Weidan or SZwego, for example, I come across many more brands and models - such as Chopard, Oris, Longines, A. Lange, Breguet and even Maurice Lacroix or Mido. And there are also many more models from the popular brands as Rep (e.g. Rolex Celini or AP Code11.59 Chrono), which you rarely or never see in the TD shops. Of course, these are mid-tier rather than high-end reps. These reps are rarely presented here. I therefore have the feeling that it's more down to our quality standards and interest for specific models that we perceive the range to be smaller than it actually is. It seems that no RWI member is interested in mediocre or even bad reps, but they do exist. From today's perspective, however, the reps at the time were also rather mediocre. Or am I wrong?

 

[dewieduck]

Sounds like in the past there was more variety of reps but of lower quality. Now there is less variety but of higher quality.

I most recently took a chance on a less in-demand model, a Glashutte SeaQ. The model was in no way 1:1 but I bought it anyway because I thought I would enjoy wearing it. It turned out to be a costly mistake as I didn't know the crown was prone to stripping. My rep stripped and also had a bad crown stem. The cost of repair was nearly half the cost of purchase. This experience has made me less likely to buy these kinds of reps in the future.

Producers seem to put less effort into quality for less in-demand models. I would be much more willing to buy these less in-demand models if the quality was also there.

 

[MESSI]

As I've only been around in the "Rep-Scene" for about five years myself, I have a question for the old hands. I often read here in the thread that the choice of brands and models used to be much larger. Is that really the case? Or is it not more the case that our TDs only offer models that are high-quality reps and sell well internationally? When I look at the shops of Chinese ‘domestic dealers’ at Weidan or SZwego, for example, I come across many more brands and models - such as Chopard, Oris, Longines, A. Lange, Breguet and even Maurice Lacroix or Mido. And there are also many more models from the popular brands as Rep (e.g. Rolex Celini or AP Code11.59 Chrono), which you rarely or never see in the TD shops. Of course, these are mid-tier rather than high-end reps. These reps are rarely presented here. I therefore have the feeling that it's more down to our quality standards and interest for specific models that we perceive the range to be smaller than it actually is. It seems that no RWI member is interested in mediocre or even bad reps, but they do exist. From today's perspective, however, the reps at the time were also rather mediocre. Or am I wrong?

So they have a lot of shit listed online at TD websites but often times they wont necessarily be in stock.

Since 2020, the HYPE in rolex has shifted everything from rep and gen. That hype occured in the rep world also. So much emphasis on Daytonas, GMTs Submariners. Think of the best OOTB reps theyre mainly rolex for a reason.

Difference now is the price of these reps is double what it used to be 7-10 years ago. I have NO problem with it because its a significantly better movement and overall build. I just wish the focus wasnt all on the Hyped brands. But thrye catering to many who want to look wealthy on the cheap. Rolex, AP, PP is the focus.

Would be nice to see a better Breitling, Chopard, Hell even TAG Heuer Carerra variety. Some of those newer tags are incredible and can be repped as well as they rep the THB Skeleton AP but i guess there isnt demand for em

 

[MESSI]

many tag haters here , i know, but this is a great looking watch. even better in person. REP IT @CHINA lol

 

[JayBee0815]

@MESSI I absolutely agree but ...

Would be nice to see a better Breitling, Chopard, Hell even TAG Heuer Carerra variety. Some of those newer tags are incredible and can be repped as well as they rep the THB Skeleton AP but i guess there isnt demand for em

... this is exactly what I am talking about. There are for example many TAG Heuer Reps on the market, many of them with (stated) SW200 movements but you wont find them at the TDs and you wont find much info about them here in the TAG-section too. Why? Because they are so bad? Or because most of us are only interested in Rolex and the typical rich men brands? I suspect the latter.

Here is a spreadsheet from a Non-TD with the "available" models ... i dont know if they all are really available ;-)

 

[MESSI]

@JayBee0815 mostly becasue there isnt demand. Because of low demand, theyre not putting much into perfecting the movements or anything else about them.
More money for them if they paint the GMT Master 2 Pepsi bezel a new shade of red, call it v4s, we will go on for 75 threads discussing how it reflects sunlight at every angle in comparison to the gen we will never have it side by side to.

 

[JayBee0815]

@JayBee0815 mostly becasue there isnt demand. Because of low demand, theyre not putting much into perfecting the movements or anything else about them.
More money for them if they paint the GMT Master 2 Pepsi bezel a new shade of red, call it v4s, we will go on for 75 threads discussing how it reflects sunlight at every angle in comparison to the gen we will never have it side by side to.

sad but true

 

[Dave2302]

Monaco was available cheapie quartzie with open worx, it's a nice reliable wee piece now I fitted a decent strap.

I love TAG Heuers btw

 

[MESSI]

@Dave2302 now thats BEAUTIFUL! not to mention the carbon case ones they can be making like the bamford edition monaco.

 

[Karbon74]

Monaco was available cheapie quartzie with open worx, it's a nice reliable wee piece now I fitted a decent strap.

I love TAG Heuers btw

please tell me that this is due to your awful camera skills and that the dial print is better in real life
and yeah, i love TH too