Rethinking going Gen after dealer visit...

[squeak]

I am coming into some money and considering selling my reps and buying Gen. I haven't owned a Gen Pam for over 5 years, a 111f, and currently have an h factory 005k.
I visited a dealer to check out the current crop of base models and was shocked how close to Gen my 005k was to Gen when holding in the hand. I laid my rep on the counter and the salesman offered to polish the daily wear marks from the case for me, he had no idea it was a rep.

So now I'm in a quandary, its getting very hard to justify the $4,500 upgrade cost when what I have looks and feels like its 95% to Gen.

What to do?

 

[takoxavy]

what to do? get banned for this post LOL bringing a rep to AD

 

[shykhai]

hahahahahahahahaaaa

 

[Thatoneguy]

It's stories like these that remind me why I buy reps


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[maxnty]

I know exactly what you mean. I'm down to 1 Gen myself and I'm getting closer and closer to selling that one too. Reps are so good these days it's scary.

 

[FiloViridae]

Hahaha no, I hear you.. I was always contemplating gens vs reps, and in my field of work, there's a lot of gens. But mainly because they have money so why not? They know nothing about watches.. Couldn't tell the difference between a 30 dollar rep and a 20k gen.. But it's scary how close they can look, feel everything. That's what drew me here, to this forum. Now, I can't stop! (I lurk more then anything, but love buying )


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[rjk1]

I primarily use reps as a means of test driving gen acquisitions. While there are always going to be minor differences - the chief ones in reps that annoy me are the crap hands with so many marks, scuffs, fingerprints, dirt, scratches, etc. - overall many are still mod-able.

What I don't really understand about my methods is heavily modding a rep only to sell it and get a gen. Why go through the effort? No clue.

A gen is always a gen, and you feel differently wearing one. I also don't buy for others, just myself. So, I don't care whether people know if I'm wearing a rep 26470 or my gen.

 

[kampachi]

Its the confidence that you carry with a gen. That awesome feel that can not be attained with a 500$ rep. That said, certain brands ill only opt for reps especially PAMS since they are too simple and easily replicated (yet makers always f-up their releases). My gens are usually models that cannot be replicated.

 

[Pamtastic]

IMO purchasing a gen is a very personal matter, particularly for us with the access to great reps we have and all. I'm with the op that purchasing a gen 005 when the rep is so close probably is tough to justify. BUT if the op is a huge fan of the 005 then no matter how many mods he'll do, he'll always have the gen in the back of his mind.
I have a v2 SOH that has a Swiss sellita, gen dw, relumed with gen mesh. Yet every time I look at it I wonder if I should go gen. I was beginning to even consider sending it away to have double sided AR done as well as polishing the hour markers to make it more gen-like, but I think the cost of all these mods is pushing me into gen cost territory, so I've held off.

 

[d4m.test]

Hi, imo if You were shocked by how close Your 005k was instead of bowing in reverence to the gen with aaahhhsss and oooohhhhsss and "I must have it´s" while feeling slightly blinded and dizzy by it´s beauty - than just save the money. If You did sleep well that night instead of longing for the gen - than just save the money too.

Sure, gens are near perfect and the movement is something nice and clean and often extraordinary, everything just fits and feels quite perfect - but otherwise it´s also just a lot of hype and marketing all about it too. It´s too much money on the wrist to ding around or loose - and with the gen You´re stuck. If it starts keeping bad time or stops, You have to repair it and You´ll think twice before handing it over to any watchsmith, so You´ll be stuck with the AD, their prices, their working conditions like: oh, I just want it waterproofed... Yes Sir, that´s part of the whole service we´re going to perform, come back in 6 months time, just a $1000, parts replaced are extra and a polish is included too.

 

[Capt. Obvious]

GENS ain't worth the money!

 

[wooky492]

The main reason I don't fancy Gen anymore. Too freaking expansive to maintain. They charged me $500 just for polishing the case!!!!
I find myself taking more care of my reps than I've ever done to my gens because it is so easy and price is more than understandable. My watch smith charges me $30 to repair my watch when the dial pin was broken and got stuck in one of the winding gears. :-D

Hi, imo if You were shocked by how close Your 005k was instead of bowing in reverence to the gen with aaahhhsss and oooohhhhsss and "I must have it´s" while feeling slightly blinded and dizzy by it´s beauty - than just save the money. If You did sleep well that night instead of longing for the gen - than just save the money too.

Sure, gens are near perfect and the movement is something nice and clean and often extraordinary, everything just fits and feels quite perfect - but otherwise it´s also just a lot of hype and marketing all about it too. It´s too much money on the wrist to ding around or loose - and with the gen You´re stuck. If it starts keeping bad time or stops, You have to repair it and You´ll think twice before handing it over to any watchsmith, so You´ll be stuck with the AD, their prices, their working conditions like: oh, I just want it waterproofed... Yes Sir, that´s part of the whole service we´re going to perform, come back in 6 months time, just a $1000, parts replaced are extra and a polish is included too.

 

[DR3M3L]

I went gen once.... First bought a Tissot Couturier with a Valjoux 7750 instead of their inhouse movement. The watch did cost me about €1200 if I remember correctly. After three days it lost about 14 minutes a day and I went back to the AD. They send it back to Tissot and offered me a new one. I had to wait a week or so for the new one, it arrived, I picked it up, same day I want to set the time and the stem comes out.

I gave up again on gens.... People always complain about the reps and their problems, but I had bad experiences with gens too. After a while I bought a gen SMP, but owning the rep showed how close the two where. I sold it again before I would mix 'm up.

 

[kampachi]

I went gen once.... First bought a Tissot Couturier with a Valjoux 7750 instead of their inhouse movement. The watch did cost me about €1200 if I remember correctly. After three days it lost about 14 minutes a day and I went back to the AD. They send it back to Tissot and offered me a new one. I had to wait a week or so for the new one, it arrived, I picked it up, same day I want to set the time and the stem comes out.

I gave up again on gens.... People always complain about the reps and their problems, but I had bad experiences with gens too. After a while I bought a gen SMP, but owning the rep showed how close the two where. I sold it again before I would mix 'm up.

I assume that your tissot now is a victim of your franken 7750 watch?

 

[DR3M3L]

I assume that your tissot now is a victim of your franken 7750 watch?

Nope, when I finally got a working one I did wear it for a while. After about a year I sold it

 

[squeak]

What I'm thinking now is that instead of buying the "if I could only have one" Gen I'm thinking of buying the second Gen, keeping the 005 for a beater.
I've always loved the 253, may try to swing a second hand one of those.

 

[set2374]

what to do? get banned for this post LOL bringing a rep to AD

Wearing a rep to an AD is probably not a good idea, but the draconian rule that you're automatically banned if you announce that you wear a rep to an AD no "ifs, ands or buts" is probably a bit harsh in this case. That rule exists because some idiots have not handled that situation well and then brag about how obnoxious they were at the AD. I don't think the OP did anything in this case that jeopardized the hobby. Most salespeople don't know enough about the products they sell to spot a gen from a rep--particularly at large multi-brand ADs. The real "tell" is seeing a jackass showing off a watch--even if it's a gen watch. It doesn't sound like this happened here.

Its the confidence that you carry with a gen. That awesome feel that can not be attained with a 500$ rep. That said, certain brands ill only opt for reps especially PAMS since they are too simple and easily replicated (yet makers always f-up their releases). My gens are usually models that cannot be replicated.

I have a collection with both gens and reps. Gens do not give me an "awesome" feeling nor do I feel any more confident wearing a gen than a rep. For me, the only difference between a well serviced super rep like a noob 111v3 and 243v3 and the gen is the thousands of dollars I saved by getting the rep.

 

[Flashbolt987]

There will be watches that the reps just can't match. On the super reps, if you love the gen then it's fine and they will keep value. Otherwise, rep is ok and save money for gens that these factories cant make properly.

 

[Vanilla]

The noob 005 is very identical to the gen!

 

[iggypop]

I think the only reason to go gen is for the movement. The 6497 in the pam rep is a) easily available b) workhorse.

theres no need to go gen with a pam if it was a brietling chrono maybe we would talk.