Why buy gens?

[Sumo86]

I guess respect though must be given to those young lads for a very quick recognition of a lovely O factory Rolex under his jumper sleeve in the dark - they're making up the 3% that can spot a decent watch

 

[VegasJack85]

I have a lot of gens, Datejust, Subs, SMP, Speedmaster - and I have a NWBIG Rep for every gen I have to wear to parties in shady neighbourhoods etc. Last week I bought a gen Datejust, B+P, 2 years old. I love the watch!
The same night I coincidentally held it against my ARF rep datejust with a gen crystal and an ETA movement for 10% of the price.
I was trying for at least 20 minutes to find a difference between the two, I asked 10 people, 2 of them jewlers and 4 of them gen Rolex owners, which is the gen. Not one picked the right one. They look and feel and sound absolutely identical until you open the case - which you never do in reality...

This was the point where I realized that this is a giant waste of money... Still keeping my gens, and in fact bought some new reps for my gens, but I will not buy another gen ever again I think...

 

[rjohnsonhouston]

So where does one buy quality gens at at fair price..chrono24 is some of the better prices I've found, and I'm told they are way too expensive

 

[Karbon74]

i would say the local watch dealer boutiques.
They are the ones who sell with "buyer guarantee"and "certification" on c24.

buying direct with them avoids the c24 commission (which are not shown on the website listing, they apply at payment page)

c24 gives you a rough order of price point and then up to you to negociate. If you are not looking for a rare watch or for a fast transaction, I would go that route

also with the high end reps going about, I personnally would never buy from an individual

 

[Granater123]

So I’m trying to make up my mind between buying a gen or a rep
What I find is that whenever I do my research before buying essentially anything is I look at the practical aspect, the function. In this case the watch’s intended purpose which for me is to tell time and to look good.
The pros of a gen is obviously that it will do both and if it doesn’t keep the promise of one of the two I can always get it repaired. The looking good part well hehe it is what is.
For the cons it’s a lot of money sometimes which doesn’t make up for what im getting. Hence why I am here. But, the pros of the reps the , is that they look good basically the same as the gen, however which I don’t know enough about yet, will it tell time and one day if it doesn’t….will I be able to get it fixed? Or is it a buy till it break and then buy a new one ?
If I could be reassured that if I treat it with care and get it serviced and can get spare parts if needed to it there would be no reason for me not to buy a rep.
Honestly, I am way to cheap for a gen, I shop most of my stuff second hand anyways as it is. Because I love being able to buy 10 items for the price of 1. It’s ROI for my money and I’m usually not one to resell stuff. I buy because I want it and use it. If one day I might wanna sell whatever it is, well in this case a rep watch there is a whole second hand market for it so that won’t be a problem either.

So I guess for me I am still to be shown that the movements these rep watch uses can be relied upon.
Seeing some watches now in the M2M section where it’s being claimed they could be life long machines, that I might pull the trigger on.

 

[tkingjr]

I have Gen's and Rep's. I keep buying Rep's because I have more fun trying to buy only the best Rep's. One of my friends collects watches. He does the same as I do. I have a Gen and Rep of Breitling Super Avenger by H Factory. The Rep is so good I had to add label inside the bracelet.

 

[CurioLeo]

I have a lot of gens, Datejust, Subs, SMP, Speedmaster - and I have a NWBIG Rep for every gen I have to wear to parties in shady neighbourhoods etc. Last week I bought a gen Datejust, B+P, 2 years old. I love the watch!
The same night I coincidentally held it against my ARF rep datejust with a gen crystal and an ETA movement for 10% of the price.
I was trying for at least 20 minutes to find a difference between the two, I asked 10 people, 2 of them jewlers and 4 of them gen Rolex owners, which is the gen. Not one picked the right one. They look and feel and sound absolutely identical until you open the case - which you never do in reality...

This was the point where I realized that this is a giant waste of money... Still keeping my gens, and in fact bought some new reps for my gens, but I will not buy another gen ever again I think...

When you say you asked 10 people and NO ONE picked the correct gen, that means 10 out of 10 picked the replica as the gen which also implies the rep was undisputably superior to the gen. Statistically, that is extremely unlikely - even if you held 2 identical gens side by side and told people one was a rep and asked them to choose which one, there would be a distribution of selections. Therefore, there is clearly an element of hyperbole in your statement or it is a complete BS fabrication to make you feel good about your decision to wear replicas. Love your reps by all means, that shouldn't necessarily mean denigrate gens. PS, feel free to make me look like a fool by posting your gens and reps side by side with an RWI handwritten tag (like a sale thread), and I will unreservedly apologise for being a dick.

 

[Karbon74]

So I’m trying to make up my mind between buying a gen or a rep
What I find is that whenever I do my research before buying essentially anything is I look at the practical aspect, the function. In this case the watch’s intended purpose which for me is to tell time and to look good.
The pros of a gen is obviously that it will do both and if it doesn’t keep the promise of one of the two I can always get it repaired. The looking good part well hehe it is what is.
For the cons it’s a lot of money sometimes which doesn’t make up for what im getting. Hence why I am here. But, the pros of the reps the , is that they look good basically the same as the gen, however which I don’t know enough about yet, will it tell time and one day if it doesn’t….will I be able to get it fixed? Or is it a buy till it break and then buy a new one ?
If I could be reassured that if I treat it with care and get it serviced and can get spare parts if needed to it there would be no reason for me not to buy a rep.
Honestly, I am way to cheap for a gen, I shop most of my stuff second hand anyways as it is. Because I love being able to buy 10 items for the price of 1. It’s ROI for my money and I’m usually not one to resell stuff. I buy because I want it and use it. If one day I might wanna sell whatever it is, well in this case a rep watch there is a whole second hand market for it so that won’t be a problem either.

So I guess for me I am still to be shown that the movements these rep watch uses can be relied upon.
Seeing some watches now in the M2M section where it’s being claimed they could be life long machines, that I might pull the trigger on.

buy a rep. does not cost much. If you like it then good. You can still make the big purchase after and have two nice watches

 

[Karbon74]

When you say you asked 10 people and NO ONE picked the correct gen, that means 10 out of 10 picked the replica as the gen which also implies the rep was undisputably superior to the gen. Statistically, that is extremely unlikely - even if you held 2 identical gens side by side and told people one was a rep and asked them to choose which one, there would be a distribution of selections. Therefore, there is clearly an element of hyperbole in your statement or it is a complete BS fabrication to make you feel good about your decision to wear replicas. Love your reps by all means, that shouldn't necessarily mean denigrate gens. PS, feel free to make me look like a fool by posting your gens and reps side by side with an RWI handwritten tag (like a sale thread), and I will unreservedly apologise for being a dick.

i think it was a hyperbole. He probably wanted to say that noone could pick the gen with absolute certainty just with surface looks. Yes you are being a dick, but a small one (pun not insult intended)

 

[CurioLeo]

i think it was a hyperbole. He probably wanted to say that noone could pick the gen with absolute certainty just with surface looks. Yes you are being a dick, but a small one (pun not insult intended)

I would be worried about a jeweller who held a gen Rolex next to a rep and couldn't differentiate between them. On screen and separately, it is hard to tell. Side by side.....not so much. The rep needs to be frankened with a gen dial, crystal, dw and a case (including rehaut) and bracelet refinish before we can even begin to have that conversation.

 

[silentcut]

When you say you asked 10 people and NO ONE picked the correct gen, that means 10 out of 10 picked the replica as the gen which also implies the rep was undisputably superior to the gen. Statistically, that is extremely unlikely - even if you held 2 identical gens side by side and told people one was a rep and asked them to choose which one, there would be a distribution of selections. Therefore, there is clearly an element of hyperbole in your statement or it is a complete BS fabrication to make you feel good about your decision to wear replicas. Love your reps by all means, that shouldn't necessarily mean denigrate gens. PS, feel free to make me look like a fool by posting your gens and reps side by side with an RWI handwritten tag (like a sale thread), and I will unreservedly apologise for being a dick.

that's why i only ordered one rep so far. Need to see myse;f how the quality is so that i can order more when i have time to wear

 

[zerodreamy]

So I’m trying to make up my mind between buying a gen or a rep
What I find is that whenever I do my research before buying essentially anything is I look at the practical aspect, the function. In this case the watch’s intended purpose which for me is to tell time and to look good.
The pros of a gen is obviously that it will do both and if it doesn’t keep the promise of one of the two I can always get it repaired. The looking good part well hehe it is what is.
For the cons it’s a lot of money sometimes which doesn’t make up for what im getting. Hence why I am here. But, the pros of the reps the , is that they look good basically the same as the gen, however which I don’t know enough about yet, will it tell time and one day if it doesn’t….will I be able to get it fixed? Or is it a buy till it break and then buy a new one ?
If I could be reassured that if I treat it with care and get it serviced and can get spare parts if needed to it there would be no reason for me not to buy a rep.
Honestly, I am way to cheap for a gen, I shop most of my stuff second hand anyways as it is. Because I love being able to buy 10 items for the price of 1. It’s ROI for my money and I’m usually not one to resell stuff. I buy because I want it and use it. If one day I might wanna sell whatever it is, well in this case a rep watch there is a whole second hand market for it so that won’t be a problem either.

So I guess for me I am still to be shown that the movements these rep watch uses can be relied upon.
Seeing some watches now in the M2M section where it’s being claimed they could be life long machines, that I might pull the trigger on.

This is a bit of a tough question that I'm sure many people have to mull over for quite some time. First and foremost my suggestion is being cognizant of the nuances of each rep, and understand that differences in brand, model and the rep factory you're getting the rep from play a large part not just in the movement under the hood, but also the look. Different factories product minutely different iterations of the 'same watch' from one another, and even over time the same factory may slightly improve the look (take Clean's GMT Master II BLNR V2 that CTime posted about within the last week).

Movement of course plays a large role in what you choose. The more money you spend on a 'closer' clone movement, the closer the overall feel is to a gen article but depending on what you're going for, there still may not be that perfect 1:1 you may be looking for. Nice example, again, being for the GMT Master II's and the newly release DD3285 movement. Prior to this release I believe (may be wrong) but we were relying on 3125 movements, just with 3285 markings instead. This is for a terribly popular watch and a movement that I think was released 5 years ago. Depending on the brand and the age of the model you're after, there may be an even bigger difference between current top-end rep movement and gen movements.

Tangentially related to this is your other question about repairs. From my understanding there is a growing number of decent to excellent watch-smiths/watch repair services for the rep community/market. I am not too knowledgeable on this at the moment, but there is some genuine hope to be had that if your watch breaks down you can get it repaired by someone with the required knowledge, skills, and willingness. Movement accuracy to source material and whether a given rep movement can house gen parts is also something to consider, if you fancy that. I can't speak to how expensive it is to repair these reps, but having dealt with having to repair my own gen articles, I'd like to think here too the rep market is relatively cheaper than repairing gen. Maybe not always as easily sourced, I'm unsure. But the market is there, and it seems as if savvy watch-smiths have picked up on that.

So.. in short, read up on the particular rep you're after, compare different factories and movements if applicable. Be aware that repairing isn't impossible, but don't fool yourself into thinking that a rep (that are not as meticulously put together as gen) will give out at the same time as a gen and need some servicing at similar intervals.

Depending on your situation, it may be worth it to buy a 'superfranken' or something from this forum, that features a lot of high quality gen parts, has recently been taken care of and serviced by a previously loving owner. Or perhaps by yourself a "run-of-the-mill" rep from a TD and find a willing and skilled smith to get it proofed, cleaned, make sure it's starting off its life on your wrist on the right foot.

In my opinion the major draw to gen articles at this point is appreciation (resale value), and ease of repairs (don't have to look high and low for a rep repair artist). You don't have to try as hard to get it serviced, and if you're into tried and true models of steel Rolex, it'll be worth more on your wrist in 5-10 years than it is today. If you're going for the look, similar feel, and don't mind a bit of extra research and work on your part, you can get a rep for 1/10th of the cost or more. Depending, of course.

 

[Torque124]

I am sure none of you guys replying here do work on your watches... once you start working on a rep and then you get to open up a gen and o a service, you will understand the difference... in, quality, look, detail . OK. there are reps that are so good that they have to be mentioned..my VSF 12660 Kermit is pure and simple a perfect clone of my gen Rolex. i opened both and was surprised of the quality of the VSF, especially in the winding mechanism.
I have clones and genuine watches of Chopard Mille Miglia... Breitling Chronomat B01 42... a totally different story. It looks like a lot of effort has been put in cloning Rolex to be honest.
Just my 2 cents. I am not a watchmaker but i do work on servicing my own watches and I have seen and learned a few things.

 

[Torque124]

... and I just noticed my stigma... I want to dedicate this video to the admin who did it, and wish him.. all that is said in this video:

 

[APjumbo]

I am sure none of you guys replying here do work on your watches... once you start working on a rep and then you get to open up a gen and o a service, you will understand the difference... in, quality, look, detail . OK. there are reps that are so good that they have to be mentioned..my VSF 12660 Kermit is pure and simple a perfect clone of my gen Rolex. i opened both and was surprised of the quality of the VSF, especially in the winding mechanism.
I have clones and genuine watches of Chopard Mille Miglia... Breitling Chronomat B01 42... a totally different story. It looks like a lot of effort has been put in cloning Rolex to be honest.
Just my 2 cents. I am not a watchmaker but i do work on servicing my own watches and I have seen and learned a few things.

You might be right on the quality of movement finishing but I like to tinker and work on watches which is why I love reps. I’ve opened up my gen omegas a bit but the stress of messing something up takes away from the fun of tinkering where as when I mess with a rep it isn’t the end of the world if I make a mistake, which leads to lots of tinkerining, and that leads to more learning and experiencing.
I think you would be surprised how many of us have opened up a rep to clean some dust or tried easy tasks.

 

[Thatwatchguy]

... and I just noticed my stigma... I want to dedicate this video to the admin who did it, and wish him.. all that is said in this video:

You have been placed on ”DO NOT TRADE WITH ME” based on your repeated attempts to sell without regard to the forum rules and being rather unpleasant to the Mods here from what I can see:

[STAFF HOLD] - FS: Nope, Tag until I insulted staff

nope [ removed by daytona4me ]

forum.replica-watch.info

No one is at fault but you…

 

[Torque124]

You have been placed on ”DO NOT TRADE WITH ME” based on your repeated attempts to sell without regard to the forum rules and being rather unpleasant to the Mods here from what I can see:

[STAFF HOLD] - FS: Nope, Tag until I insulted staff

nope [ removed by daytona4me ]

forum.replica-watch.info

No one is at fault but you…

I posted ONE add.... ONE. and you blasted at me and banned me instead of reaching out and advise what's wrong with my add. I would have complied immediately, if asked ...

 

[Torque124]

You might be right on the quality of movement finishing but I like to tinker and work on watches which is why I love reps. I’ve opened up my gen omegas a bit but the stress of messing something up takes away from the fun of tinkering where as when I mess with a rep it isn’t the end of the world if I make a mistake, which leads to lots of tinkerining, and that leads to more learning and experiencing.
I think you would be surprised how many of us have opened up a rep to clean some dust or tried easy tasks.

I purchased a few reps, and now that I think about it, none of them survived without major surgery.

Rolex VSF needed a cannon pinion change (minutes slowing behind ) , Chopard mille miglia gts had a broken chronograph cam, and Breitling Chronomat 42 ( on mywrist now) had all sorts of problems with the movement (escape wheel, reversing wheel locked up, etc) and I ended up buying a movement of ebay for 110 bucks and replaced it completely. so yeah, I also learned watch repair by buying reps I am now servicing all my watches, including the gens.

Beauty with the gens, is ; you can always send them to the manufacturer for a full revamp.
Cheers

 

[restandrelaxation]

London such a beautiful city it WAS... no jokes, still a beautiful city but complete shattered due these crimes.

4/5/6/7 years ago London was the place for a little weekend trip for me and my friends. miss those times

20 year old dutch guys pulling out in London, best weekends of my life

I always found my London weekends much more memorable affairs than my Dutch weekends!
I spent a week in Dordrecht once, so I've been told!

 

[g00n]

I posted ONE add.... ONE. and you blasted at me and banned me instead of reaching out and advise what's wrong with my add. I would have complied immediately, if asked ...