I know the 15500 has its share of detractors but to me it seems a logical evolution of AP RO design language towards modernity, and form following function— in this case serving the function of anti-counterfeiting. If you listen to Bennahmias in interviews you’ll hear that a requirement for many new designs is the “inability to be copied.”
It is thus with some curiosity and intrigue that I await ZFs response to this gauntlet being thrown down.
Will they get 98% right and then miss one small but unrecoverable detail (like everting rather than inverting subdials on the IWC 389001 chrono or not placing the second sweep on the right position in the new ceramic top gun)? Or will they rise to this challenge from AP?
Good points raised P.
Personally, I think that the rep makers do not really pay attention to the propaganda put out by the brand manufacturers, the same way they will miss or mess up details on the rep, or make do with modifications like they did for the A7750 sec@12 for ROOs, for example. Their primary motivation will be profit as opposed to technological possibilities/limitations. So round and round we will go, with the brand manufacturers trying to make "unreppable" watches and the rep makers churning out replicas of varying grades as counterparts for the gens. Of course for series like the code 11.59, I do not expect the reps to get the amazing crystal and case even remotely close. But yet, nothing will stop them from trying. We have the quartz rep models for watches which cost a few hundred grands in gen. They become novelties, or parodies if you will, when put next to their gen counterparts, but as always, SOMEONE will buy them. I do not think that they are out to challenge the brand manufacturers specifically, but rather, their motivation is a simple one: to make money.
If you look at it, the rep makers have formed a parasitic relationship with the luxury watch makers. The success of reps do depend on the gen (design, R&D, desirability) and if the "host" weakens or dies, so will the "guest". The fact that reps exist, is already testament to the fact that the challenge you mentioned exists, on a general scale. Regardless of what the gen makers put out, the rep factories will care less about the story behind the design, and do their darnest to rep it if it makes sense to them financially (yes like you mentioned they often fail in one regard or another)
Good points you raised and thought-worthy for sure!
