Context:
I already own 2 GMTs: Bruce Wayne and a Pepsi, one Omega Aqua Terra, a Cartier Santos and a Blue DJ 41 with a flutted bezel. I need a Diver now, since its summer and the perfect time to get one, help me decide.
Before we start:
I posted a similar text on the U1 subreddit, if you are came across it then this is basically an improved version of it. As always keep in mind all that I'm going to state here is simply my own opinion and therefore anyone is able to add to it or disagree but please keep the comment section civilized with each other. That said, here we go:
Well, as a quite summary, I see people more and more often posting QC pics and avoiding buying some reps cause of miniscule details or even fear of what others may think, not only that some of the people are even afraid of buying something they want cause others tell them its a "shitter", so this post is mean to clear some things to those who want to buy a rep but are afraid of all the tiny details of those reps, or even what the real world will think.
As a background all these opinions are based on my own experience with reps over the past couple years and with daily wear of such reps, and from many questions made to members of the community.
This is probably one of the most if not the most asked question I see on all rep watches pages, and honestly, yes and no.
99.9% of the time people won't notice or care what's on your wrist, honestly, there's very few people that you come across a day who care about watches, and even if you come across one, there's a big chance that person still can't tell a real from a rep.
Let's say you meet another watch collector in the wild, normally people won't grab your watch, they will look at it, never super super close, and they will either compliment it, ask where you got it or just move on. Now if they ask where you bought it, you can either lie or say its a rep, its up to you and your values, as long as you don't try to sell a rep as a gen who cares what you say. Now if you meet a super afficionado, or a watchmaker then yes, they will know it's a replica if they take a good look at it, but once again, in what real life scenario does that happen? I've been collecting and wearing reps for years and never in my life I met a watchmaker just walking around that happens to stop me to see my watch.
Not only that, most people you come across that will comment or notice your watch are people that probably never even held a gen in real life, therefore they can't really tell if it's real of fake, they probably one saw a few adds or posts about the watch you're wearing at that time.
The last kind and probably the only kind that will notice you are wearing a rep are other rep collectors and this is the most important point here, we notice all these small details on reps cause we collect them and we are actively looking for them all day every day, the normal people and even normal collectors won't know what to look for, our view of reps is very distorted cause we mostly look at the faults, not the entire piece, everyone else around us won't be looking at the rehault, or the date window, they will see a watch, they will see what brand it is and move on. Sometimes a lot of people here will be worried everyone will notice their rep is a rep cause of a alignment issue that you can only see at the microscope and think people IRL will ever be able to tell that, guess what, no one will be able to tell, cause no one will ever ask you to hold your watch that close.
Yes, but keep in mind the more complications your watch has the riskier it is to get a good rep out of it, and if you do you will have to obviously pay for a top tier rep.
Not only that but keep in mind that keeping your reps low-key is a good idea if you want people to not be sceptical.
What I mean by this is, try to match your watches to your lifestyle, anyone can rock a Datejust, a Sub, a Cartier Santos or even a Seamaster, but if you to go to a 3 star hotel or a local trashy pub wearing a platinum Daytona or a Nautilus, you will raise some suspicions.
Remember to also look the part a bit, I'm thankful enough to be able to drive a good car and live a good life, but sometimes only dressing decently will be enough to rock a Submariner without raising eyebrows, now if you don't take care of yourself, your look and your hygiene, it gets harder to pull off being an owner of luxury goods. So, keep your watches attainable, I like to set my limit at 35-50k$ watch reps, anything above that and I'll probably have people wondering why I'm driving and Alfa Romeo instead of a Ferrari.
Long story short: A watch attainable with savings and not inheritance money, a decent daily car, a pair of chinos and a shirt and you'll never raise suspicions.
- Remember to always buy your reps from trusted dealers, if something or someone shows up with a watch or price that's too good to be true, it probably is a scam.
- Also, no matter what you feel about what I just wrote in there, wear and buy and rock whatever makes you feel happy and good about yourself, sometimes in this community we care so much what others may think that we forget to enjoy the watches ourselves.
Thank you for taking the time to read this I hope I helped you feel safer about your choices.
A couple days ago on 2 races in a row I had a small loss of FFB for a couple seconds mid race, is this still a common issue and if so why is there no fix for it yet? Thankfully I didn’t crash but who knows when it will happen again and if it won’t ruin my race. Not to mention that going from 15 nm on a wheel that has 25 nm of peak to 0 and back to full FFB is not only dangerous to myself but my equipment.