Welcome back,! The beauty of this forum goes beyond the interest of replicas, but more so to the uniqueness of the members that are part of it You have mentioned a few, but there are more that I refrain from doing in case I miss someone! Over the years (now close to decades) ihave communicated with different members here from all walks of life where they have all donated a priceless contribution to making this unique and esoteric interest what it is! You wont find anything like it! It hasn’t just been about timepieces either!
I think the noun “replica” does not do true justice to the true value behind what we collect ,build or are just purely interested without even owning one! These “replicas” can range from mass produced economy pieces no different from what you find in a legit watch store, to hand made finished ( aka modded) elaborate works of art! There is an education and skill wealth here that no university nor college can teach ! I doubt whether the best watchmaking schools in the world would elaborate on encouraging to go outside the square as most of the highly skilled artisans do here! Schools in general just parrot the usual dogma and stick to the script without improvising!
As for who is still with us has always pondered my mind too, especially with every internet communication , unless a family member would inform us like Nanuq’s son did! These replicas like genuine branded timepieces measure life’s most important currency: “TIME” !,
You can buy more gold, more land , more palaces, more diamonds, more oil wells and perhaps even more love! BUT you cannot buy more time! No 100 year old king can buy any young pauper’s years from him to live longer! What measures this precious asset? A timepiece whether genuine or a replica, so we treasure both!
Thanks for keeping in touch and updating us with the latest!