Brian50

Agreed, expenses for design, sales and marketing, administrative, etc are very high. It's the degree of cost over a good rep that makes me question selling prices for gens. If you can sell a good copy for US $300 of a watch that retails for $6,000, something's out of wack.

New to this board and rep collecting. Got an IWC Ingy as my first one, and am amazed at the quality. Got me thinking about watch brands, brands in general. Read a book recently about the whole concept of modern luxury brands.... how brands started out in the 19th century as truly hand made goods, the quality was primary, the name of the maker secondary. More recently, brands became primarily marketers, sellers of mass produced watches, handbags, etc. with the brand itself more the selling point than the quality of the item. Now clearly there is a high cost for design, marketing, etc. But to be able to make a rep as good as some of these are, for 1/20th the price of the real thing, indicates the real thing is grossly overpriced for the quality purchased. No wonder reps are so prevalent now - when it becomes mainly the name on the dial, not the intrinsic value of the watch - copies will be made. At some level, the brands invited this on themselves - when you sell mostly sizzle instead of steak, your steak's gonna get repped.

Seems the consensus here is the 0008 is the most accurate of the Ferraris.... but I prefer the look of the 0004 (at least the gen). Opinions on it requested, thanks.

Away from this for a while.... new sites replacing these, or good alternatives? Thanks.