No reps have 5 mil plating. Not even close. It will scratch and fade. Mainly at the wear points. There is no finite answer to the amount of time this takes because it is based on several factors.
Humidity where you live.
Skin acidity.
How often you wear it.
How you care for it
How you wear it.
It can last for a month or look brand new after several years like my Daytona.
Says he's got all the paperwork. It does seem to have the classic date shift that the gens suffer from. Wonder if the rep makers will ever get that right.
I agree with you. I appreciate the designs as well. And you are correct about why most buy reps. If the name didn't matter they would be wearing Invictas or Seikos.
First you start by going to an AD and looking at the real thing. Then look for gen reviews on gen sites. They generally tend to have better pics in the sense that they're not trying to play up certain angles. As ali said you eventually pick it up. But you will also find as time passes that many of the flaws are hardly as critical as they are made out to be. That is why it is important you look at the real thing. Macrophasia is the biggest detriment to rep collecting.