Help buying Reps in Hong Kong

[LOTUS ELISE]

I need some help!!!!!

I'm going to Honk Kong at the end of this year and thought i would take in the sites and also have a dive into buying some reps direct.

But i have been told from my Chineese wife it can be a little un safe.

Can any one help me with any info, where the best place to buy from? is the quality as good as our RWC contacts, is there any chance buying from the likes of Josh & Andrew direct? in dont know!

please help me.

Thanks to all in anticipation

[praetor]

The news is discouraging though. I've been shopping around Hong Kong for about a month now for about everything. And the reps I found on streets like Fa Yuen st. in mong kok that were displayed were cheap $30 HK swiss army and CK reps. And for the higher end model reps, there are people who sit on stools with catalogs and basically you pick one and then they fetch it for you. Some of them may be good, but generally bad, I don't know, I've not dealt with the ones in Hong Kong since I'm scared of the police.

But the ones in Lo Wu... I don't think it's the same anymore. It's an interesting thing they've done. For the displays, they put the cases and bracelets of the reps, but the dials they've changed it to some unknown never seen or heard of brand. And you would still have to order from a catalog. These watches fetch for 375 to 450 yuan. And after hard bargaining, I think you can lower it to say 200? But yea, they would hassle you with "best quality and lowest price!" or "just like original" or "a special discount for you". They probably have all the quartz models out there, like this one my friend bought:

http://www.jpc8118.com/tgca10156-grand-car...ono-p-6503.html

but you can really tell since there's no AR, way too shiny.

But I was hunting for an SMP in Lo Wu, they tried to sell me the new model, was sort of interested, they had the red seamaster above the hands not below (which is correct), the bezel was aligned , crown guards are ok (not so good), cheap feeling bracelet, an "automatic", the dial color was off (for the new model), pearl was terrible, and have a something is not right about that bezel and hands because they're so inaccurate. All for 450 yuan. But is it a waste of money to spend on something like this? or is it worth it to make a franken model after getting an accurate watch? Well, I didn't get it because the point of having a replica is that people won't spot it from 30 ft away.

[jitai]

Almost zero chance if you are looking for quality reps in HK. Places like nathan road and ladies market at Mongkok sell crappy reps.

If you have the time, consider taking a train ride and cross the border into Shenzhen. There is a mall call LuoWu and it is located right outside the train station after you clear the custom.

There are tons of crappy reps. But if you look around carefully, there are about 2 or 3 shops at level 2 and 3 selling quality reps. It is rather easy to spot these shops because they display quite openly. So keep your eyes open. However, price will be about the same (cheaper because there is no shipping charge) and maybe another less 20 to 30% depending on your bargaining skill. Choices are quite limited at times so it really depend on your luck. Anyway, no harm asking them if they have more to show as they normally store them in some secret places. If you are unable to spot these shops mean there is a recent crackdown by the police.

There are many other things you can do in ShenZhen. Nice DimSum and very good and cheap massage.

So, good luck for your rep hunting.

[gavidoc]

As the others have said. Lo Wu is a better choice.

I've bought some pretty decent reps in Hong Kong but it was on Hong Kong island. Not out on the street but in an apartment. Little shady. Guy was outside, and we went inside.

In Lo Hu there are some vendors in there that sell decent stuff. Most is junk though. Majority of the shops on the upper floors are run by 4-5 "companies" just with different booths. A lot of times when you see someone run out to go get what you want, they're going to another store. They sell you a line about it having a swiss movement call "Fong Pi" on them.

I've had luck with the stores on the first floor (main floor) right in the middle where the escalators are. If you buy, buy multiple watches. They'll typically start out asking for 700-1000 yuan. If you pay more then 325 yuan you paid too much for the decent ones. Inspect them all. Show that you're in a hurry and most important....Go right before they close if possible. The Lo Hu Shangri-La is a 5 min. walk from the mall and a good place to stay. One night will typically run around $150. Reason I say go at the end of the day is that they will bargain a lot more with you at that time. I always do my shopping right around 9-10 (IIRC they close at 10).

You won't find the latest reps as they are normally a version or 2 behind but on my last trip (in April) I was able to snag a decent V2 Rolex DSSD with bracelet, a no crown guard sub similar to the Silix one (but no cartier, it has a date) with bracelet, got a coworker an Explorer I with bracelet and my coworker got a GMT Master wiht bracelet and 2 for his wife. We bought them all together. You can overwhelm them to a point, they see a big sale (we bought a total of 6 watches), they start negotiating, it gets ridiculous. You get up to leave, they lower again. Finally we said we'd give the guy 1200 yuan for all 6. He said he couldn't. We walked out of the store, he hollerd 1200. We kept walking. He had his helper come get us and say "Ok." We went in, paid, looked at the time. 9:50 PM. 10 mins. before closing. Total cost...At the time is was approx. $176 or roughly $30 a watch. I went back the next day to pick up another explorer I from him and couldn't get him to sell at the same price. He kept saying, "only buying one." Ended up paying $10 more for it. It was for a friend.