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What brand would make you think "rep" right away,and why...


Dave123

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Just noticed yet another HBB thread of some unknown watch i will never see in the wild...

Had me thinking..of all my years around this watch bit,the HBB is one line of watches that if i ever see somebody wearing one,its a damn rep without question.

The years of popularity of the HBB reps (remember when the "mellow yellow" was over a grand?) and the fact i have taken around 25 vacations around the world the last 5 years,never seen a Hublot on any wrist,let alone one here in Toronto,never.

As much as the easy answer to my question is Rolex,for me not really. There are so many gen and rep Rollies out there,who knows from a distance (or up close at times),i would go by who is wearing it before i would question the watch itself. But with HBB,i don't think i would.

While looking at the latest HBB thread on a rep forum here,the first thing that came to my mind was..."man, nothing screams fake watch like a HBB"...

Agreed?...if not,what makes you think "fake" when (if ever) you see a certain brand on a wrist,and why....

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This is an interesting topic Dave. You're right, the kneejerk answer is "Rolex", but after pondering it for a sec, for me it's pams. I guess partially because of the quality of the new ones but for me also because they're the one watch that I've seen guaranteed reps of in the wild, multiple times. Anyone else who spends a lot of time, or lives, in Singapore will know what i mean.

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Fair enough Dave.

If i had not been on these forums for 5 years,i wouldn't know or care if a gen HBB or Pam cost $5,and wouldn't give you that for one. And i would question if my own gen Rolex was fake or not. :g:

Once a member of these forums,you have taken an interest in this stuff and thoughts change beyond that kind of thinking. There are alot of brands out there,us guys on the rep forums probably know more about them then anyone.

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Just noticed yet another HBB thread of some unknown watch i will never see in the wild...

Not a direct answer to your question but made me think.

Hublot is one brand you never ever see in Switzerland. It's almost entirely aimed at the foreign markets. A bit like no Aussie will ever drink XXXX beer. :)

Val.

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This is an interesting topic Dave. You're right, the kneejerk answer is "Rolex", but after pondering it for a sec, for me it's pams. I guess partially because of the quality of the new ones but for me also because they're the one watch that I've seen guaranteed reps of in the wild, multiple times. Anyone else who spends a lot of time, or lives, in Singapore will know what i mean.

I live in Singapore as well. Do you see many rep pams around? I've seen many but I can't tell whether they are rep or gens from the distance. What are the biggest 'tells'?

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And the funny thing is that the ones I see (and I have seen a few in the last few months) were more often than not gold. And the guys wearing them were neither NBA stars or rappers. I do travel the world and often meet with fairly well to do folks in my business life and I never saw one on the wrist (rep or gen) until a couple of months ago. I still can't figure out who buys the gens. I never see them in the EU or USA. Who is buying the gens? The owners sold the business a couple of years ago for $175 million. Someone has to be. Back to the topic at hand. Hublot is definitely the one brand (not Rolex) I assume is always a fake.I can see someone shelling out $3-4k for the original status symbol but not $7k plus for a Hublot.

It is interesting because several years ago when the Panerai reps came out there were so few gens in the U.S. I often assumed many were reps. Now there are so many gens out there that Panerai gets my benefit of the doubt.

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Going with the knee-jerk reaction, Rolex, every time, simply due to the historic availability of Rolex reps. To be fair, since getting into the rep hobby, I've started suspecting a good 80% of the watches I see in person as being reps. But, I would temper that by saying that that is due to the area I now live in. If I'm staying at my parents, I see a lot more nice watches, and know that the people wearing them (or at least their parents) have deep enough pockets to be paying gen prices (although I still discretely check for tells :lol: ) The other day I was watching a 'reality soap' with Wifey, and clocked one of the guys wearing an AP Offshore. Now, I know this guy and his crew are pretty affluent, his best friend wears a Cartier Tank which I totally accept as gen, but for some reason, I'm not buying the guy wearing the AP, even though I couldn't put my finger on a specific reason why :pardon:

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I know Hublot have big connections within the football world through the world and here in the UK. every footballer past and present in the uk seems to be wearing one. even the presenters of Match of the Day seem to be givin one for free

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/3286483/Manchester-United-sign-timely-sponsorship-deal-with-Swiss-watch-maker-Hublot-Football.html

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The HBB's are really popular with football players here in the UK and around the EU. Quite a few boxers too, although the pundits tend to wear Breits exclusively.

I think I would go with Dave on the Hublots, unless I know the guy is a footballer! I know a lot of rich and famous people, mainly through my days in bands and running the clubs, and only one of them own/wear an HBB and he is, yup you guessed it, a footballer!!

Brains tend to be surplus to requirements in a footballer!! No musician I know wears one, a few AP's (DJ Ashba, Nikki Sixx) Breits (quite a few of them, tommy Lee, Nikki again, ) PAMs, (Michael singer from Sixx:AM is huge into them, DJ has a couple as does Nikki,)

Sixx :bones:

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I live in Singapore as well. Do you see many rep pams around? I've seen many but I can't tell whether they are rep or gens from the distance. What are the biggest 'tells'?

Yep I see more pam reps in sg than i've seen gens IRL

Blue AR and cloudy crystals are often the tells. But also, seeing the 20 something retail assistant wearing a vintage of which there would only be a handful of gens in the entire world is a bit of a tell as well ;)

I imagine a lot of them come from Petaling Street rather our dealers ;)

Going with the knee-jerk reaction, Rolex, every time, simply due to the historic availability of Rolex reps.

Funny thing about SG, you'll see rolexes on everyone from your doctor to your cab driver, they're gen.

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Funny thing about SG, you'll see rolexes on everyone from your doctor to your cab driver, they're gen.

Sorry to sound like a n00b, but what does SG stand for? For sure, there're a good amount of gen Rolexs out there, and I know a good percentage will be gen, I've just gotten a lot more suspicious of watches being reps :D

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