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Thinking about buying a rep ?


Mark Whinn

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My personal advise , would be DON'T . Reps are far to expensive these days , to be taken pot luck wether it works or not .

I paid £300 for a Carrera Rs2 (Perfect clones) .

Never worked properly from the minute I received it . When I informed Josh , he said , send it back , and I'll sort it . So I did , begging of April , and he's claiming it's not arrived ?

Now , I'm normally a trusting person , but it's a lot easier for them to say it's not arrived , than to repair , replace , and pay postage back to UK again .

And turns out , I'm not alone , after speaking with others on forums . Watches turning up DOA , and going missing . NEVER AGAIN !!!

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While there is certainly risk involved, it is not nearly as bad as you make it sound. I'm up to 10 reps from both Andrew and toro without a single issue to date.

Also note that the senior members here all suggest NOT sending watched back to china for any reason. Yet you did.

However, you certainly are right about the escalating prices.

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As it was my first purchase , I didn't know there was a risk sending it back (Josh never said) . I just followed his instructions . Had he said , there was a risk , I wouldn't have , but then , that would still have left me with a £300 knackered watch to fix , would it not ?

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Yup. But in the end, you'd have a great working watch for a fraction of the cost of a gen! Again, it's a risk we take.

If you want certainty, you'll need to spend 10x the money and buy a gen.

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I already have . Granted 2nd hand , but from a jewellers , with warranty and piece of mind . I don't take kindly to losing money , and will make a hell of a lot of people know the risks !!

 

surely you done all your reading of all forums of this type before taking the plunge on your first rep, so surely you would have known how it works, what to do and what not to do, which watches are good and which are bad etc etc

 

surely you would have done all of the above before spending your £300.

 

we all know the risks involved I did before i parted with my cash as like you i dont like losing money I work hard to earn it. Not all of us are in the situation to be able to buy a gen either new or second hand so these forums and TD's are all thats available to us to follow our watch passion. Im sorry you have had a very bad experience but surely a post like this serves no purpose and those that wish to enter the rep world should do so by their own choice and admission all be it based on their research and reading.

 

I am 3 reps in now and have had not a single issue with all three and different TD's

 

regards

D.

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I sent a watch back to china once and it dissapeared. I've heard the same story from many ppl, I don't buy reps from td's anymore but if I did I would have it serviced by a local watchmaker as soon as I got it because they don't come serviced. I'm surprised any of them work at all, but once serviced there really shouldn't be a problem you can work the cost of the service into your budget. Think of it as a used car, you would have a mechanic go through it, change the fluids and fix any mechanical issues, same thing with a rep watch, the "motor" or movement needs to see a "mechanic" or watchmaker before you can run around and play with it .

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My personal advise , would be DON'T . Reps are far to expensive these days , to be taken pot luck wether it works or not .

 

 

 

Best thing is to buy a casio or TIMEX they are worth every cent. Buying replicas is only for the brave and the addicted.

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Or do what I should have done , buy the real thing , even if pre worn

 

 

You have the correct idea. Preowned is a great way to go, we are likely crazy to buy all these replicas.

 

But we do need to see the Preowned item (real thing)  you have bought.

 

89644d1400376867-my-sharpness-test-resul

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MW

I have a gen Breitling that I wore for years and still love. I could afford Another gen or two, but not the 10 watches I have now. Some of the reps I have would be $20k - $30k as gens. Out of my league.

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Really bad luck on an expensive one and the very first on top. Nevertheless 1 personal experience doesn´t allow for general conclusions.

Overall rep looks (with lots of quality-exceptions) have become so good I don´t miss the new 10k gens at all. This could be different if I wanted only 2 watches or if You´re talking gen vintage Rolexes. 

 

My personal advice would be to do Your research right:

- When there is no super-rep. from Your "dreamwatch" don´t force it, look for something else.

- When members say it has flaws or is fragile/prone to failure movement try to stay away from it.

- Basic rule in the rep-world: automatic non-chronos are more reliable than chronos;  

- When "You want/must have" that watch get the quartz or the 21j cheapie version just knowing it´s not gen-like

 

My Breitling SO 42 would have cost a stunning $4.277 in AD, the rep looks the same, does feel good and it looses 2 secs every 40 hours

Instead of the Carrera RS2 (after reading about the movement and the lume) decided to buy the swiss Ronda Quartz Tag Chrono grande date, shockproof and never missed a beat (would have been a sizzling $2.350 in the shop). Compared to Conus new gens are 40% or more expensive in the AD (feel ripped off), if I choose them on Chrono 24 I get better prices but would have to figure in the travel and overnight stay.

 

While I wish overall rep quality and promises were better and prices were lower if You do the selection carefully and avoid critical specimens You´re fine to go.

Lucky owner of over 15 fine-ticking auto rep-watches and those are all handpicked/ several waterproof.

Edited by Nightwatch
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Or do what I do when I get put off of reps, buy second hand micro (or smaller) brands!

I have had luck with getting good deals on WUS for brands like DeepBlue, Raven/benarus, Steinhart, etc. usually come with ETA (Swiss ofcourse) sapphire crystals, quality builds etc.

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Thx Mike, now have another month of reading to do:) And the blue Drake Borealis takes longer than a new rep (blue BB) to come out, keen on that one.

 

Now for the more expensive brand gens they do have another trick up the sleeve - wait until You need a service from the AD. Just wanted to check waterproofness on my gen SMP (bought new from the AD a long time ago/nothing wrong with it) and the AD asked me for €500-€600 ($798) with 3-4 months or longer waiting time to send it in (better to replace the O-rings/ better to check the movement/ oh we could put another bezel on it but that´s not included etc.). Don´t want them to polish the case either, like it the way it is and not going to give it away. Had it wp checked for free somewhere else. But have serious doubts about what You get when these are offered 2nd hand from $1500 on the net.

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Night watch: " And the blue Drake Borealis takes longer than a new rep (blue BB) to come out, keen on that one." as you may know have the red great watch for the money. THE SW200 on my first one that JPZ won in raffle running like one second off in three days , no idea on my replacement never checked. Whatever............ :partytime:

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