How To Spot A Rep

[82KUBA]

As Jon and Kuba said, wearing an expensive watch, but maybe driving a crappy car, or wearing from the Bargain Basement are certainly potential give aways. I wouldn't judge location too much, as people do go to various places, and, who knows, someone might be travelling, so going into the first bar/eatery they find. I'm sure we've all done that at least once in our lives on a vacation... Things like fiddling with a watch, rolling up sleeves etc, I would say were individually judgeable. What might be one person's "Look at my watch, bitches!" might be another person's unconscious habit or style choice. Overall, I'd say the best tell, is obviously, the watch itself Fascinating subject though, and one which makes watch-spotting in stations/airports all the more fun

I not saying that i wear Gucci and Prada when i wear my REPs ... but u gotta play the part... but i also work with a guy that has 2 gen omega speedmasters and a gen rolex sub and drives a 93 honda to work everyday so its 50/50 on that rule...airport watchspoting is the best i drive my girlfriend nuts with it

[keith_bran]

How i can tell ..... 5500-7500k watch on ur wrist and u wearing a Wal-mart shirt and think taking ur girl to applebees is a night out on the town .....awwww rep and most likely a bad one

I don't know about that; I drive a couple of nice cars and have a pretty big house but I've been reliably informed I dress like a tramp! PS Tesco Value shirts are

[TeeJay]

I not saying that i wear Gucci and Prada when i wear my REPs ... but u gotta play the part... but i also work with a guy that has 2 gen omega speedmasters and a gen rolex sub and drives a 93 honda to work everyday so its 50/50 on that rule...airport watchspoting is the best i drive my girlfriend nuts with it

As you say, you've got to at least look presentable. As Keith mentioned, bargain clothes can be good quality (I've also got a load of really nice clothes from Tesco which were dirt cheap) it's just a case of working with the materials available to create the desired effect

When I was at Alicante airport a few weeks ago, I spotted someone wearing a rep of the Planet Ocean Chronometer. The pearl and lack of AR were the give away Other than that though, the guy in question was smartly dressed, so sometimes, one has to rely on the watch itself for the tells

[82KUBA]

I don't know about that; I drive a couple of nice cars and have a pretty big house but I've been reliably informed I dress like a tramp! PS Tesco Value shirts are

[ZainoDetail]

It def. tougher and tougher to tell based on just the appearance of the person. My favorite watch is my Gen. Omega speedmaster...I'll wear it anywhere and everywhere and it's usually the watch on my wrist when I"m driving my 15yr old Dodge truck in scruby clothing....and when I'm dressed smartly and driving something nice I'm usually wearing a rep...go figure.

[scoobs1971]

Apparant flaws on a sandwich PAM (111/112/176/177):

1. clear white 'Luminor' and 'Panerai' fonts

2. L Swiss Made L - too close to the 6

There are other flaws, but then you have to get a closer look

On automatic PAMs the poor mag of the date is the easy giveaway.

[eddhead]

I not saying that i wear Gucci and Prada when i wear my REPs ... but u gotta play the part... but i also work with a guy that has 2 gen omega speedmasters and a gen rolex sub and drives a 93 honda to work everyday so its 50/50 on that rule...airport watchspoting is the best i drive my girlfriend nuts with it

sorry, i do not agree. i will wear ratty jeans and tee-shirts with my gen 5513 all the time.. .if people think it is a rep for that reason, they are mistaken.

and i doubt i am alone.

p.s. i am not above going to applebees either ...

[Victoria]

Hmm, again, we all have our criteria for judging people on whether or not they "could" own a highly expensive watch, but this is more a technical thread, guys.

The examples given here have been WONDERFUL. Keep 'em coming, please!

B16a2's menu should be called a Chinese menu because they're about Chinese watches.

Where are all the various Rolex experts?? Those are the really important watches, for so many on here.

P.S.: I've never been to Applebee's, either, but I want to. Yet, I could be naked, and I still "look" well-to-do. I don't know what it is, but it is. I think it's my bearing.

[FxrAndy]

Any one think of a better way of doing this as an online dcument as when i open the file is comes up embedded in IE and is a pain to format????

It experts?

[archibald]

Are you saying, if the person drives up in a beat up hoopdee wearing a $20,000 dollar watch (if real), that's what you consider a tell or...did you mean something more esoteric?I can see where that comes into play. But I myself am hyper conscious of my watches now, and whether gen or rep, I am always fussing with them, gazing at them, twirling them.Not that these weren't some kind of starting off point, Jon, but the Guide aimed for something a little more nuts and bolts -- the kind which guys here love to talk about.IOW, more technical stuff.

It all works together--The age, the clothes, the haircut, the shoes, the bearing, the attitude, all working on the subconcious probably. We've all found ourselves noticing a watch on someone and thinking, "I bet that's fake," w/o really evaluating the watch. Sometimes it's just obvious: My UPS guy wears a shitty "white gold" DD. @ nearly $35 an hour + overtime, a UPS guy can afford a Rolex, even a gold one, if he really wanted one, but this guy just doesn't cut it, not to mention the fact that nobody would wear a gold bracelet watch knowing they'd be arranging boxes in the back of a truck...unless of course it cost $50. I guess if you know someone the number of reps could come into play. People who know what I do would probably believe a collection of 5 highish end watches---but I wear a different "$8,000" one practically every day of the month. They have to know most of them are fake. But I'm an addict so I don't care! Bottom line, if you can't pull off plausibly owniong a gen, don't wear the rep. Otherwise, rep or gen everyone will think, "Fake."

Are you saying, if the person drives up in a beat up hoopdee wearing a $20,000 dollar watch (if real), that's what you consider a tell or...did you mean something more esoteric?I can see where that comes into play. But I myself am hyper conscious of my watches now, and whether gen or rep, I am always fussing with them, gazing at them, twirling them.Not that these weren't some kind of starting off point, Jon, but the Guide aimed for something a little more nuts and bolts -- the kind which guys here love to talk about.IOW, more technical stuff.

It all works together--The age, the clothes, the haircut, the shoes, the bearing, the attitude, all working on the subconcious probably. We've all found ourselves noticing a watch on someone and thinking, "I bet that's fake," w/o really evaluating the watch. Sometimes it's just obvious: My UPS guy wears a shitty "white gold" DD. @ nearly $35 an hour + overtime, a UPS guy can afford a Rolex, even a gold one, if he really wanted one, but this guy just doesn't cut it, not to mention the fact that nobody would wear a gold bracelet watch knowing they'd be arranging boxes in the back of a truck...unless of course it cost $50. I guess if you know someone the number of reps could come into play. People who know what I do would probably believe a collection of 5 highish end watches---but I wear a different "$8,000" one practically every day of the month. They have to know most of them are fake. But I'm an addict so I don't care! Bottom line, if you can't pull off plausibly owniong a gen, don't wear the rep. Otherwise, rep or gen everyone will think, "Fake."

[sssurfer]

Any one think of a better way of doing this as an online dcument as when i open the file is comes up embedded in IE and is a pain to format????

Maybe it would be easier to save it on your HD (right-click, then 'save object as...'), edit it, and re-attach it?

At least you will not have it embedded in IE.

[guanaco]

My reps have only been questioned once at work, the usual 'is that a real Rolex'? question everyone just HAS to ask, thankfully I've been known to love watches since I've been in High School, and a friend from work who went to school with me told them: "Oh they're real, he has been a real watch nut since high school!" he even added: "Don't question his watches!" <---I loved that part!

Bottom line, just act confident with your watches, with that card up your sleeve you won't feel as paranoid as you actually should feel!

Edited December 5, 2007 by guanaco

[andreww]

What's the point of this? From my experience it takes a lot more than a word document to learn this stuff. There are several guides provided by my good friend By-Tor that will give you pretty much all the info that you are looking for. To think that you will become some kind of WIS, capable of spotting a rep, of any brand, whilst on the wrist of a stranger is just ludicrous IMO. Hundreds of different watches with multiple versions, and varying colors to boot. Good luck :laugh:

[jkerouac]

I've never been to Applebee's, either, but I want to. Yet, I could be naked, and I still "look" well-to-do. I don't know what it is, but it is. I think it's my bearing.

Who on the board would like Victoria to prove her point? :laugh:

As for me, most flaws are too small for me to detect them on a watch unless I can study it up close, and for some time.

So I'd say it comes down to a general impression of the person's dress and bearing, and a general impression of the quality of the watch, including the quality of or lack of AR, the general finish of the case and quality of markings, the roughness of the movement. It's a gesalt, rather than individual bits of evidence.

[FxrAndy]

Maybe it would be easier to save it on your HD (right-click, then 'save object as...'), edit it, and re-attach it?

At least you will not have it embedded in IE.

It works that way on my laptop but not my desk top. Better would be to wait for Richard Brown to release a new edition of his book im sure there have been massive changes since it was written

[Xyphis]

I could be naked, and I still "look" well-to-do. I don't know what it is, but it is. I think it's my bearing.

I really think you need to post a few pics so we could vote on it

(I know, I know, parents rules )

[Victoria]

It works that way on my laptop but not my desk top. Better would be to wait for Richard Brown to release a new edition of his book im sure there have been massive changes since it was written

Good idea, but it would still be good to have a handy Guide here, as well, given members' experiences in modding, etc.

BTW, when does it come out?

"If you're a watch collector, or even just a watch fan, this book is an excellent resource to keep next to your computer. 184-pages of exclusive secrets of replica watches that you won't find anywhere else in print."

[hiker01]

Wow! I didn't know we're all ANAL about these rep spotting stuff! I just enjoy the watch....rep or not! It's an addiction.....and most of the time, you dont care what you have as long as you get the high!

Edited December 5, 2007 by HikeUSA

[Victoria]

Wow! I didn't know we're all ANAL about these rep spotting stuff! I just enjoy the watch....rep or not! It's an addiction.....and most of the time, you dont care what you have as long as you get the high!

This is a forum where people agonised over the tiniest flaws in a rep watch, and ever since I arrived (originally with your mindset of "who cares, it's a rep watch, I know that going in") that attitude has been dinned into me.

Finally, I've accepted that there are some tells which are more glaring than others. Why not share them in a convenient, all-encompassing thread, since we seem to talk about them quite a bit?

[Pugwash]

Here's the Pugwash method for spotting a rep. It's pretty much foolproof.

Know the watch.

That's it, I'm afraid. If you know what a genuine Sub looks like, you'll spot replicas. If you need a Word doc, you'll never be sure it's not out-of-date. If you're serious about rep-spotting, go to an AD and commit the tells to memory.

[Victoria]

Here's the Pugwash method for spotting a rep. It's pretty much foolproof.

Know the watch.

That's it, I'm afraid. If you know what a genuine Sub looks like, you'll spot replicas. If you need a Word doc, you'll never be sure it's not out-of-date. If you're serious about rep-spotting, go to an AD and commit the tells to memory.

Sure, but newbies don't know the watch, until they know the hobby.

This guide truly isn't for the experts. It's for the experts or self-defined hobbyists to share with others less capable of themselves, at the quick and easy tells out there.

I'm sure you can add loads to it, as you surely have in individual threads.

[Pugwash]

This guide truly isn't for the experts. It's for the experts or self-defined hobbyists to share with others less capable of themselves, at the quick and easy tells out there.

Good luck. Remember Richard Brown's guide is 184 pages of info cribbed from these forums. If you get a document produced by the members here that's considerably smaller, it'll be very vague.

Oh, here's the other way of spotting a rep. It's not as reliable, but it's good in 99% of the cases: If you think it's a rep, it's a rep. Trust your gut.

[Victoria]

Good luck. Remember Richard Brown's

I was thinking about asking this earlier, when FxrAndy mentioned his name. I wonder if Richard Brown is a known member? It sounds like a pseudonym, this pen name.

[Pugwash]

I was thinking about asking this earlier, when FxrAndy mentioned his name. I wonder if Richard Brown is a known member? It sounds like a pseudonym, this pen name.

He's Audemarsfan here. He's been a part of the rep community as long as TTK.

[r11co]

What's the point of this?

Exactly what I was thinking. All the answers for all our current reps are already contained within a myriad forum posts, and if anyone needs to know something specific there's always the search facility.

This just smacks of someone who doesn't know as much as they pretend running out of bluff-and-bluster and now looking for a shortcut to enlightenment. The point is almost as inane as 'who has the best sub'.

To the original poster - perhaps you should step back from the 'New Topic' button and spend a few days reading back on all that went on and was discussed about this very issue in the days, weeks, months and years before you graced us with your presence.

Here's the Pugwash method for spotting a rep. It's pretty much foolproof.

Know the watch.

Never a truer word spoken, Pugs. There is no substitute for time, research and experience.