Helmut Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 But both those reasons are essentially self-oriented. My point exactly. For some, its fashion, for others its an attempt to be a 'class' above their actual station. For me its akin to collecting model cars or camera lenses. I like em and most people will never see them. Each to their own I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasng Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I think reps are pretty believable on me, especially when I crank out the Gucci suit/pants I have for work, and the Lacoste polos I wear on golf courses, but when I start wearing the tattered jeans, football shirts, driving the Smart car around town, maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al qaeda with cheese Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I have a gen Sea-Dweller and drive a unmarked police car.... Grand it I'm 40, bald and big but I think it's all in the way you conduct yourself... Just my $.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I am with you on shoes. They say it all for men or women unless you are doing the sneaker thing. I have over 50 pairs of sneakers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I have over 50 pairs of sneakers... I've never had a pair of shoes that I am really comfortable in. I even bought Gucci and Prada shoes as they are supposed to be good, but still always the same old story. I'm seeing the foot health people at the hospital I work at, on the recommendation of the doctor after I'd had a couple of ankle injuries playing soccer last summer in Vienna. Not from tackles but from hidden potholes in the ground! I prefer to wear dark unmarked sneakers to work nowadays. I have a pair of black leather Adidas "Stan Smith" that look like shoes but have the comfort of sneakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I am 30 yr. old executive chef and I work in a small french bistro. I don't drive due to suspended driving privleges nor due I own a car, I live in a small two bedroom condo with my wife (who is a bartender) and my newborn son. I have a modest collection of three reps and a genuine rolex sub and people would never even think about questioning the authenticity of my timepeices because my parents are wealthy (have not worked in 20 years wealthy, 14000 sq. ft. house wealthy). And by the way I wear jeans, puma's or nike dunk's ,Ed Hardy hats and rocker t-shirts everyday of my life ( my cheapest jeans are diesel's). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eye.surgeon Posted June 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 (edited) OK, as the OP, let me chime in here again. For those of you (there are several) that have claimed that you wear reps just because you love fine watches and don't give a rip about what other people think, I call BS. MAJOR BS. Reps are, at best, tolerable watches in terms of the quality of the movement. Be honest, the vast majority of you here are buying reps to make people think you have spent more money on a watch than you really have. Myself included. Don't pretend otherwise. Nobody is buying a 7750b1 rep because they love mechanical watches or other such crap. My favorite response so far is this one: "I dont give a toss what people think. I buy reps because I like them." WTF?? What a load of utter crap! And my wife buys a fake LV purse because she likes the fine leather quality found in the fakes and doesn't care what other people think. Uh huh. It's just getting a little thick in there with all the pontification about not judging people by how they look or dress or what car they drive, and this coming from a guy that's wearing a fake watch?? Don't make me laugh Edited June 11, 2006 by eye.surgeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Bwahahahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sye46 Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 OK, as the OP, let me chime in here again. For those of you (there are several) that have claimed that you wear reps just because you love fine watches and don't give a rip about what other people think, I call BS. MAJOR BS. Reps are, at best, tolerable watches in terms of the quality of the movement. Be honest, the vast majority of you here are buying reps to make people think you have spent more money on a watch than you really have. Myself included. Don't pretend otherwise. Nobody is buying a 7750b1 rep because they love mechanical watches or other such crap. My favorite response so far is this one: "I dont give a toss what people think. I buy reps because I like them." WTF?? What a load of utter crap! And my wife buys a fake LV purse because she likes the fine leather quality found in the fakes and doesn't care what other people think. Uh huh. It's just getting a little thick in there with all the pontification about not judging people by how they look or dress or what car they drive, and this coming from a guy that's wearing a fake watch?? Don't make me laugh Somehow, I find this to be quite true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I'd argue that it's totally based on how you "carry" yourself, not what you wear, what you drive or any other "physical" manifestation of your wealth. I have to agree with that totally. From going back to the mid 80s in S. Fla. One of the things I did in advertising, after the paper got shut down was working for my old boss at his boating & fishing mag. Got to hit a bunch of boat builders and performance shops from Miami up to Palm Beach. These were mega buck people, with boats (toys) costing more than most people's houses . . . even down there . . . most all were totally casual, shorts & a sport shirt or Tee, Topsiders or tennies & no socks or even flipflops. They'd drive the big 4 wheel drive stuff or big pickups & dualies. To look at them, you'd never guess they had that kind of $$$ . . . but talk to them for a bit, and you'd know they were worth a lot more than you first guessed. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRT Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Eye.Surgeon- What was the point of this post...to make people know that you have a deep 6-figure salary...or to make people feel badly about owning a rep of a watch that they can't afford in genuine? I don't make as much as you but I'm addicted to this hobby. I enjoy trying to get a rep look as close to genuine as possible- there are quite a few of us who feel the same on these forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eye.surgeon Posted June 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 (edited) Eye.Surgeon- What was the point of this post...to make people know that you have a deep 6-figure salary...or to make people feel badly about owning a rep of a watch that they can't afford in genuine? I don't make as much as you but I'm addicted to this hobby. I enjoy trying to get a rep look as close to genuine as possible- there are quite a few of us who feel the same on these forums. I'm with you, man. I like this hobby as well. It's a lot of fun to get very accurate reps and to have a variety of cool looking watches to wear without having to spend excessive money. I just find it kind of hypocritical to claim that you "don't care what anybody thinks" when we all know that the very reason we are buying reps is because we do care what people think at some level or we would all be collecting invictas. Some peopel are mistaking what I was saying-- you don't have to dress like you are shooting a Dynasty episode in order to pull off a rep. The original point I was trying to make is that the most convincing part of your rep, as with any lie, is how closely it resembles a possible reality. A Patek on a mid-level office worker is a lie that doesn't resemble reality and is therefore not believable, not because of the watch, but because of the person. No offense intended to anyone, it's not personal, and it applies to myself as much as anyone. If you can "carry yourself" as someone who makes a middle wage and drives a 10k car but wears a 25k watch, cool. I don't know a lot of people like that. Edited June 11, 2006 by eye.surgeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Pretty interesting thread. I agree that the people who say I wear a Sub rep purely because it's such a fine time piece are kidding themselves. For the price of a modded MBW sub, you can choose from several hundred watches that are better timepieces than any rep. They just don't say Rolex on the dial. On the other hand, I think that as long as you accept the fact that nobody will think your rep is real if you couldn't or wouldn't sport the gen. I think the OP has it 100% right--at least 75% of rep believability has nothing to do w/ the watch. Even as a rep WIS wannabe, I know some people who, if i saw them wearing a decent rep, I'd just assume it was real without giving it a second look; and people who, if I saw them wearing a genuine Rolex, I'd just assume it was a rep w/o giving it a second look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
that_watch_guy Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 "A Patek on a mid-level office worker is a lie that doesn't resemble reality and is therefore not believable, not because of the watch, but because of the person." The thing is that 99.9999% of people in any given office won't even know what a Patek or Panerai is, let alone how much it costs. Unless of course you work at a watch factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve G Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I can see both sides to this really. However, In my case my wife and I both work, we have an eight month old daughter, live in a 3,000 sq foot home, I drive a 2005 Jag, she a 2006 Jetta, we have no debt and pull in well into six figures. Am I rich?..no. Can I afford a gen?, yeah, but I like variety I can and have over a dozen reps that I'm satisfied with. They make me feel good. Let's face it even if I had tons of cash, I don't think I'd spend $20,000 on a gen watch. In my circle of friends only the rolex draws some stares, but then again it's a SS Sub, people who know me know my excessive side and assume it's real, it's believable. My VC Overseas or Panerai's, most people I know never question, admire yes, but have no clue as to the real value of these watches in their gen state. Besides your average department store watch, whether it be a citizen, timex, whatever can set you back $200 to $400 easy, but you know what they aren't as attractive as the higher price watches IMO. So long story short I'll take the gen anyday. Better looking watch, which is really what matters to me. Cost effective enough to buy many, easily replaced if broken, and makes me happy every morning to get up and decide which one to wear today. I don't think it's about fooling people, at least for me. I have nobody to impress, but only myself to make happy. I suppose if you run in certain circles and are high profile, one may need to be concerned about being called out. That's a shallow life I wouldn't really want. Just happy to be with my family, and have some nice watches that are asethically as good as the real deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMK000 Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 That's really a great topic !!!! Some good opinions have expressed here on this. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. One exterme: If you social and income status is such that you can affort the real deal, people will not question what are you wearing (.... to that extend I gree with Eye.Surgeon). Even when they see you everyday with a different watch (..my case ), they will accept your hobby and they will start asking you about rep watches and where they can find some good ones etc.... The other extreme: If you are a 20 year old student or similar (... not coming from a very rich family) and people they see you everyday with a different watch then of course the whole thing is crying for "... here I am wearing my replicas" and people they will think that you are trying to pretend things that you are not. ( ) So is really up to you guys to decide where in between these two extremns you want to stand. So my advise and personal opinion is that: - if your life allows to buy good genuine watches, buy as many reps as you like and its ok if you wear a different one every day. - If your life style is nearer to that you should have "other priorities in life", then buy one or two max good reps and stay with these. People can always guess that is a kind of a present. BTW: What's wrong with a 6 years old 325 ? Its a great car. Cheers, AMK000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk45ca Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Go to nearly any fast food place in Redmond, WA during lunch. You'll see guys wearing a Mountain Dew-stained "windows 95 Launch Day" t-shirts who get up and leave walking out to their Ford GT or Ferarri Modena. Lots of these guys wear Timex....but alot of them wear Panerai, Omega. And alot of them drive Camry's. I'd argue that it's totally based on how you "carry" yourself, not what you wear, what you drive or any other "physical" manifestation of your wealth.you are absolutly correct. where i live the old money from oil are almost always driving a caddy, lincoln or a benz that is any where from 10 to 25 years old. very seldom will you see a new one, but they will look brand new. always in the garage. you know the ones you spot from 100 feet away. their clothes will range from armani to a t shirt and blue jeans. the apperance thing will do nothing but get you in trouble. the way you carry your self and the way you handle things will tell the story every time. lets face it, anybody with credit can go lease a new benz and charge some nice cloths on a cc. that means nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eye.surgeon Posted June 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 you are absolutly correct. where i live the old money from oil are almost always driving a caddy, lincoln or a benz that is any where from 10 to 25 years old. very seldom will you see a new one, but they will look brand new. always in the garage. you know the ones you spot from 100 feet away. their clothes will range from armani to a t shirt and blue jeans. the apperance thing will do nothing but get you in trouble. the way you carry your self and the way you handle things will tell the story every time. lets face it, anybody with credit can go lease a new benz and charge some nice cloths on a cc. that means nothing. Again, I am talking about the watch matching your INCOME, not the price of the clothes on your back. Most of the people you spend time with every day and whose opinion and respect you value, know how much you make and know what you can afford and what you can't. I'm not talking about rolling around in a Bentley and wearing a tuxedo all day to match your watch price, I'm talking about your purchasing power matching your personal property. The guy at the Taco Bell drive through can carry himself as high as he wants, that MBW Sub is not convincing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk45ca Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Again, I am talking about the watch matching your INCOME, not the price of the clothes on your back. Most of the people you spend time with every day and whose opinion and respect you value, know how much you make and know what you can afford and what you can't. I'm not talking about rolling around in a Bentley and wearing a tuxedo all day to match your watch price, I'm talking about your purchasing power matching your personal property. The guy at the Taco Bell drive through can carry himself as high as he wants, that MBW Sub is not convincing.ok, i understand your veiw now i think. you are assuming that the only money people have is from the job they have. lol, i'm living proof that is not always the case. all of my money doesn't come from my every day job. everybody i work with knows that the money i make at that job doesn't pay for all of the stuff i own. i don't tell them where the money comes from and they don't ask. i buy reps because i don't think the gens are worth the money but that is different for everybody. there are other things i spend stupid amounts of money on that other people wouldn't for the same reason. for example the wheels and tires on my car cost about $400.00 more than a new tt sub they were $7,500.00. you can't judge someone from there job because you do not know if that is all of the money they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purspeed Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Obviously pride, shame, social status, career status, upward mobility professionally and socially, economic determinism and duping delight all have a role to play in why those who dare choose reps. My reason? Chicks. Chicks love expensive watches. Makes my job a lot easier. J/K folks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sssurfer Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 OK, as the OP, let me chime in here again. For those of you (there are several) that have claimed that you wear reps just because you love fine watches and don't give a rip about what other people think, I call BS. MAJOR BS. Reps are, at best, tolerable watches in terms of the quality of the movement. Be honest, the vast majority of you here are buying reps to make people think you have spent more money on a watch than you really have. Myself included. Don't pretend otherwise. Nobody is buying a 7750b1 rep because they love mechanical watches or other such crap. My favorite response so far is this one: "I dont give a toss what people think. I buy reps because I like them." WTF?? What a load of utter crap! And my wife buys a fake LV purse because she likes the fine leather quality found in the fakes and doesn't care what other people think. Uh huh. It's just getting a little thick in there with all the pontification about not judging people by how they look or dress or what car they drive, and this coming from a guy that's wearing a fake watch?? Don't make me laugh eye.surgeon, This is what is called "argumentation based on personal unbelief" and it is a weak argumenting point. The fact that you don't believe it does not make it less real. Even if it seems hard to believe for you, you seem projecting on others what must be essentially a mental attitude of yours (in my country we have a saying that goes: "a thief thinks everyone a thief"). You are even making me wonder if what you really wanted to stress with your post was your total income. In such a case relax, we don't care about it, we are more interested in your thoughts. Here noone knows what a PAM is and noone even notice them (uhm, ok, maybe 1 out of 100). Should I want people to notice my watch I would wear Rolexes, not PAMs. Just like you do, I seem to understand. BTW, please give my best regards to Jetmid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 BTW, please give my best regards to Jetmid. I was wondering when someone would mention him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 The thing is that 99.9999% of people in any given office won't even know what a Patek or Panerai is, let alone how much it costs. Unless of course you work at a watch factory. Very true, the only ones anyone seems to have heard of are R*l*x and Omega. Most people I know don't even know what a Breitling, Zenith, AP or Panerai is, however they know I would be crazy enough to blow a lot of money on an expensive watch.. and I have. reps have just allowed me to have more than I otherwise would have - and I'd probably have never bought a genuine Panerai! I admit it first started out with R*l*xes but I've "graduated" to other brands. People believe the two tone MBW sub serti that I have to be genuine because they had seen my plans on getting separate parts and putting the lot together. They believe my Yacht-Master is real. They question some of my genuine Omegas. All it shows is that most people know what R*l*x is but not many other brands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jens Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 eye.surgeon, This is what is called "argumentation based on personal unbelief" and it is a weak argumenting point. The fact that you don't believe it does not make it less real. Even if it seems hard to believe for you, you seem projecting on others what must be essentially a mental attitude of yours (in Italy we have a saying that goes: "a thief thinks everyone a thief"). You are even making me wonder if what you really wanted to stress with your post was your total income. In such a case relax, we don't care about it, we are more interested in your thoughts. Here noone knows what a PAM is and noone even notice them (uhm, ok, maybe 1 out of 100). Should I want people to notice my watch I would wear Rolexes, not PAMs. Just like you do, I seem to understand. BTW, please give my best regards to Jetmid. Very well said, I see it exactly the same way - projection. That said, it''s of course true that some people buy reps to show off, but one should realize that for others it's a hobby. The amount of time and energy a lot of people here puts into their watches is at least to me a proof of dedication to a hobby. I simply don't beleive that people who only want to show off will spend that amount of time on something others don't see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Most people don't give a rat's ass about watches. In my daily life very few people would notice or care what watch I am wearing except when I wear a loud watch (read PAM) and it is unmissable. I would guess the only person who is going to look and give a second thought though on whether it is genuine is either one of us miscreants or someone who covets what you have (i.e. they can't afford it and are jealous ). I have young adults who work for me who are moving up in their careers and they do tend to notice watches. Why? Beacause it is only now in their careers that they can contemplate that first cool watch. But they would never ask. They simply see the watch and add it to their mental library of watches to consider. So here is an alternative answer to the question of the single most important factor. It's all about who you are hanging with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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