Old rep collectors don't die - they just fade away

[Jimmythree]

The watches:

I have been a watchnut since I was a kid, owned all kinds of genuine watches from AP to Zenith. Bought my first genuine rolex in the early 1970s. Bought my first 'good' replica from a USA Today ad in the early 1980s...a 17 jewel automatic eta rolex in a steel case that cost $75 plus shipping from NYC.

Before that it was pin lever wind up and quartz pot metal fake junk for $12 to $15 and I usually gave them away.

They are all gone now except for the USA Today fake rolex and a wind up fake Seiko that I got in a yard sale for fifty cents.

Always liked rolex watches but jacked up retail prices, no parts etc has really made it hard to be a 'genuine rolexguy' for the past 12 or 15 years so I put the genuine watches away and bought a few 'perfect' (HA!) replicas.

They have been mostly trouble free.

The people:

From what I have seen on the internet in the past 13 years...

The average internet 'genuine watchnut' is just that...a nut. Many of them give me the impression that they are the fake...not the watch.

The average internet 'replica guy' is a genuine good guy who will help if they can. All in all, a better bunch of people to associate with.

Eyeball to eyeball watchguys...when anyone asks if a watch is real, I usually say "No, it's a pretty good fake" and let them look at it.

If it is a 'genuine watchnut' (nut) asking, I usually say..."If it was not real, you could not see it" then hand it over and say "You tell me".

Some can spot them as fake, some can not.

The grass is not always greener in 'genuine" watchland.

Hate to see you go.