More Troubling Info from the AD

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

I dunno what the big fuss is all about? I've strolled in with these on with no problems

Then you should remove your short sword from its sheath and thrust it into your stomach. Pull firmly up until you are able to see your intestines flopping to the floor. THEN put the index finger from your right hand into the pool of blood that has most likely gathered around your body and write this, " I leave my Daytona Collection to CBR. " You know that wearing a replica into an AD is grounds for immediate banning, and yet you brag of doing it here.

I also think ALL of this AD BS is smoke and mirrors. YES they have to say that they are aggressively fighting the manufacturer, distribution and sales of replica watches. THE SAME WAY that the US Govt has to say that they are fighting the manufacture, distribution and sales of narcotics.

The day that I can no longer spend 10 seconds on a Google search and find 10 pages of replica watch sites I MIGHT believe something is being done about it. If I felt that these marques were making a watch worth buying, I would buy it (4 more weeks till DEEP SEA)... But they arent, so I wont.

[ubiquitous]

Hmmmm... Seppuku wasn't on my list of things to do, but I'm sure I can get that knocked out before the day is done 9the night is still young).

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

Hmmmm... Seppuku wasn't on my list of things to do, but I'm sure I can get that knocked out before the day is done 9the night is still young).

Much appreciated!

[jjfesq]

I think I'll watch The Last Samauri tonight. Seriously Reps and AD's don't mix!

[guanaco]

I just came back from the AD and boy where they impressed when I showed them my brand new GMTIIC!

Now that you've read a blatant lie [The 1st line in this post], did you not feel like you wanted to find me and rip my head apart? Exactly! DON'T BRING YOUR REPS TO AD'S, it hurts our hobby more than you'd like to think! It pisses me off to see people taking their reps to AD's showing them off to them like saying "See, I don't have to pay $xxxx for a real one when I have this one that's soooooo close to gen" <<You see this on YouTube rep vids that idiots like to post there.

Very informative post Robbie, I hope this madness comes to an end.

[ta8088]

Not to take anything away from the weight of your comments, which I agree with, but I have been hearing about the fabled 'box of reps' that scares Rolex for several years. In fact, the last time I heard this from a reliable source was about 2 years ago & Rolex, to my ongoing surprise, has yet to launch any type of concerted campaign against the rep community.

The really sad thing about all this is that we (RWG & similar sites) are literally nailing our own coffins shut by allowing the content of our site to be routinely indexed by google, which makes most of the contents of the site (including this very thread) available to be used against every rep factory & seller on earth. It is great that we are hosted offshore, making it difficult to locate or affect RWG directly, but by having this virtual encyclopedia of the rep world as accessible as google to every busy-body lawyer & ambulance chaser is just plain insane.

Yes Freddy the fact is that a ton of stuff on this site and the others shows up in google searches. Several times I have gone to research things on gen watches and have still found myself directed here to RWG or to RG or it shows up in the top couple lines of the search results.

[Febus]

The major watch brands have as much chance of stamping out counterfeits as governments do of stamping out crack cocaine abuse. They know it as well.

What they will do is bust as many big dealers as possible in order to look like they're doing something while missing out on the real question- why do people buy fakes?

Answer that and the problem will go away. 'Aint gonna happen though.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

the rolex brand will always have a cult following until mechanical watches themselves are unmarketable... and i do agree that typing certain key words in google will result in rwg being the no.1 hit in the results returned and this can only cause problems down the road. a minority percentage of our community here is in it for the hobby and beauty that is a mechanical watch, for improving, fixing, and sharing, a true hobbyist is NOT out to make a quick buck, in fact in a lot in the hole due to this addictive hobby. and yet with beautiful reps i still see myself wanting the real deal down the road, because i feel ive gained more respect for the genuine article, sort of like getting my feet wet before hand, theres still NOTHING like the real deal. the people that appreciate what a genuine watch means to them will buy it, and thats what matters... i know rolex would love for everyone in the world who could afford it to own one, but a real watch fanatic will own the gen of what they want.

[trailboss99]

Wow, great thread.

I know an AD quite well. Been takeing gens to him for years, and buying a few. He is a watchmakers not a jewler and a AD for Rolex and Omeaga as well as several JP brands. He has serviced and cleaned my reps and appears to like working on the different MVTs> He has a genuine interest in every newie I bring in. BUT. There is NO WAY I would wear one into his store! It stays in my pocket untill either we go out back or the place is empty. It's only polite. Wearing a rep into an AD is wrong, period. Even if you know the guy.

I have a different take on which rep scares Rolex most. Yes, the new uber reps a worry for them but the real danger is our old friend the noob/begin marriner. My AD could not belive the quality and pricepoint of the NM. He striped the a21j and prounced it a viable MVT that should last if oiled every few years. We ajusted it to near COSOC standerd (+7sec/day) and waterproofed it to 50mt. And its a hundred and eight bucks! Even in the real world it's under three hundred.THAT would worry Rolex.

For those who doubt all hel breaking loose any time soon rember that its only been a cpl of years since the ubers started to appear and only now are they becoming common. The number of times of late I have seen "Made with gen as sample" in the last few months is amazing. Chk out TTs Big Pilot. Its perfect, on the first real good strap I'v seen on a rep and $198. Its never been this good and they have never had more reason to strike.

I think as said by somone above that we may soon come to the point where the reps are so good that not only do they take sales directly away from the brand but lead to all sorts of akward questions like "well, why is the gen so expensive?" being asked by clients in ADs. All it will take to bring this shift (IMO) is a reliable version of the 7750 sec at 6 and a increase in overall QC. Oh, and a bit more time and effort into straps and bracelets. Most are pretty bad ATM.

Once this is done what reason is left to buy a gen? Very little for a whole lot of people. And of cause these super reps are bringing a whole lot more folk into the hobby. Used to be that most of the mainstream buyers (those who don't know our little private world exists) bought one or maybe two watches but now there buying many over a period of time and spending thousands of dollars at street pricing for super reps. This is real money that in their (gen MFG) eyes would have gone on one gen otherwise.

Of cause there are those who actualy use their watches as tools, divers, pilots, navigators, explourers ect who will allways want a gen. When a rep Navi becomes good enough to fly on or a GMTIIc good enough to take to the south pole we're doomed.

I realy do think we could be in for a shakeup sometime not too distant.

Regards,

Col.

If any of us needed a new washing machine and we knew where to get a 99% accurate rep of a Maytag for $70, Maytag would be in deep sh*t.

Exactly! Couldn't put it beter myself. Thats roughly the value we're geting too. If not beter.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

"Of cause there are those who actualy use their watches as tools, divers, pilots, navigators, explourers ect who will allways want a gen. When a rep Navi becomes good enough to fly on or a GMTIIc good enough to take to the south pole we're doomed."

when this becomes true then rolex has to step up their product (more so), and really justify why spending 7K on a watch is correct when the chinese can do the same (as youre saying) for a few hundred...regardless of what is printed on the dial. at that point the chinese might as well call it literally on the dial FOLEX and its the same quality product for much less Rolex will still be in the same sinking boat. rolex is just a name, quality is everything and 1:1 quality is the major difference between rep and gen.

[fakemaster]

Most people who buy reps don't or most importantly CAN'T buy gens. They are not hurting them.

[Febus]

Most people who buy reps don't or most importantly CAN'T buy gens. They are not hurting them.

They (the brands) would argue that copies 'water down' their brand and make it more common. As well as this they have no control over what the quality of the copies is like or of their distribution.

This game is all about control otherwise why do we see Daytonas and green glass Milgauss' selling for thousands of $ over the list price.

From my point of view if I'd never become interested in and a purchaser of replica watches then I'd never have started buying genuines. In a very real sense then Rolex and Omega (to name just 2) can thank replica producers for bringing them about $20,000 worth of sales.

[fakemaster]

I've argued that many times myself. Reps give people an opportunity to test the waters on a model they would have otherwise never touched.

[supermanx]

when this becomes true then rolex has to step up their product (more so), and really justify why spending 7K on a watch is correct when the chinese can do the same (as youre saying) for a few hundred...regardless of what is printed on the dial. at that point the chinese might as well call it literally on the dial FOLEX and its the same quality product for much less Rolex will still be in the same sinking boat. rolex is just a name, quality is everything and 1:1 quality is the major difference between rep and gen.

If this was even remotelt true an ed hardy tshirt would not cost 100x's what a hanes tshirt cost. Premium brands will always have a market at a premium price. Mid level brands are hurt much more by perception of value. Reps can kill a company like hublot.

[P4GTR]

I'm sure the same people that need the AD's acceptance are the same ones that don't freely admit they are wearing a rep when they are asked or complimented on their watch.

We all know someone like this. The false sense of stature they create with materialistic BS. Then they go lurking AD's hoping for an ego stroking. Hell, tons of gen owners fit this bill perfectly, specifically the Rolex crowd.

[RobbieG]

Yeah, that is all I'm really driving at. I think Bytor was saying something once to the same effect as I recall.

The thing that irritates me is what could possibly be gained from it? I constantly evaluate risk and reward for a living so maybe I am hypersentively annoyed by all of this. If you want to achieve anything in life whether money or otherwise we all know that you have to take risks to get them and manage the risk if you want to keep it. But I can never understand the point of taking a risk when you can't win anything. So to that end I guess what irritates me has nothing to do with reps per se. It just irritates me because it is stupid. Showing a rep to an AD accomplishes absolutely nothing.

If Ubi walks in to an AD with his Daytona noone is going to notice or care. A guy like him nver draws attention to himself. These stories come about because these bananas don't just walk in to an AD. They are taking them off, handing them to the clerks, and sometimes even talking about them. Just pointless and potentially damaging to the hobby.

Look, I hope Carlsbad is right and nothing ever comes of it. Maybe there won't ever be an issue. In fact, if there were futures contracts on them I probably wouldn't be short reps. LOL. But again, why take the any risks with no potential reward.

I just came back from the AD and boy where they impressed when I showed them my brand new GMTIIC!

Now that you've read a blatant lie [The 1st line in this post], did you not feel like you wanted to find me and rip my head apart? Exactly! DON'T BRING YOUR REPS TO AD'S, it hurts our hobby more than you'd like to think! It pisses me off to see people taking their reps to AD's showing them off to them like saying "See, I don't have to pay $xxxx for a real one when I have this one that's soooooo close to gen" <<You see this on YouTube rep vids that idiots like to post there.

Very informative post Robbie, I hope this madness comes to an end.

[RobbieG]

Reps fueled many of my gens too. There are exactly 4 genuine watches in my collection that I never would have bought if I didn't have the rep first.

PO

Steelfish

Datejust

Aquatimer

Total retail price: Nearly $18,000

They (the brands) would argue that copies 'water down' their brand and make it more common. As well as this they have no control over what the quality of the copies is like or of their distribution.

This game is all about control otherwise why do we see Daytonas and green glass Milgauss' selling for thousands of $ over the list price.

From my point of view if I'd never become interested in and a purchaser of replica watches then I'd never have started buying genuines. In a very real sense then Rolex and Omega (to name just 2) can thank replica producers for bringing them about $20,000 worth of sales.