Originally Posted by
qbrrw
Nice post, as as someone who recently started lurking around on RepGeek due to an interest in replica watches, this is a good read to help organize some of the thoughts that have gone through my mind since I joined.
I've recently made a first purchase (panerai 127) @ TrustyTime which is yet to arrive in the mail, but in the meantime I'm already plotting my next watch.
In this the biggest struggle is to find something that I like, is of high quality (and close to gen), but also fits into my current lifestyle and financial situation.
For me my main interest in reps is an interest in the genuine, but prefering to keep my money rolling and generating more while it does. Although some watches might be a good investment in that regard, most stay of the same or slgihtly less value as it is when bought retail, and that money simply isnt working for me when it's stuck on my wrist.
Additionally, I tend to treat stuff that I wear and use really casually, under the mindstate of: "things I buy should be serving me, not the other way around". If it's limiting my lifestyle or becoming a nuisance with day to day activities because I catch myself constantly being careful not to break it, then I tend to not buy it.
I've bought some hommages that are of good quality (e.g. Steinhart Ocean one - Sub hommage) because I wouldnt mind beating them up, but they simply don't do the job for me in terms of contribution to a social (and professional) image that I want to portray. Since I've been climbing the ladder and more and more people I know / clients own high end watches and are always telling me to buy one or asking me if I own anything decent when they see the hommages.
In that regard replica's offer a proper solution as long as I don't buy ones that people know I wouldnt be able to afford. But most people wouldnt be surprised if I own some 8 to 12k watches, so this way I can wear them, enjoy their benefits and beauty without having to worry about breaking them in 100 pieces on a night out, doing sports, or having my infant kid spitting/puking on it or tossing it on the ground or w/e.
Also the mixing genuine with fakes seemed good advise to me, as the one watch that I want to get a genuine of is a Rolex sub purely to symbolize a personal milestone, as well as the fact that it's something I'd like to pass on to a child at some point. But that's immediately the only watch that I'd be willing to invest in, anything else is simply not worth it to me for above mentioned reasons.
Anyway this has become more of a personal rant than anything related to this post, so I'll end it here. Thanks for the post and helping me put some things in perspective. This forum contains quite a bit of good information for new people like me and posts like this help speed up the proces of getting insights in to the hobby and the community, both of which have impressed me so far.
