Okay, I would like to get some greater understanding, clarity if you will, on a topic that has come up quite frequently. I really am trying get it clear in my head.

I know there is a market for very high-end fakes which are made specifically for people of means, places like Jewelry and Watch spring to mind because they're well-known to many in the hobby for some of their grander creations. I know the buyers of these items tend to be people who very well could afford the real thing but for one reason or another prudently choose not to part with the money. I know this from my dealings with the people I know personally, my mother being a prime example.

She owns a solid gold DateJust that a friend of hers sourced for her from a jeweler in Hong Kong when the friend was last there (they are available but not to the general public). It's a fake but it's not a Canal Street special by any means. She'll never be called out on it unless it is opened. But her watch is certainly not the norm as far as replicas go as she didn't piece together the watch out of parts purchased from the far reaches of the Internet. So there are wealthy people who want "the best" replicas because their situation may in fact dictate having undetectable replicas. But that's certainly not the case for the majority.

So that begs this question: are all these frankens being built to keep people from being called out? And if so, are they doing it to stop anyone from being able to do that to them? We know that most people know nothing about fine watches or haute horology so what is the point? I get the personal satisfaction thing but it has to be more than that. I figure it is about preventing people from thinking the watch they have is fake but maybe there is something I'm missing beyond that. And so many people spend good money on their replicas and the watches still aren't perfect!

What's everyone's take on this? Perhaps the people who have spent major dollars on modding can illuminate me, people who've spent more than $1,000 and have modest incomes, incomes that don't approach being able to afford the genuine of the watch being modded. This would mean were someone to know anything about luxury goods, in this case watches, they'd be able to deduce your watch is fake from just knowing that.

I don't know. I guess I'm asking two questions regarding being called out and modding. Is one the result of the other? Does correlation imply causation? Why do fools fall in love?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!