Hello repgeeks,

I am relatively a new member here on the forum. I have a huge admiration for vintage rolex watches. It started with googling a used 1675 pepsi or a white 1680, then I thought it was somehow a big commitment to make at this age (spending too much of my extra savings on a gen). I was diverted to the rep watches and I registered in several forums, for some reason I liked it better here (many vintages going on sale every now and then).

Now the reason of my post is just to state my first personal impression as a new member, maybe add a few subjective comments on the forum, and, tell you about my experience so far of finding a good deal on a vintage rollie.

Anyway, I don’t intend by any mean to insult/judge anyone/anything, I am just saying my personal opinion which might be all wrong after all. Also, excuse my English, it is my third language.

Alright, so I registered here and in few other rep watches forums and been checking the forums daily for almost a month now (I have free time in the morning at work, hence writing this post). Every now and then I become interested in a thread and try to get a good deal out of it, most of the times it fails miserably.

So I’ll divide the post into two separate parts, the pros and cons. These will include my overall thoughts on everything going here, and my experience to buy a rep.

I will start with the pros;

- The very basic thing to start with is the forum interface. I must say it is very well-organized, user friendly, and invites the visitor to go through its different various posts and sections. However, I did not like much the actual design of it (colors, font, logos…).

- The amount of information found on this site is amazing. I have to say that when I first registered, I had literally zero knowledge about reps and very basic familiarity with gens. I started by searching for a good rep deal, and next thing I was googling and researching about many different brands and series. I have gained so much experience from just subscribing here and reading few posts every morning.

- The amount of help you could get from other more experienced members. This includes technical experience, direct help through posts or pms, and recommendation/advices to go with certain deals.

- The exposure to all the trusted rep dealers/modders, who are offering the best models/services currently available on the market. Before I came here, I knew three rep sites, two of which turned out to be scam sites, and one was way over-priced. Thanks to the rep forums, I now know that. Luckily did not purchase anything.

- The admin control over the page, keeping debates and interactions between the members as clean as possible, also, maintaining the rules of the posts/sale process. I am sure that the after sale support is also good.


I am sure I can come up with more pros of my experience so far, but let’s move to the cons part for now as I don’t want to stretch even more this lengthy post.

The cons; (Again, I don’t mean to offense anyone here)

- Buying a rep;
I found it extremely difficult for a new member to buy on these forums (mostly from m2ms). When I first registered, I did not care much about posting. All I wanted to do is find a good deal, buy it (hopefully as a pre-gen phase), and move on. I did find many interesting/good deals and I need to add that in few cases, I was the first one to contact the seller. I was all ready to proceed with the payment, but it always ended with the seller going with another “more present” buyer. I did not have much problem with any kind of payment, at least, if the seller has some good feedback. All the sellers preferred a VIP member with more posts.

Till now, I don’t quite get that. Every member can purchase a VIP member and increase the post count very easily. I understand that sellers are completely free to select the buyer, but I don’t see how the VIP or the post count can judge the honesty of the buyer. However, I do recognize that the only judging factor, which is very difficult to fake, might be the feedback score. In my case it’s not really relevant, since I don’t want to sell/buy several products; I’m only looking to buy one or two watches for now. This is really frustrating some times, especially when wasting a very good deal with no good reason. I somehow got hopeless at the end.

- Prices;
Personally, I was interested in buying a franken vintage rolex (still looking btw). Though my budget is flexible, but I will never spend 2-2.5k for a rep that has a 4-5k gen price. I understand that the gen parts are pricey and hard to get, but personally I would never do it. For me, 1/5 ratio would do it.

I don’t understand how rep watches maintain their value, or even in some cases they are actually appreciating. Vintage gens are representatives of an era, they have an interesting history, and become more unique over time, they are technically and aesthetically very fascinating. I will never see a rep as a “rare” item or understand how its value can increase.

I really don’t appreciate how many members expect to get the full price/cost back of their investment (Regardless whether it is a C&R or an independent project). They even include the shipping cost of the separate parts. It is a used product that has a limited lifetime. You should at least deduct a representative amount of your usage of the latter. In some cases, I really don’t trust the cost breakdown as I think that the member is trying to get a higher price than the original investment. He has all the right to do this, but personally I really don’t appreciate it.

- Comments on the sales posts;
As a new member, having very basic experience, I tend to read and value the other experienced members’ comments on the different sales posts. I don’t understand why 90% of the comments are actual useless compliments of the product offered. One week ago, I was seriously interested in a 1.5K franken, going through the various comments I thought it was a really good deal. Reading many comments like “Very gen-like!”, “Best rep out there”, “Wish I had the money”, “Wonder why it’s still here”, “I do own the gen, it’s 99% real!!”
Surely, when buying a 1.5k rep, I would not depend solely on the comments, so I went and got every single high-res photo I can get for the gen to compare it accordingly. I also got information about the maker of the rep and all the details about the separate parts/mods. I even traced the shape and the profile on Autocad and compared the exact details/thickness/dimensions/proportions of the watch. It was super-duper way off the gen.

I now see the comments as a chain-reaction, 90% of the times are compliments of the seller or the product, and very rare cases they are purely negative comments, when personally I don’t see the exact reason behind them.

Anyway, I really don’t want to attack anything here, I am just a new member looking to buy his first super rep. I apologize if I offended anyone. This is my first impression/perspective or point of view, which again, might be all wrong. Time will tell.

I am enjoying my time here; gaining much experience, looking for a good watch to get, and saving for a genuine at the same time. And btw sorry for the lengthy post.