Where's Your Head At?: I'm Calling You Out

[G. Willikers]

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this lately so I'm kind of thrilled this came up. Since joining last year my interest in the hobby has only really heated up over the last couple of months- I went from 0 to 60, fast.

So far, everyone who has posted to this thread has hit on at least one of the motivations behind my interest in the hobby from the crazy attention to detail, the camadarerie, the game, the goal posts, opportunity to work with my hands; all that stuff is there for me too.

To expand a bit on my individual experience so far (get a sandwich?):

At first I started out with a few budget reps (which are a whole lot of fun) and have been progressively setting my sights higher. Modding didn't really factor very highly in my decision making process and the notion of building any kind of "franken" was just a flight of fancy. One of the reps I purchased was of a Rolex Submariner (Werd to the Narikaa noobmariner sale!).

A number of weeks ago I was taking a bus between work locations and the bus stopped at another one of our offices on the way. Onto the bus got one of our senior engineers, and it ended up that we were seated across the aisle facing each other. I recognized him, but I don't think he recognized me out of context which was deliciously awkward but fine by me- because I was busy staring at his watch. He was wearing some model or another of a Rolex Submariner (I was wearing a Seiko 7002 that afternoon). It looked pretty worn, had a domed crystal. The thing about it which kept me staring, was that although the distance from my eyes to the dial of his watch was probably between 6-8' I could see how smooth the sweep of his seconds hand was. When I got home I put my rep sub on something and sat approximately as far from the watch as I had been sitting from the one on the bus. Granted, I was sitting on a stable floor and the watch was on a stable surface (not being jostled around by the bus), but I could see the stutter in the movement of my seconds hand. At that moment, the seed of interest in modding was planted.

I'm not afraid of being called out. In fact, if you call me out I would love to discuss at length why my replica is, in its own right, cooler than a gen. And with that, I want to be able to confidently tell you that my fake is a really GOOD fake and why.

My take on adding gen parts/movements to a rep isn't that it makes the piece "closer to gen", but rather "a better replica"; I suppose this loops right into pursuit of perfection and attention to fine detail. Maybe I would be less likely to be called out, maybe I wouldn't. I think the general consensus is that nobody but us is paying attention anyway.

I don't necessarily want to "fool" anybody with my reps. By that, I mean if someone's eyes bug out with envy when they see my watch and they care to comment on it, I'm going to fess up immediately that it is a fake. However, I am not above using one as the right superficial tool for the right superficial job if superficial interactions require some posturing in the workplace- to stand my ground in my big-boy pants and know with confidence that mine is a contender at a glance anyway. If you know what I mean.

Having said that, I have generally kept my interest to replicas of watches I can "pull off." I sloth around in jeans and a t-shirt a lot so rolling into the office with gold and glittery minerals would be a clear indication that I'm pimpin' on the side and people would talk. I could certainly afford some used gens over time if I were more financially organized or patient, which I am not. Yesterday I wore three different replicas at different times during the day- can't do that with two gens. Of course, this presents a whole new problem- being seen at different times wearing several different expensive watches... where'd all THOSE come from?

Posh, I think you commented (maybe that was someone else) in a thread some time ago (or more recently) about how much a Rolex Explorer cost in the 70s (I think) vs what it costs now, and that the watch is still pretty much the same $500 watch (I think that was the gist of it), and basically we are paying for the brand. so maybe in some small way, modding a rep with gen parts or building a watch from scratch with gen parts is a way to "stick it to the man"?

To be honest, I've already had my eye on some rather expensive used Rolex movements which I should have absolutely NO business owning because it's absolutely financially stupid and irresponsible. But I'm looking pretty hard. I've already got parts in the mail for projects I may never even start and I'm burning money like calories and losing sleep over reading this forum.

So to conclude, so I don't start talking myself in circles and confusing myself, I think I am still trying to understand it myself. I firmly believe that I am prepared to waste all kinds of money on modding and "frankening" simply because it's AWESOME(!!!) and I like awesome stuff.

At the end of the day, if I get called out it's no sweat, but there's cherries on it if I get to say "yeah it's fake but it's a pretty darn good one."

[kruzer00]

Said somewhat tongue in cheek but still seriously, I would suggest the following. For a number of people (myself included) it comes down to this:

- You've bought the reps for a few years. The excitement is gone. You have one of a thousand fakes. And in reality if you spend a good amount of time in the company of folks with gens you do live in fear of being called out - no matter how remote the possibility.

And folks can't give me the crap of they don't care about the brand and publicly acknowledging they buy fake watches. Virtually every watch is available in an unbranded Chinese version complete with warranty. So if you are wearing a branded rep you are trying to fool someone. Get over it.

- Buying a gen can become equally boring. I don't begrudge anyone for doing it and when I can I do it for watches I believe I want to keep for a lifetime. So I don't think people are silly for paying full price. A rep is not a gen and it never will be. But at the end of the day the gen is all about affordability. Either you can or you can't. And in my own experience they can be every bit as difficult to get your money out of as a rep. And it is a lot more money.

In fact I maintain that all things being equal if you think you may lose interest in a watch in a month or two - buy the rep unless you really don't mind throwing your money into the fireplace. In the short run the rep market is a much more liquid market other than really collectible gens. It always amazes me the prices people pay to know they are getting a watch that works, to avoid customs, etc. But they do and you should avail yourself of that opportunity if you have the stomach to deal with selling.

- Building a true high end franken (gen dial and other gen parts is where my definition begins) is a whole lot of effort and can be stupid. But for many the effort is the fun. I have made many interesting acquaintances and even close friends chasing the dream. Most of those friends could readily afford some or all of those frankens so it ain't about the money - or maybe it is since you couldn't afford the same number of watches. But in any case it is often about the process as well as the end product. And as for liquidity as long as you don't sit on a watch for years until better reps come out or the brand is no longer popular you generally can get out of the watch if you tire of it. Out of 14-15 frankens (that I concluded I wanted out of) over the years I have only lost real money on 2 or 3 projects. I don't make money on them either out of principal but at least in a number of cases that is my choice. And that is true for a number of the other folks I am close to and do these projects.

So there you go. There is the counter argument.