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.