Homage Watches...

[extraT]

Please dont shoot me. i'm also not sure if we are allowed to post about homage watches, I dont visit this part of the forum very often.

I will also qualify this by saying i'm not a "watch" person; that is to say, I appreciate it if it looks good, I dont really know anything about 'whats under the hood'...also, I will say I dont really care if a was is mechanical or quartz...that being said, I appreciate fine workmanship, too.

I came across this article discussing homage watches http://blog.dreamchrono.com/2014/03/famous-watches...

I have to say that Invicta (Rolex homage) looks very easy on the eye, much better than the original, in my humble and uneducated opinion.

[CardShark]

The general rule is that homages are OK, it's the fakes that are frowned upon

[Nigel_O]

my son has an Invicta - seems to be a decent watch for the money - bracelet is a bit flimsy and lightweight, but not too bad

I prefer the Steinharts as a Rolex homage, but you're talking about a fair bit more than the Invicta - nice though, and well regarded on PH

[SirSquidalot]

I have one of the Parnis Panerai homages. Won it for £60 on ebay, and to be honest i love it, even has a working power reserve!

Being a young un, many of the watches i dream of are out of my reach. I'm thinking of buying a Tudor soon, but watches like Panerai's are just too far out of my budget right now. Homages give me a chance to wear a watch of similar design and see if i like it, if i do hopefully one day i can get the real thing.

[SVS]

Nigel_O said:

I prefer the Steinhart

+1 for Steinhart. Great quality watches Though I prefer Steinhart's own designs over their homages.

CardShark said:

The general rule is that homages are OK, it's the fakes that are frowned upon

^ this.

[hornetrider]

SirSquidalot said:

I have one of the Parnis Panerai homages. Won it for £60 on ebay, and to be honest i love it, even has a working power reserve!

Being a young un, many of the watches i dream of are out of my reach. I'm thinking of buying a Tudor soon, but watches like Panerai's are just too far out of my budget right now. Homages give me a chance to wear a watch of similar design and see if i like it, if i do hopefully one day i can get the real thing.

I've got a Parnis 'Portuguese' also with power reserve, had it a couple of years now totally reliable and lovely design. Build quality doesn't look cheap either, only issue is the auto winding mechanism sounds a bit agricultural.

A genuine IWC would be nice but regrettably I'm not in a position to blow four figures per watch putting a collection together.

[turboslippers]

I'm sure there are some that would scoff at bits of my watch collection as, like some of you above, I have a Parnis Panerai 'homage' and also a couple of IWC Portugese Parnis numbers. Amusingly, they have been absolutely reliable and if they broke tomorrow I wouldn't feel too hard done by. I changed straps on a couple of them and probably spent more on straps than the initial purchase cost of the watches.

I'm not in the position to spend thousands every year on watches but I genuinely think a homage watch can live along side others and encourage a purchase of the actual brand it's 'copying'.

Ok, not a homage but I bought a Tag bi-metal blue face watch many years ago because i really liked a particular 'similar' Rolex datejust and I couldn't afford it. 13 years later and I just bought that exact Rolex for my 40th.

On subject of Steinharts, I was best man at a wedding last week and the bride gave my mate a submariner Steinhart as a wedding gift. Never seen one before in the flesh but really impressed with quality....really really solid bit of kit. Without being controversial, I was wondered how much difference there was between that and an actual Sub bar the plethora of green advertising boards around every F1 track...

regards
Ben

[lostkiwi]

I wear a Magrette Regattare Bronze - very similar to a Panerai in case style but made from Brass (were supposed to be Bronze but the case maker messed up the order and supplied the wrong material).

Lovely to wear and being brass develops a lovely patina over time. Quite understated as a result.

Not my image but this is it:

[pincher]

Just got a Parnis from eBay - quite impressed with it for the money and makes a change from G-Shocks

Not sure that I'm too keen on the strap though as it is very stiff (both strap and clasp) - any suggestions as to what I could replace it with?

This is the watch in question -



Edit - Grrrrrr, mobile phone upload fail. Click on the little box to see pic

Edited by pincher on Thursday 3rd September 14:43

[lostkiwi]

Try getting a nice panerai style strap
Something like these perhaps:
https://toshi-straps.co.uk/straps/

Or look at a D Strap http://www.dstrap.com/

Not cheap but excellent quality!

Or if working to a smaller budget:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24mm-Crazy-Horse-II-2-Da...

That seller does some nice straps at sensible prices.

[CAPP0]

lostkiwi said:

I wear a Magrette Regattare Bronze - very similar to a Panerai in case style but made from Brass (were supposed to be Bronze but the case maker messed up the order and supplied the wrong material).

Lovely to wear and being brass develops a lovely patina over time. Quite understated as a result.

Not my image but this is it:

That is VERY nice - where might one find one of those?

[lostkiwi]

CAPP0 said:

lostkiwi said:

I wear a Magrette Regattare Bronze - very similar to a Panerai in case style but made from Brass (were supposed to be Bronze but the case maker messed up the order and supplied the wrong material).

Lovely to wear and being brass develops a lovely patina over time. Quite understated as a result.

Not my image but this is it:

That is VERY nice - where might one find one of those?

You won't find a new one as they were a limited edition and sold out pretty quick.
Ebay or watch sites are your best bet but its unlikely you'll see any change out of £300.

[pincher]

I

lostkiwi said:

Try getting a nice panerai style strap
Something like these perhaps:
https://toshi-straps.co.uk/straps/

Or look at a D Strap http://www.dstrap.com/

Not cheap but excellent quality!

Or if working to a smaller budget:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24mm-Crazy-Horse-II-2-Da...

That seller does some nice straps at sensible prices.

Stroll on! I didn't pay that much for the watch!

I think I need to be at the cheaper end of the market

[CAPP0]

lostkiwi said:

You won't find a new one as they were a limited edition and sold out pretty quick.
Ebay or watch sites are your best bet but its unlikely you'll see any change out of £300.

Thanks - eBay search set up There's one in the US but I think it's a "real" bronze one and I'd really like a brass one. Slim chance I guess.

[lostkiwi]

CAPP0 said:

lostkiwi said:

You won't find a new one as they were a limited edition and sold out pretty quick.
Ebay or watch sites are your best bet but its unlikely you'll see any change out of £300.

Thanks - eBay search set up There's one in the US but I think it's a "real" bronze one and I'd really like a brass one. Slim chance I guess.

They were all brass - it was a manufacturing error.
Magrette did offer folks the option to send it back for a bronze replacement case but very very few people took up the offer. You'd almost be sure its brass - if in doubt ask the seller.

[CAPP0]

Ah ok, thanks, I misunderstood, I thought there were a small batch of brass before they went back to making them in bronze.

[lostkiwi]

No probs. The brass used is the same as used for trumpets/trombones/etc so a good decent quality one.

[blueg33]

I have this Tao, I really like it, the movement is nicely finished, it keeps very good time and only cost me £50

Apologies for the reflections on the back.




I also have an Alpha but the pics are bad. I wear it at the weekends when working in the garden, washing the car etc. Its more accurate than my real Omega!

Edited by blueg33 on Saturday 5th September 21:32

[nunpuncher]

turboslippers said:

I'm sure there are some that would scoff at bits of my watch collection as, like some of you above, I have a Parnis Panerai 'homage' and also a couple of IWC Portugese Parnis numbers. Amusingly, they have been absolutely reliable and if they broke tomorrow I wouldn't feel too hard done by. I changed straps on a couple of them and probably spent more on straps than the initial purchase cost of the watches.

I'm not in the position to spend thousands every year on watches but I genuinely think a homage watch can live along side others and encourage a purchase of the actual brand it's 'copying'.

Ok, not a homage but I bought a Tag bi-metal blue face watch many years ago because i really liked a particular 'similar' Rolex datejust and I couldn't afford it. 13 years later and I just bought that exact Rolex for my 40th.

On subject of Steinharts, I was best man at a wedding last week and the bride gave my mate a submariner Steinhart as a wedding gift. Never seen one before in the flesh but really impressed with quality....really really solid bit of kit. Without being controversial, I was wondered how much difference there was between that and an actual Sub bar the plethora of green advertising boards around every F1 track...

regards
Ben

I have an old submariner which dates from around the 60s/70s (plexiglass model). It was my dads and the papers and box were misplaced a long long time ago. I has been authenticated by Rolex as at one point it was stolen by a scam jeweller in Glasgow who set up a high end watch repair centre then ran off with all the watches. Miraculously he was caught and the watch was recovered.

Anyway, I also have a Steinhart Ocean One Vintage Military as well. There is absolutely no doubt that the Steinhart is a much more substantial watch in lots of ways. If you removed the logos from both and asked people to identify one as a fake I have no doubt anyone who wasn't a watch fan would pick the Rolex as a cheap fake. Whether the Steinhart will last or age as well as the Rolex is another matter. The same test with a current Rolex Sub would see the same test fall in the Rolex favour as things have moved on. However, for the scale of price difference the Rolex really does look terrible value for money compared to the Steinhart. Heritage and prestige cost a hell of a lot. The in-house movement of the Rolex may also be much better but I'm too much of a heathen to appreciate such intricacies.

[mikeveal]

I have no problem with Homages. I don't have one, but my wife has one of these:

Which you have to admit, looks suspiciously like one of these: