Replica Watches

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malcysmith

Original Poster:

483 posts

189 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
I realise this is a question no doubt asked a lot but wondered if anybody was able to give advice on some websites i have looked at in the past week. They are as follows,

www.hand-watches.com

www.exactreplicas.com

www.watchreplica.co.uk

www.replica-watches.co.uk

www.trustytime.com

Basically wanted to know if anyone had any contact with these sites and what they had found in terms of qaulity. 21st this year and wish to get some good replicas to decide what suits prior to purchase. Obviously not wanting something poor whereby the metal will appear bronze after a week or the face moves around. As you can tell im looking for quite a lot ha but reckoned due to the amount of users on the forum that someone must have used one of the websites.

Any help is much appreciated,

Regards

Malcy

205lad

310 posts

195 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
malcysmith said:
I realise this is a question no doubt asked a lot but wondered if anybody was able to give advice on some websites i have looked at in the past week. They are as follows,

www.hand-watches.com

www.exactreplicas.com

www.watchreplica.co.uk

www.replica-watches.co.uk

www.trustytime.com

Basically wanted to know if anyone had any contact with these sites and what they had found in terms of qaulity. 21st this year and wish to get some good replicas to decide what suits prior to purchase. Obviously not wanting something poor whereby the metal will appear bronze after a week or the face moves around. As you can tell im looking for quite a lot ha but reckoned due to the amount of users on the forum that someone must have used one of the websites.

Any help is much appreciated,

Regards

Malcy
Reps are for skanky pikey 'knock off nigel' types. What's the point? Just buy a nice non name faking watch instead of being a fake yourself.

Far as those sites go only trusty time is worthwhile and IMO he's a nasty piece of work anyway.

Bungleaio

6,330 posts

202 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
nono

Seb d

613 posts

197 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
If you only want a replica to decide on the real watch that you will eventually buy then I suggest getting a £15 jobbie as all you want is something that looks like the real thing. No point wasting £100++++ on a rep, no matter how good it is.

Webber3

1,228 posts

219 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
205lad said:
Far as those sites go only trusty time is worthwhile and IMO he's a nasty piece of work anyway.
You know this guy?

It just amazes me how these fake/replica sites stay in business. Is there nothing Rolex et all can do about this?

Edited by Webber3 on Friday 1st August 10:34

TheStoat

1,498 posts

221 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
I think there's a difference between knockoff fakes and watches that are openly described as replicas and that's how more popular and visible suppliers of clones stay in business. There's a growing market for reliable replicas that don't fall apart in a couple of weeks and thanks to the price of reliable movements this market is being serviced

For my part I have no experience with any of those sites but I draw comfort from the warranty that is offered on genuine watches. Even if I spend only £100 I will still expect the watch to last or be properly repaired. The closest you get to a guarantee on that front is with a mainstream manufacturer. Maybe these replica suppliers have come a long way in the warranty arena? As I said before I've no direct experience...

petermansell

868 posts

206 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
redcardnono

Get a nice watch for the price you can afford but not one that is pretending to be something else.

thumbup

Dominic H

3,275 posts

232 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
Webber3 said:
205lad said:
Far as those sites go only trusty time is worthwhile and IMO he's a nasty piece of work anyway.
You know this guy?

It just amazes me how these fake/replica sites stay in business. Is there nothing Rolex et all can do about this?

Edited by Webber3 on Friday 1st August 10:34
I agree, most of the major luxury goods groups spend a fortune policing counterfeit goods. These sites blatantly infringe the copyright/trademark of all the companies they claim to 'replicate'. As far as I'm aware it is illegal to buy or sell such goods globally...

To answer the OP's questions. I wouldn't waste a penny on a replica/fake, no matter how good the maker claims it to be. For me, (and my clients) I instinctively know when I handle/wear a watch for the first time wether it is for me or not. It is not a case of trying to like it or not, watches/cars/girls are like Marmite you either like them or you don't. You wouldn't buy a Covin with a view to buying a 911 SC, nor would you buy a snide Prada Sport shirt to see if it's worth shelling out for the real thing.
My advice, is to take your time visit a decent Jeweller or watch dealer. Have a look at the real thing try them on, drink the coffee take the brochures and make your choice. Buying your first quality watch is an occasion to look forward to, and to enjoy.

Civpilot

6,235 posts

240 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
petermansell said:
redcardnono

Get a nice watch for the price you can afford but not one that is pretending to be something else.

thumbup
+1

Well said that man

205lad

310 posts

195 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
Webber3 said:
205lad said:
Far as those sites go only trusty time is worthwhile and IMO he's a nasty piece of work anyway.
You know this guy?

It just amazes me how these fake/replica sites stay in business. Is there nothing Rolex et all can do about this?

Edited by Webber3 on Friday 1st August 10:34
I know of him let's put it that way.

cyberface

12,214 posts

257 months

Friday 1st August 2008
quotequote all
Oh, the snobbery. Most replicas (as opposed to cheap fakes - some replicas cost as much as plenty of established brands' watches, mainly because they use the same movements) are worn by people for the following reasons (beware, big generalizations ahead):
1. They love a particular watch for it's design but will never be able to afford it ever - or simply have better things to spend their money on (as repeatedly ranted, plenty of top-end Swiss brands are guilty of slinging an affordable ETA movement in a distinctive design and then charging 10 times the cost of other watches using the identical movement purely because of badge engineering)
2. They own a genuine example but the genuine is too fragile to wear as frequently as the owner would like; or because the genuine is very expensive and not insured against street theft (this appears to be more prevalent in the USA, where more owners of genuines will have a replica that isn't a problem if a criminal demands it from you)
3. They want to wear a particular watch but the environment would damage a genuine
4. They enjoy tinkering and re-building watches and making their own designs from established designs that have been shown to work, such as Rolex's Oyster bracelet - but haven't got the money to experiment with genuine watches

In all cases the replica owner must be amoral and not give a damn about copyright or trademark infringement. After all, that's the fundamental definition of the replica. In some cases, the replica watch will be an exact design copy, made from the same materials, with the same movement inside - in today's world of global outsourcing, parts for both the genuine and replica watch may have been made in the same factory. This is almost a certainty for replicas of non-manufactures (i.e. brands that don't make significant proportions of the watch components themselves).

Me? I'm ambivalent on the matter as whilst the *good* replicas are making money without the costs of the R&D borne by the original manufacturer, at least they're keeping some of the worst Swiss 'ETA-and-brand-name' £150 worth of parts sold for £2000 excesses a little more honest. The only thing I find execrable is the use of some of the finest replicas by scum con-artists to make huge profits - in other words selling a replica as a genuine watch across anonymous Internet sales facilities. That's just wrong - even to an amoral weirdo like me. Some of the replicas are so good that they're only found out when the new owner takes it in for service. And unless you're in the trade, or fabulously wealthy, you won't have handled enough watches to instantly tell a good replica from a badly treated genuine - you simply won't have seen and felt enough versions of the real watch to know.

Oh - and to answer the question - they'll all rip you off apart from trustytime and even he's currently upset a large proportion of the replica modification / geek community. The others are just criminals, trustytime at least sells what he advertises, with the others you'll get a picture of probably a genuine watch, and get delivered a cheap £10 fake. But that's always the case when buying illegal goods on the Internet - you have to find out who actually delivers what they advertise... For full disclosure, I haven't bought anything from trustytime, but have bought some tools (yes, replica tools hehe for small hobbyists, buying full-price Bergeon stuff is overkill) from a website that gets the exact same products as trustytime (so I'm assuming they're associated in some way).

If you're interested in replicas from a hobby point of view (modification and experimentation you wouldn't consider doing to real full-price watches) then join one of the forums like replica watch group and read the FAQs. Buying a replica in order to take an extended 'test drive', so to speak, is pointless unless it's a really good replica (in weight and bracelet / strap feel, more so than movement). I understand why one would wish to avoid a *very* expensive mistake, like deciding after a month of wrist time that, say, the Sea Dweller is too thick and sits too high, or that the Planet Ocean is too wide in diameter, or that the crown protector on a Panerai is irritatingly uncomfortable. But if you get a replica good enough to wear for long enough to get to know the watch, and you decide that it fits you physically and style-wise... why bother buying the genuine after? evil The only reason I agree with is to get precious metal, as the replica will be plate.

Case in point - I bought a rose gold Franck Muller rep - I liked the design and I LOVE his complicated movements, but wasn't sure whether the watch would be too big or whether the curved design would actually fit well even though nominally the measurements were bigger than I'd normally be comfortable with. Most of his affordable (second hand for me) complications use the same case, so if the plain rep looked OK then I could save for an interesting complication that you won't find a replica of anywhere. Ironically, the rep I chose was of a watch that didn't have any complications other than the date - the genuine FM watch (very ironically, given my ranting) contains an ETA 2892... As a result it's a very accurate replica, and pleasingly, not only was the size not a problem, but I grew to love the watch over the few weeks I wore it for. In normal cases, given that the genuine watch has the same movement, and I respect Muller for his complications, not simple ETAs in fancy cases, I'd keep wearing the rep occasionally and save up for one of FM's interesting complications (just NOT the Crazy Hours, which is mental) that uses the same case - it'd have to be steel as the complications in rose gold are out of reach financially. But on this occasion, weirdly I'm really hankering after the genuine version of the rep I have - as with virtually all reps, it may be thick gold plating, but it's not solid gold, and the real thing is. Normally I'd never wear gold either, but this is rose gold and it looks IMO gorgeous. I wouldn't have prioritized a Franck Muller - and certainly not a gold one - were it not for wearing the replica for a while. I have no doubt I'll acquire a real one in the future as a result, but will have to keep an eye on the second hand watch websites as they're quite rare!

So there you go - the better replicas give you the chance to try something you wouldn't normally buy, and maybe find that you like it. Most people with finite bank accounts are very conservative and stay well within their comfort zone when it comes to buying expensive watches. For me that's steel pilot-type chronographs, with clear, easy to read dials and subdials. But it's nice to try something different, as long as it won't break the bank...

205lad

310 posts

195 months

Saturday 2nd August 2008
quotequote all
I see where you're coming from cyberface but snobbery has nothing to do with my opinion.

I'm likely as amoral as you when it comes to certain things but I draw the line at funding chinese gangsters, shills and toe-rags like andrew and his mate josh.

Therefore I choose to keep it real and buy proper watches.

GC8

19,910 posts

190 months

Saturday 2nd August 2008
quotequote all
The myth of a quality replica is being perpetuated here, I see. The likelihood of a genuine Swiss-manufactured ETA movement being used in a fake watch is so minimal: theyre all Chinese copies. In a moment someone will post stating that theres a watch that theyve seen/heard of/been told about by a watchmaker, that was so good no one could tell: rubbish.

205lad

310 posts

195 months

Saturday 2nd August 2008
quotequote all
GC8 said:
The myth of a quality replica is being perpetuated here, I see. The likelihood of a genuine Swiss-manufactured ETA movement being used in a fake watch is so minimal: theyre all Chinese copies. In a moment someone will post stating that theres a watch that theyve seen/heard of/been told about by a watchmaker, that was so good no one could tell: rubbish.
Hate to say it but you do get genuine 'swiss ETA' movements in some replica watches.

Doesn't mean to say they are not a load of rubbish suppporting organised crime however.

cyberface

12,214 posts

257 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
205lad said:
I see where you're coming from cyberface but snobbery has nothing to do with my opinion.

I'm likely as amoral as you when it comes to certain things but I draw the line at funding chinese gangsters, shills and toe-rags like andrew and his mate josh.

Therefore I choose to keep it real and buy proper watches.
I wasn't aiming the snobbery comment at you. And I've only recently found out the extent of Josh's link to Andrew, who I'd never buy from. Makes things tricky, all things said and done, because it's a fun hobby and I like pulling them apart and rebuilding them. And Josh has always been good to do business with... shame he's associated so closely to Andrew, which is something I didn't know about until recently.

As to the 'all replicas have chinese copies' - well you *can* get replicas with Swiss-made ETA movements, but some of the blame for this fiasco has to be laid at ETA's feet, who decided it'd be a good idea to build a factory in China to knock out their movements at cheaper prices (global outsourcing rocks, doesn't it). It doesn't take Einstein to realise that immediately once the new Chinese factory is producing ETA movements to ETA's spec, a 'shadow' factory will mysteriously appear next door making the same movements and selling them to non-ETA-approved customers. As per the factories that produce the best replicas.

And anyway - the chinese 'copy' ETAs are nothing of the sort. They are ETA movements built in China, much as a Honda built in Swindon is not a replica Honda just because it wasn't built in Japan. As a result, they are swappable and parts interchangeable. So if it really bothers you, pull the chinese ETA out of your watch, obtain a Swiss-built ETA and bung it back in... The original idea was that ETA were to build a Chinese factory to make larger volumes of their movements for sale only to certain markets (China and the far east, IIRC) - no Chinese-built ETA was to be sold to a European customer or used in Swatch Group watches sold in the Euro / US market. That was the theory allegedly, but this was quite obviously destined for failure.

My collection comprises of 8 genuine watches and 2 replicas, one of which is a project watch (I have some plans for it). So it's not as if I only buy fakes. Given that Josh has been bloody reliable so far, it's a shame to hear that he's associated with people I would rather not deal with. But it's sadly not surprising to find chinese organised crime at the bottom of all this. frown Makes things tricky if I fancy getting another replica and modifying it (for example, my genuine Daytona was lovely but pissed me off due to the lack of date... given the reps use VJ7750s, which have date wheels... I could make a Daytona with a small date window à la Sea Dweller easily enough). My interest is in things like this - products I like from a design perspective but are missing a function or could do with better legibility - where I can make something that looks almost identical but doesn't have the niggles.

owenemyr

287 posts

260 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
Although my interest lies in pre-73 Swiss watches, I have followed this thread with both interest and amusement.
When Heyek "saved" the Swuiss watch industry post 73, little did he realise the future problems he would also create.He essentially tripled the prices and thus created the illusion of quality and exclusivity that was based on common production of what is in reality a cheap ETA movement both in quality and manufacturing costs, excellent marketing did the rest, and the customer has been paying over the odds ever since.Given that the parts are CNC produced, the essential quality re time keeping is maintained irrrespective of any further complications or decorative embelishments.(historically the latter was required in order to hide the planing marks.)
Perhaps, high quality replicas is the price the Swuiss now pay because of their continued arrogance re-pricing and innovation (read about the co-axial saga.)
The golden age of innovation and quality was the 40's,50's and also to some extent the early 60's, when Omega had 25% of their production staff devoted to final quality control, the top end manufacturers were even better.
I have no problems with replicas with ETA movements where ever the factory, let the customer decide and choose, but I would resent purchasing a current seamaster etc knowing that the base movement is indeed "base", and can be obtained for less than £50.00.
Those that wish to, can check out www.replicacentre.com for information regarding the quality of the "ETA" replicas, and also the following:
www.GoReplicas.com
www.Eurofakes.com
www.Idealwatches.com
Perhaps the pressure from replicas can induce a more realistic pricing structure re basic byuing-in prices, and their consequent mark-up.

NJH

3,021 posts

209 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
owenemyr said:
Although my interest lies in pre-73 Swiss watches, I have followed this thread with both interest and amusement.
When Heyek "saved" the Swuiss watch industry post 73, little did he realise the future problems he would also create.He essentially tripled the prices and thus created the illusion of quality and exclusivity that was based on common production of what is in reality a cheap ETA movement both in quality and manufacturing costs, excellent marketing did the rest, and the customer has been paying over the odds ever since.Given that the parts are CNC produced, the essential quality re time keeping is maintained irrrespective of any further complications or decorative embelishments.(historically the latter was required in order to hide the planing marks.)
Perhaps, high quality replicas is the price the Swuiss now pay because of their continued arrogance re-pricing and innovation (read about the co-axial saga.)
The golden age of innovation and quality was the 40's,50's and also to some extent the early 60's, when Omega had 25% of their production staff devoted to final quality control, the top end manufacturers were even better.
I have no problems with replicas with ETA movements where ever the factory, let the customer decide and choose, but I would resent purchasing a current seamaster etc knowing that the base movement is indeed "base", and can be obtained for less than £50.00.
Those that wish to, can check out www.replicacentre.com for information regarding the quality of the "ETA" replicas, and also the following:
www.GoReplicas.com
www.Eurofakes.com
www.Idealwatches.com
Perhaps the pressure from replicas can induce a more realistic pricing structure re basic byuing-in prices, and their consequent mark-up.
$1150 for an illegal fake Rolex, it is hilarious how anyone could think buying such a thing is a good idea. That website on the top of the list is very funny, anyone who think Patek use of the shelf ETA movements clearly knows nothing about watches.

I agree with the general trend of this thread, if you can't afford it get a German or Japanese made watch or for that matter any of the reasonable price brands such as Fortis, Sinn, O&W, Guinand, Stowa etc. etc. or buy secondhand from a forum like TZ-UK.

There is an important distinction to be made between fakes and homage type replica's. Probably the best quality for price watch I have ever seen or handled is a Blancpain FF homage that I have that cost me £260 sh (one month old). It doesn't say Blancpain or Fifty Fathoms anywhere on it which is very important. Such homage watches don't exist as original design new models and the real thing would cost a fortune, is very rare and would probably leak if you tried to dive with it.

W4NTED

690 posts

214 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
£825 of Hublot Big Bang replica here eek WTF would spend that kinda money on a fake! BUT if you read the sellers feedback he has sold a few of these and 100's of A grade replicas too..

His Rolex Daytona's have the second hand running at 6 which is the first I have seen in any replica ever.

http://www.cqout.com/list.asp?seller=&c=0&...

Edited by W4NTED on Sunday 3rd August 16:22

205lad

310 posts

195 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
lol@ 'Grade A replicas'

Anyone paying the kind of money quoted here for a big bang or rolex rep needs their head examining.

Of course I suppose they're AAA grade swiss made 30 jewel movement genuine parts- FPMSL.

Don't believe any of this marketing crap, they are all made in the far east.

BigAlinEmbra

1,629 posts

212 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
petermansell said:
redcardnono

Get a nice watch for the price you can afford but not one that is pretending to be something else.

thumbup
Got to agree with this chap. Aside from anything else, the replicas of watches I do like generally tend to look horrible. Whilst I'm not a fan of the gulf monaco in the first instance, the replicas are genuinely nasty.
I'd far rather wear a £100 seiko than spend the same money on an abomination of a copy.

For me as well, you can tell the real thing from the quality of the materials used which makes owning and wearing one a totally different proposition. I've got an £80 swatch, and a seamaster that cost 10 times that.
When it's on your wrist you can tell where the money has gone.
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