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      03-12-2014, 12:58 AM   #164
tony20009
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Drives: BMW 335i - Coupe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DocMick View Post




to everyone not having a problem with replica cars, here's your chance to own one... from your front door to the local starbucks, it makes no difference

i wonder how they perform at the limit... maybe TopGear should get one of these and do a head to head vs the genuine
Isn't' that part of the thing with fake anything: nobody really expects them to perform as well at the limit as the authentic item does? Assuming we are limiting the matter only on the practical differences and trade-offs, I'll ask you to consider the following.
  • If I buy a fake Submariner and it keeps time accurately to within +/- 20 a day, and a real Sub is at +/- 4 seconds a day, for the $8500 I saved how disappointed am I going to be?
  • If one knowingly buys a fake Rolex, one should have enough sense to know that it's WR may not be as good as that of a real one. Accordingly, one'll take it off to get in the shower or wash dishes. If one doesn't, oh, well...that's $50 down the drain. (no pun intended...well, maybe a little now that I think about it. ) That strikes me as a minor concession to make in return for having saved $8500, regardless of why one bought the thing.
  • Let's say that Joe buys a fake Submariner when he is 30. Joe will likely live for about another 50 years or so. Assuming Joe can buy the fake Sub for $100, he could choose to buy 85 fakes and have a new one to wear every years or so for the rest of his live. Now, despite whatever misfortune has befallen your fake watches, I'm sure even you realize that that your personal experience isn't the norm.

    I can tell you that in the past eight years, I've bought and given away over 100 of those Chinese fakes. I've given them to teenage relatives, but the overwhelming majority have been given as notional door prizes in office "team building" events and church-related events. To date, nobody has related a "sad story" of their watch failing. I have ~100 people on my project teams in the PRC and nobody has told me they've had a problem. I had one that was a copy of my Air King and the spring tension inside of it went South on me and the thing wouldn't keep good time for even an hour. I tossed it in the trash. Now 1 in 200 is nowhere near what Rolex or any other high quality watch company would consider acceptable, but for Joe and his 85 fake watches, I would bet it's good enough.

    I realize that my experience is just as circumstantial as is yours, but it's all I have to go on. I have seen written assessments of the quality of fake watches. Just as with the reviews I read of authentic watches, I take them with a grain of salt. Yet, that multiple parties who have no interest one way or the other -- some writers, and the few people whom I know that have them (the folks I referred to above) -- have good things to say, it seems at least reasonable to believe they aren't as bad as they are commonly alleged to be.
You can read all that stuff on your own and see if you end up in the same place I am about replica watches. You may; you may not.

Just bear in mind that you are also going to need to spend some time reading critical evaluations of the major authentic watch movements too. I can tell you that between an ETA Top, ETA Chronometer grade and a Rolex, there isn't enough tangible difference to explain the multiple thousands of dollar premium one'll pay for a Rolex. (Or a PP, or JLC or any other super pricey watch.) Also, remember, this post is about the practical differences since that's what you were speaking to. The differences on legal and emotional level are very different matters altogether.

I'm not attempting to justify or legitimize replica watches, but I do have a fair degree of understanding and neutrality regarding the people who buy them. If you look back at my OP, you'll see that it's the condescension some folks display about the watches and the people who wear them that I find distasteful.

Society, marketing angles, and cultures foment feelings inferiority in people. It's tough for an individual to look beyond that much pressure. Haughty attitudes, however, are created from within and my comments here -- both about watches, and in the car specific sections of B-post -- will nearly always show compassion, or at least neutrality toward folks who don't chose -- for whatever reason -- the more expensive, the trendier, glitzier alternative.

All the best.
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Cheers,
Tony

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'07, e92 335i, Sparkling Graphite, Coral Leather, Aluminum, 6-speed