I think Chinese homage watches have their place especially when needing to decide between 2 high-dollar watches and when buying both is financially out of reach. I’d buy the 2 watches from Pagani Design and wear them and see which one I gravitate toward over time and use that experience to purchase the real thing.
I’ve just bought a Pagani Designs sub homage for around $55. It has a Seiko movement in it. But I don’t actually see myself buying a Rolex. I wouldn’t say that a homage watch will tell you what the original will be like as often they don’t have the same dimensions. But they certainly give you an idea for the style of watch and how it will work with your attire and lifestyle. I have an extremely cheap Pagani Designs dress watch which is loosely a cocktail homage that I got to experiment with size as well as strap colours.
Trying watches on in a shop isn’t enough to know if size will work for you. It also comes from previous experience. Homage watches are great for getting some experience.
I’ve been telling peeps this for a while, it’s a great method to decide on the correct case size for example. Rolex OP 36 and 40 homages are under 100 USD all day long and you can sell them when your done for a decent amount of what you paid for
Everyone says “try it on at the AD” but you can’t walk out and see how that watch fits into your daily routine. Nor try on different outfits with the watch at an AD. I think dropping $100 on an homage watch to “test drive” it with your daily routine and different outfits is a reasonable cost when some of these watches go for $5,000+
I do. I have skinny wrists and got the Octopus Kraken NTTD knockoff to check how a Seamaster would wear. I ended up getting a seamaster down the line, and what’s cool is that the Octopus is a very nice looking and solid watch in its own right, especially on an unclestraps bracelet!
I feel like this would be a viable strategy if you’re mostly considering external appearance factors and congruence with one’s regular outfits. The authentic watches that homages imitate might appear similar, but they feel markedly different (in terms of heft and the differences between their internal workings/movements) from their homages.
Not true on the Cronos GMT vs Rolex GMTMaster2 really. (But, you do get from from China @ $275 than at $125.)
No. Not at all
I was actually just thinking about this for movements. I am not sure if the mechaquartz movements are right for me but there are chinese ones for like $50
I did buy a cheap Chinese “homage” for that reason. Once.
6-ish years back, I bought a “sterile dial” Pepsi GMT, same size as a Rolex GMT. A bit thicker.
Paid $70. Wore it for 6 months, crown tube stripped. Junk. But it answered my question.I decided it was worth putting my name on the list at the AD.
And after 2-3 years, got tired of the Rolex waiting game, bought a Tudor GMT.I’ve not had a good reason to do it since then. And I gave that watch to a young guy studying watch repair. Told him to tear it apart, not worth much, but something good to learn with.
Same. Love the Tudor so much better now!
No… just like I would never buy a car without test driving, I would never buy high-dollar watches without trying them on first (unless it was stupid easy to resell or return without taking a loss)
Buying a different thing to see if I like a thing is backwards af and a waste of money.
I’d think a more apt comparison using cars would be paying someone to photoshop your current car in a different paint job/vinyl wrap, or new rims. Its expensive to paint/wrap a car or buy new rims but a good photoshop job is relatively less expensive than getting it done for real and would give you a good feel of how the light would interact with the new color.
I’d think this is a more apt comparison because in a test drive you’re able to go through all the motions you’d normally do in a car. At an AD trying on the real thing, yes you get the feel, weight, overall “heft” of the piece which is important, but you’re restricted to how it looks with the outfit you have on at the AD. You’re unable to test out how it feels when you need to wash your hands, bring in the groceries, or do any normal daily activities with the watch on.
Tudor GMT pepsi homage for Gmt master 2…quite expensive homage😁
No… I just go to the AD and try on the expensive ones.
Have you ever had them take links out to resize it for you to truly experience what it feels like cause I don’t find trying on a watch with 3 or 4+ extra links on there gives me a very good impression of how the watch feels on your wrist.
I certainly have done this, but just to decide if I really like a particular watch on my wrist long term. I did not buy a 41mm Tudor Ranger or a 44mm Panerai because the homages left me flat over time. I did, however, buy a 39mm Rolex Explorer after my experience wearing a Tisell homage.
I call this “try before you buy.” It’s better to make a purchasing mistake with a $100 homage than the $5,000 real thing!
Where did you pick up the panerai homages?
Look up Geervo watches on AliExpress.I have a 5+ yr old “Panerai” of theirs.Still runs like a beast,but I hated it.Felt too chunky.I too went with the 39mm Explorer.
I don’t do this simply because it would partially take away from the joy of having the real thing. For me, part of that joy is seeing it on my wrist for the first time, the unboxing experience etc. If I have a crappier version of that experience before the “real thing” then I’m purposely taking away from my own enjoyment.
Plus, most watches (even highly sought after ones) can be tried on before buying. These aren’t cars, you’re not going to find anything surprising about it 3 days into ownership that you couldn’t 20 mins at the store.
Loads of things you’d find out in 3 days you’d not know in 20 mins at the store.
For example, if that category of watch even suits your lifestyle. Sure, if you buy a Submariner from an AD, you can get out of that even used, but not if you got a Daydate or most non-Rolex watches.
Very very common trend of people buying Daydates as its the cheapest Rolex and available at ADs without a wait, without it suiting their lifestyle.
What about all the extra links on the watch? Or have you had ADs pop them off for you? Cause I personally don’t get a good feel for a watch when it’s fitted to Andre the Giant.
Never done that but that may be because I’ve never wanted any of the “famous” watches. Currently I’m in the process of getting all the pieces for a SKX007 “homage”, but just because I saw one I liked and decided to build my own (with the proper quality pieces) instead of purchasing the fully assembled homage Chinese one (with lesser quality pieces, like C1 instead of C3 lume everywhere), and instead of getting the Citizen Orca (or Seiko PADI Monster) I was gravitating towards. But I think it’s actually a good idea for those in the hunt of a famous watch who can’t decide.
You buy two watches to help you decide on buying another watch? Thought this was the other sub for a sec
I’ve actually never done this, and don’t believe I ever will. If you’ve done any degree of shopping research, you should be able to sell the expensive watch for what you paid for it fairly easily if you end up not liking it down the line. I also just don’t like the idea of wearing the homage watch. They’re just not for me.