Achenar

Mike
4 Followers
1 Following
2 months ago
Joined
Los Angeles
Follow Following Following

Recent posts

Homage, Clomage, Replica, and Franken... Thoughts?

I read a post about an homage this morning and thought I would open this can of worms: I want to know how the community reacts to the 4 types of unori...
6

Recent Comments

commented on Pagani Design PD-1667 strap issue ·

This uses a standard two button pusher deployment style clasp. I ordered two, and one of them would only latch one of the pushers. The deployment clasps are also available on their own from AliExpress/Amazon for a few bucks. The reason they are so inexpensive, as opposed to, say, a $85 Tissot deployment style clasp, is because the manufacturing tolerance is not nearly as good, so the error rate is likely MUCH higher.

Mine won't lock entirely and yours has too much metal, not allowing it to open. You can probably file yours down, but I would just buy a few more deployment clasps... one of em should work.

commented on To make or not to make, that’s the question? ·

It can be done, but you will need to measure the stem height, and find a case that is the same or taller, and use spacer rings in the latter case ( pun INTENDED :P). Most cases will be designed for an ETA 2824, ETA 2836, or an NH35 (I believe the Miyota 8215 is the same as the 2836)

commented on To make or not to make, that’s the question? ·

This is a slippery slope, and much more difficult than it use to be. The problem with Rolexes, Omegas, and other like brands is that the watches themselves are often cheaper than the sum of their parts. If you were to try to build a Seamaster, for instance, you are looking at:

  1. Movement (let's say an 1120) $500

  2. Case (assuming you could find one?) $???

  3. Bezel/Insert $200

  4. Dial $500

  5. Hands $100

  6. Bracelet $500

Even without the case/Crystal, you are looking at $1800 in parts, which is a few hundred short of the actual watch on the used market. Rolex numbers will be far worse and parts will be less plentiful.

That said, I did recently build a Franken Omega at around $500, but the only actual Omega part was the dial. I used an ETA movement, Chinese no name case and rubber strap, and aftermarket sapphire crystal, hands, and bezel insert.

commented on To make or not to make, that’s the question? ·

I answered yes, but I would not pay someone money to show me how to put a watch together. The knowledge base required is freely available online: practice is what you need. From a purely technical side, I would recommend buying the cheapest automatic watch on AliExpress, taking it completely apart, and putting it back together again. You will make some mistakes, learn a ton, and it won't matter because it is a throw away watch.

Once you build up some skill, you can actually build a watch: Either a Mod watch (seiko) or a franken watch (watch put together from OEM parts of one or more brands, from one or model models)

commented on Homages !? ·

I agree, mostly, however, I feel what you are getting at is an issue entirely separate from what my last comment specifically called out, which was clomages. Now, you can certainly suggest that the lack of innovation on "pretty much every 'Swiss' watch out there" has parallels to the Chinese homage market. But if you are using that to equate Swiss lack of innovation and the offloading of SOME of their manufacturing to China to blatant ripping off designs and cloning movements, then I have to disagree there...

See, what you are describing is waning creativity. Some Swiss brands simply reuse THEIR own movements, OR purchase Swiss movements from the likes of ETA or Sellita, which, yes are old. The "Swiss Made" moniker is actually a set bar, requiring a certain percentage of the watch be made in Switzerland, but it is not 100%. If you want a 100% Swiss made watch, with an updated movement, you are looking at the $3000+ mark, so it exists, you just have to pay for it. And personally, I don't know if I'm too upset that there are more affordable swiss brands, that allow people to get into a quality Swiss watch at a more affordable budget.

All that, however, is NOT the same as the homage(clomage) market. That isn't waning creativity or cost cutting measures. Clomages are flat out copies. They aren't copying themselves, nor are they buying old designs... they are just stealing them. They aren't using 40 year old movements, they are cloning 40 year old movements. It's not JUST that their cases are made in China, it's that their Chinese made cases are 1:1 rip offs of other cases. 

These two markets are not the same, so I do not really see how waning creativity has much correlation to copycatting, if that is what you were getting at. If not, I apologize.

commented on Homages !? ·

Nothing.

commented on Perfect 3 Watch Collection ·

Omega Seamaster 300m

Image

Omega Aqua Terra 150m

Image

Rolex Daytona Black Dial

Image