Homage watches - your thoughts

Homages are fine.

Branded fakes suck.

So true

I never know whether these polls are asking if fakes, third party branded copies or legit homages are OK.

I bought a few during my first year of collecting and liked two of them at the time (3rd was defective) but as my cache of watches grew, I lost interest in the homages. I donated them to Goodwill. Now I feel it's unprofessional of a company to directly copy another's design but I don't have a problem with a person that wears them, I just learned that they were no longer for me.

I don’t hate homages, but they’re not for me personally.

Same. I'm referring to the legit homages.

I don't mind. It's a way to test if you like a genre of watches. For me it confirmed many next wishlist watches, like this one, now I REALLY want a Mattey Tissot Type XX, wich is also "ish" an hommage of the Breguet Type XX (Breguet asked Mattey Tissot to build the type XX)

I can't actually make my mind on this. I don't own any yet.

Sometimes I'm very close to acquire one and I'm always thinking hmm will I wear this proudly in a few years? (I think watches are money well spent if you can enjoy them for many years).

I think many of them look very good and are well specs for a reasonable amount of money.

But i never make the move because I feel i wouldn't be comfortable wearing one.

I think id rather have a less well specs watch but with a brand with history like Seiko or even Casio.

I like what Baltani makes and Pagani made some good products lately. For sure I think San Martin are to expensive. At this price you can find good deals on very good Seiko or tissot or Hamilton.

I might try one someday but for now there's not one homage in particular that has that OK this one's for me.

I think this is a legit homage. It’s not a copy of any particular model but has a distinct Breguet style. Frederique Constant has an almost identical model to this one as well.

Simple.

A fake/replica has a brand name on the dial that it does not own the copyright for.

Everything else would be a homage.

Depends how you define homage. Personally I would rather get something affordable with more originality rather than buy a watch that has copied or been heavily influenced by another design.

Completely agree

Interesting. Where I live, Pagani's, steeldives, etc are about half the price of a baseline Seiko.

Very nice 👍

Yup

Honestly, same. Unfortunately, where I live, mechanical "clomages" are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any "True homages"

That's a great take. I'm still a Newby in this space, so I did find it a little odd when I saw big reviewers praising an homage (usually Swiss made or some big name brand) that would've been considered a "Clomage" if it was a Chinese brand, and then turn around and say "Don't buy homages that have little to no changes in design when compared to the watch it's paying homage to."

You are right on this here also in Canada. I was talking more about San Martin that are usually in the price range of some good Seiko or citizen Orient Timex and Casio oceanus line. I know that many homage are very well priced but it's more about the wearing experience in a long term. But it's just how I feel right now and perhaps I will try one to make my mind clearer on this topic.

What’s a legit homage?

Welcome to WC. We have a ton of threads on this that may be worth checking out.

I like a good Homage clomage whatever as long as it's under a different name, take my Steeldive SKX for example, I think it's just a better watch than the Seiko original, Sapphire lens ceramic bezel insert, better movement, mine keeps excellent time, much more affordable, what's not to like?

Let's face it, will you wear the homage watch? That's the deal breaker for me, because why would I buy it if I don't wear it, for whatever reason? There's nothing wrong as people don't really care. And if they do care and say it's a fake, then their just snobs. Just look on their wrist as to what they have. If it's something that would have an homage counterpart, then they are just pissed because of the price they paid to flex. Because that's why they purchased the watch for, to flex. I get it that's what's mainly driving the whole industry. Still, you shouldn't be a snob. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.