[Z K]

Originally Posted by tony20009

Crappy watches are crap. Inexpensive fakes can be crappy, but they don't have to be, and quite a lot of them are not.

For example, since you cited beat rate as a measure, the fakes I've bought as "door prizes" and "stocking stuffers" all have 21K or 28K beat rates. I haven't paid more than $30 for any of them, and more often, I pay about $15 each these days. Back in 2008, I was paying about $25 each for them, but I didn't know the seller then. The pricing has gotten better as the years have gone by.

What is cheap is the way they are delivered. They come in a plastic bag/wrapper that's not unlike a cigarette pack's clear plastic wrapper. No instructions, no warranty card, no nothing. Just the watch.

I think we talked about it earlier.

When I say crap, I mean they don't look as close to the real article as it can. Like a watch with a bright blue face that may have never came with that particular color for that model - an instant give away that it is fake. Polished links where the real one has brushed. Stainless steel links brushed the wrong direction... Also little QC details such as the placement of indices on the dial. Lume quality and authentic details like the nearly invisible laser etched crown on Rolex crystals, authentic double AR coating on the sapphire glass for Omega and other models, 120 clicks on the bezel for submariner models with the correct click sound and feel, authentic detailing and working Glidelock clasp on the new ceramic Rolex models and other such details. All of which are available on a high end replica.

And also movements.. you can get a high quality fake with a nice authentic ETA or Sellita movement inside. These obviously cost more and are arguably better movements than the standard Seagull movements. Also, Seagull has different movement grades - some cost more than others. A good Seagull 28K beat movement is in excess of $50 already.

Red:
I wonder how much that feeling is constrained to Asia?

I think the majority of people in most places do not care. Most can't even tell what kind of watch you have or care other than "it looks good".

Blue:
I can't speak to the legal profession or to how such things apply to women. I can speak to how they apply to me and my management consulting clients. I am pretty sure that it's important for me to look well put together and well groomed. I am hard pressed to assert that whether I carry/use expensive personal effects is a factor in my clients' minds. I am certain that given the firm in which I'm a principal and the billing rates they pay, I'm sure they are well aware that I'm plenty successful, both personally and professionally. If they had any doubts some decade or more ago, the results I've delivered have long since shown they need not have any.

Therein lies a crux of things. In a professional situation, I don't know how or that a watch can possibly make any difference at all. One either has a string of professional accomplishments or one does not. Those accomplishments, or the lack thereof, will speak for themselves no matter what watch -- fake or not -- one wears. I think that when two principals from two companies are conducting business, one's fake watch doesn't even come up on the radar of things either considers.

In a social setting (non business), again, one either is or isn't known to the other folks in that setting. One's deeds will speak volumes more than will one's watch, fake or not. I'm sure most folks care to some extent what their cohorts think of them, but one is known to those people. What is a watch going to do either way? Among the random strangers who enter and exist one's life, however briefly/quickly, does one really even give so much as the time of day's worth of concern to what those strangers, people whom one doesn't actually know before or after the interaction, think? I find it hard to think one would, but I suppose there are people who do. Tsk, tsk, tsk is all I have to say about them.

All the best.

I don't think it makes a difference if you are already a professional in a certain area. People acknowledge that and know your credentials.

But for those who are looking to move up, the name brand items puts them into a better standing. It sounds materialistic, and it is, but in a country where everyone is looking to move up and out do each other, they try to stand out in any way possible. Someone better dressed will get the nod over someone who isn't - especially for women. It's pretty sexist in China and men have more power than women in the work force. A more attractive individual will get picked over someone else given they both have the same credentials.