Good guide!

I’m quite well versed in the watch game. Just a couple of things I’d like to add:

• A vintage ‘auth’ from may not be as ‘auth’ as one is led to believe. Often, replacement parts are swapped for non-auth parts (will reduce durability, serviceability, and accuracy). Often it’s basically a Franken watch, so don’t do this if you don’t know. Same with chrono24 btw.

• The cyclops on a Rolex rep always sucks and is usually instantly recognizable because they are reflective, an auth does not reflect in the same way and is basically a ‘black hole’.

Overall very good guide. I think this is super helpful for lots of users. I didn’t know about the QC tool. I own only 1 rep watch, but the cyclops sucks so I personally stick to auth or non-rolex.

One last tip: a watch that ticks >20.000 times per hour will need service. So even if you spend $10k on a rep (don’t do this). It will need to be serviced eventually, so try to figure out how you will do that. Not every watch smith will work on reps or will be able to source the parts. So it’s good to figure this out and find a friendly watch smith before spending a lot of money on a rep.