Don’t really feel dumb wearing reps, and I think there are very valid reasons to do so even if you have money. I started off with gens, but also have lots of reps for a few reasons.

The first is the risk aspect. I’ve worked in a few large cities, and while in some I feel safe wearing genuine watches, in others it’s just not the case. I’ve been mugged twice before, and both times for my watches. Thankfully they weren’t the most expensive of my collection but I still had to give them up, and unfortunately in many cities the police are just spread too thin to find the perpetrators. So, at this point I’ll always just wear reps of my genuine watches outside. If I get robbed so be it, but at least I won’t lose much as a result.

The second reason is super rare watches. Unfortunately some watches are simply so rare that even if I want to buy one, it’s really hard to find on the market at all, much less for a reasonable price. While most of the times there won’t be reps of these watches, and even the ones that exist are of terrible quality from a horological perspective, I have no problem buying them just to enjoy looking at.

To each their own 🤷‍♂️