In a recent survey, a thousand people were asked to tell the difference between a replica Breitling Bentley and a real one. Not one person could tell the difference. This pretty much sums up the massive advances in replica watches over the past couple of years. Even experts would have a job finding differences between the two, that’s how good the replicas are. However, for those in the know, these results aren’t really that surprising. Really the only difference between the three hundred dollar replica Breitling watches, and the three thousand dollar real thing are the price and the location of manufacture.
Most of the high quality replicas are manufactured in Japan these days by highly skilled watchmakers, using the same materials as the originals made in Switzerland. Japan has long been associated with quality precision engineering at reasonable costs, ad this makes it the perfect environment to manufacture something like watches. They make the same quality at much lower prices than their Swiss counterparts. You can buy ten Japanese replica Omega watches for the price of one real Omega Swiss watch.
The main reason is exclusivity. Swiss watches are no longer able to market themselves as the most accurate chronographs on the planet: the quartz watches produced everywhere will do just as good a job. Instead, they market an image, an ideal of hyper-expensive watches that only the select few can afford. They try to push out the buyer, as they feel that more people owning their goods makes it less desirable. That’s why the smarter among us choose to purchase the replicas. The same quality and materials for a far superior price.