I would have a very hard attitude against Fake, or Frankenwatches.
To me, it would be a NO POST here.
As for Hommage or Replicas, things are a bit more difficult, as the line between the Hommage / Replica and the FrankenFake watches is very thin, indeed.
Therefore, if we are strict about this, if we are extremists, we should even say that we don't have to post anything about Pre Vendome or Vendome watches, as they are replicas of the Vintage Panerai Watches.
Between the official or the non official Replica, I always see, at the end, a ...Replica.
Then, we have another problem with the Vintage Panerai:
If we trust some true excperts, only 200 to 300 Vintage Panerais were made, all the others being Fakes...
Who, except an expert, and there are not too many, can say that the Vintage is a true Vintage, or a Re Assrmbled watch by some malicious hands...???
You, for one, know the criteria: The history behind the watch, but this criteria leads us to count only 200 to 300 Authentic or undisputable Vintage Watches...
Too many guys had interest to present their watches as authentic, too many played with this concept for the oldest reason in the world: The Money!
So, should we have to prohibit any post about Vintage becasue in most of cases, we may have a doubt?
Who will tell us that this watch may be posted, but not this one?
To make it simple, we should prohibit such Frankenfake watches.
Should we also prohibit Replicas or Hommages for the same reason that we prohibit Frankenfake watches?
We may end with 2 or 3 posts per year...
Food for thought.
Thanks, Ralf, for bringing us this crucial question.
Best,
Nicolas