What does ‘dupe culture’ mean for the watch industry?

Fake luxury goods have been around for decades, if not longer. 

In fact, in the early 20th century fashion designers like Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet, and Coco Chanel even used to sell their designs to be replicated by department stores in the United States. 

But by the 1970s the practice had stopped completely, and a new kind of replica had emerged: counterfeit goods that were unlikely to be sold at Bergdorf Goodman or Macy’s, and instead found on Canal Street in NYC. 

Fast forward fifty years and we now have the emergence of “dupe culture” — identikit, affordable versions of trending designer wares. The term entered the mainstream last year, when you could buy a “Birkin” in Walmart for $80 (latterly dubbed the “Wirkin”) and The Row jelly flats on Amazon for $19.99 (the real things retailed for $890). 

What is dupe culture?

Naturally, dupe culture has also come for watches. But why is the “homage” to the GMT-Master II that you pick up on TikTok different from the “Rulex” you’ve been able to buy off a guy on the beach in Spain for decades?

Firstly, dupes are not the same as counterfeits. A dupe looks similar but uses its own brand name, while counterfeits masquerade as the luxury labels themselves — give or take a vowel or two. A dupe rather pays “homage” to the original product, capturing things like case shape, dial layout, bezel style, bracelet and colours, while being sold under another brand name at a much lower price point. Most significantly, counterfeits are illegal while dupes are not. 

Another difference is the newfound attitude and the culture around dupes. Replica goods are being embraced more than ever, and are particularly popular with the younger generations. According to research by Morning Consult, 45% of Gen Z and 33% of Millennials have intentionally bought a dupe, indicating there’s a sizable appetite for these “homages”.

Why is dupe culture growing in watches?

The reasons why dupe culture is going from strength to strength for watches is similar to other luxury goods. Recent price hikes have outpaced many aspirational shoppers, who are also experiencing increased disillusionment with the luxury industry. There’s a burgeoning narrative among customers around the falling quality versus the rising price points of premium products. If you no longer believe something justifies its price tag, then it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to pay full whack for it — and perhaps turn to a dupe if you still want the look for less. 

Unique to watches, there’s also the rise of affordable manufacturing within the sector. Although many cheaper dupes will contain a quartz battery or a generic Chinese movement, higher quality versions can often be powered by a respectable Japanese movement. At the higher end of the market, you might even find an affordable Swiss calibre like the ETA 2824-2 automatic movement inside your dupe. 

Social media culture is also unashamedly pro dupes, with YouTube and TikTok watch communities openly reviewing the “best homages.” The modern dupe customer is “very online” according to Morning Consult, which notes that 60% of shoppers have a TikTok account (versus 42% of the US population), while even more use YouTube (87%) and Instagram (72%).

How is dupe culture affecting the watch market?

Dupe culture may be a modern phenomenon, but there is an argument that design “homages” created the very watch market that we see today. Most modern mainstream watches borrow from a selection of archetypes developed in the 20th century. 

Rolex’s Submariner has been the template for almost all dive watches, while its GMT-Master II and Daytona designs have also been hugely influential. Meanwhile, the Omega Speedmaster established the visual blueprint for sport chronographs. 

Gérald Genta created the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet and the Nautilus for Patek Philippe, and in doing so changed the industry’s design codes forever. 

And Cartier created the mold for more than a century of dress watches when it launched the Tank in 1918. 

It’s safe to say, then, that taking inspiration from classic watch designs is a building block of the modern watch industry. As ever, well-known names will remain unaffected by the practice because their customers want the brand prestige, craftsmanship, heritage, and resale value that comes from buying the real thing — and are happy to pay for it. In fact, you could argue that the existence of dupes often cements the aspirational status of prestige brands. 

But dupe culture is increasingly an issue for mid-tier brands, a segment that is already heavily squeezed by a market that is dominated by the Big Four (Rolex, Cartier, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe). It represents the type of competition they can ill-afford: as an entry-level watch purchaser, would you rather spend $160 or $1,600 on a watch with a near-identical design, and potentially very similar movement inside?

Another, wider, concern for the watch industry is design stagnation. For a hundred years, the same watch archetypes have been reused and recycled time and again across the market. That will inevitably leave customers feeling visually fatigued and uninspired by what’s on offer. And the dupe market, as it is fundamentally unoriginal, only cements this creative cul-de-sac.