What Is A Homage Watch?

When you start getting interested in watches it will not take you long to hear people talking about homage’s and things can get a little heated around this topic.

The watch community is pretty divided on homage watches, some love them, others loath them, but what exactly are they?

Basically they are watches that look similar to others …some if these watches will have taken inspiration from famous watches, while others have maybe done a little more copying than they should have, but I will go through all this in more detail below.

What Does Homage Mean?

If we are going to look at homage watches, we should first start with what “homage” actually means.

The dictionary definition is basically paying respect or giving acknowledgment to something and you will often see this when someone makes a speech and talks about someone else, giving them praise, this would be a form of homage.

You will see this “respectful acknowledgment” all the time in movies. A director will be inspired by a different director and this causes him to shoot his movie in a certain way …but he pays tribute to the original director and will acknowledge that his inspiration has come from them in a subtle way.

Just think of any Quentin Tarantino movie, especially something like Kill Bill where you can see he has drawn a lot of inspiration from all the kung fu movies he watched when he was younger and a lot of the scenes in this movie are paying homage to these other movies. 

Homaging Can Get Blurry

The problem with homaging is that it is a little blurry.  Being inspired by something is very vague, as is “respectfully acknowledging”.

There are two real views you can look at homages from, you can say it is just tastefully taking inspiration from those before you and paying tribute to them …or it can be seen as copying and just ripping something off and then of course there is a lot of blurriness in the middle and it really can come down to personal interpretation.

This is seen a lot in the watch world as some watches are seen as acknowledging those before them, while others are branded as copying and then there are a whole lot  in the middle who are not really sure.

If we go back to Kill Bill, this blurriness can be seen. Tarantino is seen as giving a respectful nod to the movies he seen as a kid, while others say he is just copying them and ripping them off. There are some scenes in this movie that are almost shot for shot the same as some movies from the 70’s …so the lines can get a little blurry and it can get quite subjective at times.

What Is A Homage Watch?

While things can be a little subjective, there are plenty of objective things we can look at when it comes to a watch and this will help us start to understand what a homage watch actually is.

Non- Original Design

The main thing that makes a homage a homage is the fact that the design is not original. I will go into more detail about this below, as there is a bit of range and the level of “homaging” can differ, which basically means the level of originality can differ.

This fact alone is what makes things so blurry and why some homage watches are showing respectful acknowledgment, and why others are just copying.  

The Watches Are Cheaper

In general, homage watches are cheaper, especially compared to the watches they may be paying tribute to. This again will be blurry and comes down to the originality of the watch.

Usually the more original the watch is, the more it will cost, but this isn’t always the case.   

They Are Lower Quality Watches

There is also often a general census that homage’s are lower quality watches. I think for the majority of watches there is some truth to this, but you shouldn’t always assume this.

You can find some homage’s that are incredibly well made, but as I keep mentioning, this comes down to the originality of the watch and really who is making it and why.     

They Have Cheaper Movements

The movements are generally cheaper in homage watches, but not always. It will depend on the watch, but generally the watch will have a cheaper movement, which does also help reduce the cost of the homage watches.

What Types Of Homage Watches Can You Get?

I keep mentioning that things are blurry, and this is basically because you can get different degrees of homaging and really the best way to explain this is to go through the different types of homage watches you can get.

Inspired

When we think of respectful acknowledgment …we think of watches that are inspired by previous watches. 

Maybe 99% of the watch is a unique design, but there will be one little thing that is quite clearly inspired by something else. It is all very subtle and a lot of people will not even know it’s a homage.

This is generally the type of homage’s everyone likes and has no issues with as it is all very tasteful, and this is what we need more of in the watch world.  

Heavily Inspired

You then have the heavily inspired homages, which are still respected, as the majority of the watch is its own design …but you can clearly see where the idea came from.

Just think about the Rolex Submariner and then think about the million watches that look fairly similar …but different enough to be their own thing.

I think this is generally something most people are comfortable with, as they kind of understand that you can only design a watch in so many different ways, so it makes sense some might look like others.

Just think about how many brands have a GMT watch with a red and blue bezel …they are not copying the Rolex GMT II …but all these watches are heavily inspired by it for sure.  

Similar Looking

I think when you mention homages to a lot of watch collectors, they tend to think of the watches that look very similar to the ones they are taking “inspiration” from.

These watches can be almost questionably similar looking at times, it is often a thin line between homage and a fake and really it is only the logo on the dial that is different.

These watches are quite controversial and is often why homages can get a bad name and are not really liked by a lot of collectors.

Copies/Fakes

Fake watches are not homages, they are illegal …Some people might say they are homages, but they are not. They are not trying to look extremely similar …they are trying to look identical and want to pass themselves off as the real deal.

These watches should be avoided at all costs. If you want to get a homage that looks pretty close, but is its own brand, that is fine …if you are buying fake watches, this is not cool.    

(You can read more about – How Is A Homage Watch Different From A Replica Watch?)

Watches That Are No Longer Available

Some homage watches may look pretty similar to the watch they are taking inspiration from, but as the watch in question is not actually available any more, people often see this okay.  

I personally own a San Martin retro driver, which is generally seen as homage to a classic Rolex submariner, which are hard to find these day, and if you do …they are usually around 100k. This watch probably falls into the “heavily inspired” category as it is not super similar to one particular watch, but it does have a similar feel to a couple of different models from this time period.

Watches like this are actually seen as okay, because as I mentioned, trying to buy one is difficult due to their rarity and price. People accept these style of homage’s a lot more than the ones that look very similar to watches that are currently available in the shops.

Homaging a watch that is no longer available is a nice way to get a watch that you can’t really buy elsewhere.      

Brands Homage Their Own Watches

We need to move away from the “homage means ripping people off” mindset, as it is not always this.

Brands will actually homage their own watches. Tudor is a great example of this. They released watches back in the 1950s and 60s and they wanted to bring this style of watch back today. Instead of just re-releasing one of the older models, they basically took inspiration from their own watches.

The BlackBay58 is pretty much an amalgamation of a few of their old watches and of course they have a had added a few modern twists too …but this watch is a homage, it is just a homage to its own ancestors.

Some Design Overlap (Copying) Is Inevitable

I think another aspect of watch making that is often forgotten about, and doesn’t help the whole homage situation is the simple fact that really there are so many designs that can be made.

If you decided to create a new watch today, you are inevitably going to end up “copying” something from someone. There are only so many types of hands, or dial colours or bezel types and this means you probably will get as bit of overlap eventually. Maybe this is on purpose, maybe not.

I still think there are enough different options and things you can change to make a unique watch, but it is also very easy to end up with some overlap. 

(You can read more about – What Are The Pros and Cons Of Purchasing A Homage Watch?)

Legit Brands Follow Trends

We also need to consider trends, which you will see through the new watches released. Is the brand just following what is popular? … or is it a homage? …or just copying? I guess this is also a little blurry too.

Just think back to that turquoise dial… the tiffany blue one. Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. realised a 5711 Nautilus with this blue dial and the watch world went crazy for it.

Pretty much every brand from the high end all the way to the low end all started releasing new watches with this colour dial. It was a huge trend and you could argue it was a form of homage, they where all inspired by that Patek …but you could also just argue they where copying so they could get their share of the pie.  

(You can read more about – Is It Okay To Wear A Homage Watch?)

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see how the whole “homage” style of watch is a little blurry, where exactly the act of homaging starts and begins isn’t clearly defined as some may make you believe, but hopefully you have a better understanding of the different levels you can find.

Understanding this is also going to stop you from saying sweeping statements like “I hate homages” you can now be more clear and explain what types you actually dislike and why, which will help you become a better collector.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Homage Watches)