The hobby of collecting Fake Louis Vuitton watches probably started in the late 1990s. It was in 2000 or early 2001 that the first online replica watches community, Replica Watch Collector Club (RWCC), first began accepting members from among people who accept the coexistence of watches and replica watch market. The original purpose of the forum was to allow early replica sellers (really hobbyists with access to merchandise rather than any commercial enterprise) the ability to display their wares.
Three or four watches would be available at one time, and the potential buyers would contact the seller if they were interested in purchasing the watch. Quantities were limited, unlike the replica watch market today, and prices were high. This community continued for over a year until it was finally shut down not by law enforcement or brand owners, but a consortium of replica watch dealers who did not like competition.
The members of the RWCC moved on to another forum, The Replica Collector (TRC), which just recently shut down. The Replica Collector took the concept of the community and grew it to the stature of many other watch forums. Moderators and administrators ran the board and kept the members to a strict standard of behaviour and posting. To TRC came the first crop of quality dedicated replica watch dealers.
Other replica watch forums have grown over the years, each catering to a particular style of community. Some are quite formal and reserved while others are much more free-form. All are hubs for information on replica watches and the dealers who sell them.
