I knew it was only a matter of time before pirates jumped on the bandwagon for SevenFriday. After all, it was a popular watch (unique design and affordable for a Swiss watch) and had a easy off-the-shelf-and-cheap-to-buy Miyota movement (okay, chalk off the earlier Swiss watch part), and was being sold at a rather high premium compared to the prices of the parts. I mean, Steinhart was a real Swiss watch selling at less than RM2k with an ETA 2nd-grade 2824-2; and SF was going at a RRP of almost RM4k with a non-hacking Miyota movement?! The writing was on the wall at quite an early stage.
From what I read online, replica SF enter the market very recently but was still recognisable from the font 'Seven'; the rear engraving (less legible wordings and rough workmanship); lower quality leather strap; no aluminium warranty card; and most likely come without the crate-like SF box which was a USD75 option on replica sites. And with grey resellers dumping the goods of genuine SF (look at Mudah where you can get new pieces for less than RM3k), I would rather hold on the purchase for a bit more as the prices slide downwards with the novelty wearing off, rather than spending RM1.8k on a replica. A replica can never beat a genuine piece, IMHO; although in this case, if the replica comes with an ETA movement at that price, it may just tip the scale to its favour amongst some WIS.
Personally, I find that SF is more like a fashion watch, which novelty wears off pretty quickly. It was meant to be a fun and quirky piece not to be taken seriously. It's a Swiss brand with a Japanese heart, assembled in China and couriered from Swiss (if you ordered online from HQ). I had a piece when it was all the rage then, but it didn't quite sing to me after I got it. For circa RM3k today, I would rather go for an entry-level Swiss-made watch or medium-level Japan-made watch. SF could however, up the ante by slotting in an ETA movement. Then the fun starts.