Jason Gong is the 38-year-old founder of Complecto, a community and platform focused on increasing diversity and inclusion within the best UK replica watches industry and collecting community. He may have created something new and needed in the watch space, but his origin story is a tale as old as time (well, the ’80s).
“I got my first watch on my eighth birthday,” he says. “A blue Swatch. I was always fascinated with the sea. Growing up in New York, you’re around a lot of water but the beaches are kind of gross and the water’s really murky, so I always fantasized about being someplace where I could go in the ocean, like the tropics. And when I got that watch, it brought that fantasy to life for me.”
To know Gong is to feel welcomed into his world. A byproduct of his natural warmth and a career in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in banking and tech. “Throughout my corporate career,” he says, “I was always focused on creating spaces where people could show up as their authentic selves.” But in 2020 when so many of us were taking stock of who we are and how we were spending our time, Gong decided to combine his skills with his passion.
“Anyone that pursues a career in Diversity and Inclusion, you do it because it’s a core part of your value system,” he says. “It’s very difficult and frustrating work. And for me, doing it as long as I’ve done it and doing it at the level that I had been doing it I got burned out. I was trying to reimagine a way that I could still do work that was rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion, but in a context that felt more authentic and empowering. And that’s really where Complecto was born.”
Connection is at the heart of his personal collection, as well. He collects AAA cheap fake watches that speak to him, that have a story or tell a story. “My experience has been that as long as you’re able to form that emotional bond with the watch, it sticks to you and becomes a part of your life. It becomes your companion, as cheesy as that sounds.”
Rolex Day-Date Oysterquartz ref. 19018 Replica Watches
Gong purchased this new old stock Oysterquartz from 1977 through a vintage dealer in 2019. It was his first vintage Rolex and the choice came as a bit of a surprise. “Out of ignorance,” he says, “I didn’t really pay that much attention to quartz.” All that changed when Gong first encountered a vintage Oysterquartz a few years ago. He was utterly struck by the high quality Rolex replica watches and “at that moment I committed myself to learn as much about the Oysterquartz as I could.” After a year of research, he finally felt ready to take the leap, and it took about six months for Gong to find what he wanted. The one he bought even came with a letter from Rolex – when the original owner sent the luxury copy watches in for a new battery, the brand returned the watch confirming they didn’t touch anything but the battery. “When I say it is pristine, it’s pristine.”
Gong treats it like dress replica watches for sale, largely saving it for formal occasions. “It’s the best of everything Rolex, it’s hyper-engineered, it was the pinnacle of my collecting at the time.” But he doesn’t just wear it to weddings and anniversaries. “Sometimes you just feel like wearing a gold watch,” he laughs. “But every time I put that watch on, it’s like: ‘I know what you are, you know why I love you.’ It’s fun, we have a story.”
Patek Philippe Double-Signed Golden Ellipse Fake Watches
This perfect replica watches belonged to Gong’s grandfather, and when he passed away in 2009, Gong was “given custody” of the watch. “He didn’t have much in terms of possessions, but he had two watches,” Gong says. “He had this Patek and a Piaget Polo. Both Swiss movements super clone watches are very of the era, right? Seventies men’s dress watches in yellow gold.” The watch is double-signed with a retailer stamp at six o’clock. And while obviously beautiful and a memento of his grandfather, Gong didn’t quite know what to do with it as a collector.
At the time he inherited the wholesale replica watches, he was wearing bigger watches: a Tudor Pelagos and the like. “I was like, ‘This is a 34mm dress watch, how’s it going to look on my wrist?’ But my dad encouraged me to just try it out and it just really worked.” Gong has come to appreciate the quiet elegance of the China fake watches, though it doesn’t get a ton of wrist time because it is such a family keepsake. Even though I didn’t know my grandfather well, in the memories I do have of him he always had on a really fly suit and he was driving a Cadillac,” he says. “So it was the exact kind of watch that you would expect somebody who looked like that to wear. For me, having that watch now and when I wear it helps me feel like there’s a bridge. I clearly got the watch bug from somewhere.”