When replicas become flawless, provenance becomes the only luxury, and modern collectible cars stay uncopyable.
Written by Lex Pedersen, CEO of CHROME TEMPLE
I bought a fake.
On purpose.
Not to pass it off.
Not to impress anyone.
But to test a theory.
I wanted to know how far replication technology, AI, and modern manufacturing have really pushed, and in turn threatened, the world of luxury and collectible assets. And (selfishly + professionally) I wanted to test what that might mean for collectible “automotive art” – our chosen asset class. The answer was unsettling, but ultimately exciting for the future of collectible automotive investment.
The watch I bought? Exceptional. Weight. Finish. Dial. Bracelet. Previous authenticity confirmatory aspect. All present. Not “close enough” - but rather so exact that the difference became philosophical, not physical. A “super clone” as is now the nomenclature. A true one of one (1:1).
And that’s when the unease set in.
Not because I’d been fooled - because I hadn’t, this was a purposeful replica purchase for research purposes. What was uneasy about the whole ordeal is that in the end, the only person that knew it was a fake is the only one that mattered - Me. Now the “fake” was still several thousand dollars, but would spending 25 times more be justified, again, to the only person that matters? A question and debate for another time.
This isn’t about “could others spot my fake.” And it’s not about promoting replicas (for the record, I do not endorse or encourage the purchase of counterfeit products). No, in the end this is about the crux of what luxury, what brand, what value really mean. The truth revealed in this process was that the meaning of what luxury represents, isn’t just being threatened, its foundation is moving.
Luxury was once protected by the difficulty of making something exceptional: rare materials, specialised craftsmanship, storytelling and manufacturing limits that made imitation tangibly inferior. Quality and access were the moat and that protection is evaporating. Astonishingly, some field experts estimate that up to 80% of luxury watches in market today are fake. (I assume that some retain the ‘original’ in a safe environ, and a ‘fake’ for wrist duties, akin to many of the multi-million-dollar historic racers that we see belting around Goodwood every year.)
Replication technology has reached a point where quality and craft are no longer the dividing line. The physical object can now be matched, sometimes indistinguishably. What once separated luxury is increasingly reproducible.
CNC machining, additive manufacturing, chemical analysis, and AI-driven quality control have collapsed the distance between original and replica. What used to require decades of craft can now be reverse‑engineered, refined, and scaled.
AI doesn’t just copy.
It learns.
It optimises.
It removes imperfection.
Watches are the most obvious example, but the same story is playing out across luxury assets. Luxury leather goods are already under fire, as are luxury fragrances. Fragrances that once relied on secret formulas, rare ingredients, and brand mythology are now being chemically deconstructed and reproduced with frightening accuracy. Scent profiles can be analysed, rebuilt, and iterated — often faster than the originals can evolve, at single digit %’s of the original RRP’s. In artwork, experts in the field can’t always distinguish real vs replica.
Wine? Whiskey? Infiltration must only be a matter of time (if not already) given the history of fraudulent activity in the sector.
So, what happens when quality becomes manufacturable, and authenticity becomes administrative? When the experience is indistinguishable between “real” and “fake”, luxury ceases to be about the object and becomes about provenance, and uniqueness. What cannot be replicated becomes what is most valuable, least volatile.
That’s what buying the fake revealed. Not embarrassment. Clarity. Relief even. That the cars I target for investment (modern collectibles) sit outside this collapsing intersection of luxury and value.
Don’t get me wrong, fakes can and do happen in the collectible car world – especially for older collectibles. Case in point, I was once offered a rare 1970s collectible, indistinguishable as nothing short of authentic to several global experts, it’s astute owner and even the manufacturer themselves. All the due diligence, followed to the letter, including the letter from the manufacturer. It looked legit. But, in the end I walked away, thanks to wisdom imparted from our IC chair, not because we spotted the fake, but simply because we knew these older cars don’t have the provenance of modern collectibles and so it could in theory be replicated and that was a risk I wouldn’t take for an investment. Some months later the fraud was uncovered when the “original” was located abroad, by the owner no less. So, it can happen.
But modern collectible and performance cars are structurally resistant to replication and fraud.
They are irreducibly complex. They carry embedded identity through VINs, ECUs, build sheets, and service and compliance records. They accumulate lived provenance across jurisdictions, institutions, and time.
A fake watch can fool the eye.
A fake artwork can fool a wall.
A fake wine can fool a palate.
A fake perfume can fool a sense or a memory.
But a modern collectible – even with a manufacturing plant, changes in emission regulations and technology make it effectively impossible to replicate. Impossible to redefine. Sound. Heat. Feedback. Mechanical honesty and provenanced stories. The experience itself becoming the distinguishing factor. Singer’s success confirms the appeal of reimagining, but as restomods proliferate, collectors gravitate toward the irreproducible — finite, point-in-time blue-chip originals.
At CHROME TEMPLE, we treat cars as automotive art, and we practice what we preach.
Not mere transport. Not status symbols. Just emotionally charged obsessions with mechanical mastery and aesthetic beauty of a cultural moment, with a financial twist.
As AI accelerates and Moore’s Law continues to compress innovation cycles, anything that can be digitised, sampled, trained, or chemically mapped is facing the threat of dilution and financial disruption.
Modern collectibles resist this because they are products of a specific moment in time, defined by regulation, engineering limits, and physical production. That reality cannot be recreated, and that is what safeguards their value.
They remain one of the last true bastions of “real” – a word that is ever present on our lips as we enter this new age.
They occupy space, tangible.
They age visibly, timelessly.
They demand participation.
They leave evidence.
In an age of infinite copies, real things with real histories matter more than ever.
That isn’t nostalgia. For me, it represents capital preservation (at worst), with strong appreciation anticipated (and, dare I say, demanded).
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Anyone thinking about making a vehicle investment should carefully review their options and seek professional advice prior to making any investment decision or vehicle purchase. No reliance may be placed on this article for any purpose. Information in this article has been prepared without taking into account the objectives, circumstances, financial situation or needs of any person, and may differ to information obtained elsewhere.
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