So I have noticed on the wrist of one of my colleagues what appears to be a Rolex Cellini in the last few weeks. I don't know him hugely well so haven't had the chance to have a good look at it till yesterday.

So was chatting to him about Christmas and the watch I have bought for it and he mentioned his watch. I asked to have a closer look only to see it is quite clearly a poor quality replica ( it had a see through case back and the general quality all over was very poor ), I asked where he got it and he said his parents bought it for him for his 25th birthday and that he has the box and papers in his safe. I simply smiled and said it was nice and handed it back not wanting to be rude or to let him know that it is not real if he is unaware.

Has anybody had a similar situation? Would you have asked if it was real or would you have done the same as me and just handed it back with a smile?

Jack

 

i have seen few here too, some are my friends. Never asked them to show me cos i knew it is replica since they cant afford a Genuine one

watch was: Rolex

 

I think you handled it correctly. I would have done the same.

 

Well...really depends on how close you are to the people in question. I'd say you did the right thing there. Besides that, it's a gift from his parents, and he's put the box and papers in the safe. You can't take away the sentimental value.

A few years back when I was a student and on holidays, I was staying with one of my uncles in Singapore. Now, he's relatively well off - owns two cars (which speaks levels,) a flat, married and sends daughter off to private school. What got my attention was the fact that the watch that I normally saw him wear was swapped over for a Cartier. I asked him whether it was real or not. He said "No, it's a fake." I asked "You have so much money though, why not get a real one?" And he said, "Well I'm in that status position where no one will question me if it's real or fake."

Likewise, I've worn both a real and a copy TAG Heuer on each wrist at the same time, and all the compliments were aimed at the copy. Even when I told my workmates that it was a copy, they kept saying "It still looks good though."

 

Yeah, the guys at work abused me so much over my fake Timex that I had to stop wearing it. Unreasonable sods!

 

Can't say I've seen a fake Timex...was it anything like the "Aseikons" (Seikos) or "Longunes" (Longines) of the 60s/70s?

 

Me too. He's going to discover it eventually when it's time for a service. Unless he already knows...

 

Missed opportunity. You should have had your coworker call his parents so you could berate them while smashing the fake to bits with a handy piece of office equipment like a stapler or cordless phone.

I doubt he knows anything about maintenance.

 

Years ago I had just joined a large consumer package goods company and the first staff meeting, half the attendees were wearing gold datejusts. I was thinking, "man I am doing some thing wrong if all these guys can afford and I can't." Later I realized these guys had recently been in China and it all made sense. The Quartz Seiko Chrono on my wrist looked pretty good. I believe in intelllectual property. I refuse to partake of the fake merchandise malls when in Asia. I cannot imagine wearing a fake anything.

 

I agree with the OP's course of (in)action. I don't see that anyone gains by denigrating a gift given in good faith.

 

The CMO of the company I used to work for used to talk non stop about his multi million dollar lake house in Austin, hundred thousand dollar stereo system, sports cars, and $2 million aircraft.

All he wears are fake watches.

I called him on it, to which he responded "fake stuff doesn't hurt anyone, grow up".

I heard from an ex colleague that the CMO got mugged for a fake IWC in New York 2 weeks ago. Pistol whipped and a broken cheek bone.

That fake stuff sure sounds painful...

 

ANSWER :
You should have told him..

REASONS:
It could have been a paypal transaction (180 days)
It could be a shop front...
they may be after a second for his younger brother...
Without telling him the seller will never be held responsible. if there is even a possibility of wrighting a wrong you should have told him.

Also "Ben" in the office, may also be a "watchy" kinda a guy. He may tell "Mr Cellini" it is a fake.. And now you look like an idiot.. so when you're fake Cellini wearing friend wants a new watch he will go to "Ben" and "Ben" really likes Breil watches but prefers Technomarines style so he recommends that to him. Your friend buys a top of the range Technomarine... and then you will go to HELL...

You should have told him...

 

There is a special place in hell for that guy and people like him. Fake stuff doesn't hurt anybody? Tell that to the pets and kids who died because of melamine in pet food and infant formula. How bout fake brake pads? Drugs? Fake luxury goods are just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Totally agree also hurts manufacturers so now you have to pay more for your watch..
Hurts me because i sell REAL bloody omega straps. ebay is full of fakes.. . Hurts too when some smart twat flicks a messed up dial with a fake dial.. (or any other "Fitting part" for that matter) Hurts when i buy a watch that should hold an eta 7750 and instead hold some chinese clone shit that i cant use for parts...

Forget what i said in the last post you should have driven him to his parents house bitch slapped his mum called his dad a cheap waster and made them say sorry.. not to their son.. but to you.

 

Last time we spoke about it (shortly before they let me go... not related I don't think).

I brought up fake aircraft parts... which have hurt quite a few people... thinking this would get the message across.

Nope. Apparently no one makes fake parts for his plane... it's too specialist.

Wonder how his cheek bone is healing...

 

I don't think it's your right to call anyone out on their watch.


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Made the right choice to not say anything in person I think . However have the feeling he is fully aware and making up a back story


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I am sometimes confronted with a fake watch - not often but it does happen. This year I have seen 5 fakes so far...

One was a fairly convincing (externally) fake IWC pilot watch. Had to get into the movement in some detail to realize it was all a put together, as it didn't have the typical signs on the dial for the Mk. series fakes...

Second one was someone sending me an Omega Cal. 1120 movement to use to rebuild a watch, but it was a fake movement.

Three were last week - my wife came home with a box of watches from a work colleague - all quartz. I was supposed to look at them to see if they were "worth fixing" so of the 15 or so watches I immediately pulled out the fake Day-Date/Date-Just hybrid, the fake Cartier, and the fake Tag. The Tag was the most convincing at a glance - it had significant weight to it, and the dial was a pretty good copy. However the case and bracelet had parting lines on them - yep not machined parts, but cast likely using an original watch as the pattern. Looked like coarse sand was used and the parts were "cleaned up" with a grinder to remove the sprue and flash, so the areas touched by that were full of coarse grind lines. I've never seen anything quite like it...

I have no choice but to tell people, since they are asking me to fix the watches, and I don't work on fakes. All were sent back to their owners.

Always a tricky thing when someone has a fake watch. I don't personally judge people for saying something or not saying something - it really depends on the situation, and only the person that was there knows what was right at that time, that place, and with that person. In an ideal world you could tell someone without negative repercussions, but it's far from an ideal world...

Cheers, Al

 

In some instances I have told people my real watch is a fake. In certain groups outside watch nerd land a fake generates less discussion than a real one.