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Beware of the Fake Constellation Cases

ConElPueblo
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kaplan kaplan
They nailed the frontal look

Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.30.png Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.27.png Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.24.png Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.21.png Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.18.png Screen Shot 2022-06-08 at 21.22.15.png

Well, the marker shape is off and the general proportions of the dial are too. A quick way of seeing something is amiss (if the case shape doesn't raise the alarm) is the size of the 3 o'clock marker.
 
Peemacgee
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Firstly, good to post this @Kik_Kat_Kish 👍

shame they didn’t get the right reference number if that gold coloured case back goes with the gold case and dial with a date that @kaplan shows.

Fortunately, everything about these cases and dials is slightly off if you know what you’re looking at but I’m sure they could easily fool the uninitiated.
Edited:
 
Chronomega
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Yeah, even though they aren't the greatest replicas it is sad that they are selling tools to counterfeit vintage watches in particular. If the watch snobs, prices, and general unavailability of popular luxury models (less relevant to Omega, but I'm sure its still an issue) don't scare people away from this hobby I don't know what else can. Have to really be careful out there and follow the old adage of "buy the seller". The sheer amount of redials, reluming, etc. that goes on with these pieces (see @ConElPueblo and his fantastic article on "fishing", real black dials, etc.) is discouraging. The vintage Constellations and Seamasters are nice watches to enter the vintage world, but apparently people have figured that out to exploit.
 
kaplan
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As far as I've heard these existed for quite some time, I'd be more worried if they were aimed at 565 movements like the Seamaster 60's that have been rolling out low key

Edit: For those who don't check the Aliexpress link or stumble onto the post after the store listing is removed, the parts are for Miota movements etc.

We all should report the store listing
 
gatorcpa
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noelekal noelekal
Is nothing sacred?!
Nope.

The gold medallion is way too large and the originals do not have bricks in the observatory.

The fakes are getting better.

Scary,
gatorcpa
 
Olhenry56
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It seems inevitable that, just like with black dials for some references, fakes will one day outnumber authentic vintage watches. But hopefully not in my lifetime, and hopefully the tells will remain noticeable enough for me to enjoy the hobby for a good while. I guess I need to stock up on the real thing now while I can still tell the difference (with a little help from the OF experts!)
 
Peemacgee
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
Nope.

The gold medallion is way too large and the originals do not have bricks in the observatory.

The fakes are getting better.

Scary,
gatorcpa

Oddly enough, the size of the medallion leapt out at me too.
It appears to be based on a mid-late 60s medallion ( after the brickwork change ) such as a 168.010.
Whilst the .004s changed medallion types, I can’t ever recall seeing a non-precious dogleg with a brickwork medallion. ( unless someone here knows better)

Regarding the size, if the case is larger, I wonder if the manufacturer thought they should scale up the medallion too. ( I see it takes a fake 20mm Omega strap)

what is pertinent is how awkward looking the fake cases are, illustrating just how good the original designers were at getting things ‘just right’
 
kaplan
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I still buy watches from blurry photos and enjoy the results, the worst that happened was a missing bezel, fakes will always be fakes but they'll definitely make things less fun, I think as a community we need to make a very active effort to report each occurence

Let's maybe start a thread just for bombarding each listing with reports?

This Pie Pan fake project was successful, I think it was pretty late to report, after this success they could expand their project, so while it might not seem like much, I believe our efforts could significantly shrink the market and make new attempts unsuccessful and have forgers move onto different projects
 
ALEJANDRO BOVONE
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MtV
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motivated motivated
Same. No copies of Mona Lisa look exactly the same as the original and a perfect copy of it will never exist. Never as long as the original still exists as point of reference.

Unfortunately, that’s still a point that’s only valid for an unique article. A second Mona Lisa would raise eyebrows because, well, there aren’t supposed to be two of them. A second dogleg Connie though… So you’ll never know if a perfect copy exists - because you’d never know a perfect copy to be a copy.
 
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