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Cause for concern and Alarm!
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dsio
··Ash @ ΩFI have come across a few counterfeit omegas in my day, and most have been quite easy to call out, if not by their mere look, just by simply holding them in my hand and giving them a quick once over.
However, I was recently told of a website that sells replicas out of china, I visited that website
9trusty time) and what I saw was cause for major alarm. From the pictures and sometimes videos even it looks like their watches are of a very high replica quality. I only really looked at their omegas as that is what I know best, and compared a few of their models to omegas I currently owned or have owned recently and it is uncanny. They even go as far as installing real swiss eta movements sometimes!
I am honestly somewhat terrified by learning about these new high end replicas in the market. Looking at these pictures I have the feeling that I personally would have trouble knowing they werent genuine, something tells me that even my jeweler would have to take the watch apart to find out and maybe even then he might not be able to know.
I just wanted to see what members thoughts on these issues are? Has anyone had any experience with these high end replicas? Accidentally purchasing them and finding out too late that they were not the real deal?
Do even these replicas have an Achilles heel with which one can easily know that they are not genuine?
I figured this would be a good place to share knowledge as the more we know the less likely one of us is to fall prey to one of these, and we can stop any of them that might be currently circulating the pre-owned markets.
Cheers!
Just checked out the pictures, they've copied the rotor on the Calibre 8500 perfectly but that's where the similarity ends, the movement is shockingly bad and there are three big points here:
1: The Calibre 8500 is a double barrel movement, they use an ETA with a single barrel and just write "Barrel one" and "Barrel two" on the outside, on a Cal 8500 you can actually see the two barrels.
2: Calibre 8500 has a very distinctive movement layout with a balance bridge and finishing on the entirety of visible surfaces, with most workings hidden
3: All Omega 8500s with SI14 balance have a black balance, with a very distinctive shape
Side by side you can spot an 8500 easily, its two barrels, co-axial escapement and silicon balance make it very different from any ETA, there are huge problems on the dialside, bezel, and crown/pushers on their models as well, they're still not even close IMO.
