i know places like OfferUp and craigslist aren’t the best places to get a watch but I have sold and bought a few fine ones. Lately I’m seeing an increasing amount of fake speedmaster listed as authentic with a 300-500 dollar price range. People sell fakes I’m not the police so be it, but these people saying they are authentic really bothers me. I start trolling them a bit and get nasty with some of them. One guy came back at me saying he sold a few to “idiots”. I know this is pointless and a waste of my time but I check these sites often for local deals and all these fakes, not just omegas are really ruining the places.

 

I rarely see anything of interest, but there's actually someone selling a legit pre-moon Speedy on my local CL. But no ... I've never considered contacting someone selling a fake. It seems totally pointless.

 

Much I do seems to be pointless but I do it anyway. I really like face to face exchanges but when the sites are saturated with fakes it makes it difficult for us honest guys trying to buy, sell or trade. I had some good sources but they bailed from the site due to all the “authentic fakes” but yes it is a fruitless endeavor to do what I’m doing but I’m as mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore

 

I had a friend looking to rent a furnished apartment in my town for a year. He kept sending me links to CL listings and asked me to look into them. The photos were always legitimate, but I was shocked to learn that almost all of them were scams. I would contact the person listing the property, and they would say that unfortunately they couldn't show me the unit because there were tenants there, but I could stop by and look at the outside. Their responses were often written in awkward English. When I'd follow up and ask to meet with them in-person, they were always out of town. In almost every case, after a few days the listings were removed.

So even legit photos of watches need to be treated with great skepticism on Craigslist. The same is true for Chronocentric for that matter. On two occasions, I have seen two of my own watches listed for sale there, with photos taken from my IG feed. In both cases, people contacted me on IG because they recognized the watch ... "Are you selling this watch? I saw it listed in Chronocentric."

 

WTF is wrong with people these days?

Fleas of a thousand camels and all that....

 

When I first joined and I saw people were saying one of their watches was for sale somewhere I was initially shocked but now I realize this is probably one of the best places for these scammers to grab good photos. I had someone be a dishonest with pics and description of a dynamic I bought I trusted them as we had long conversations and got along well. Maybe I was a fool. It wasn’t too bad at least I got the watch and it was real but definitely misleading.

 

I may or may not periodically have to much time on my hands.

 

Always make time to troll

 

Am I on WUS?. Where is Dennis when we need him?.

 

No, but has anyone else noticed the Facebook Marketplace tactic of obscuring the branding on fake watches in order to avoid having them reported and withdrawn from sale?

 

I have other collecting interests in which I see numerous blatant fakes being sold for substantial sums. One buyer I contacted was in denial to the extent of ranting furiously at me for "lying" to him, "reporting" me to the faker and gleefully informing me of the libel action awaiting me. Surprise surprise, I'm still waiting for that to happen.

I simply cannot be bothered to piss into the wind any more. There are times when I can give useful advice and I'll do that if I can help someone to avoid being ripped off, but I too am not the police and the real ones are no help. The information is out there and if the mugs that keep on buying the fakes had the initiative to do a bit of research, they'd realise in 5 minutes that they were being conned. Sadly there is a seemingly endless supply of gullible buyers and for as long as that is the case, these cockroaches will continue to defraud them.

 

I want to make clear this is not something I spend a lot of time doing. I merely target a couple of fakers who present their fake watches in a BS jewelry store shop the set up and say 300 dollar aquaterras are guaranteed authentic. It really did turn a place that was once a good source into a haven for fakes

 

There is a jewelry repair shop near my house that had a whole display case of fake Rolex- all the bling and fake jewels you could imagine (they are catering to a certain crowd). They were truly awful and any collector would know. I remarked to the clerk- you have a lot of Rolexes in there- and he smirked and said- yeah, they’re not real.
I wonder if he says that to someone who doesn’t have the look in their eye of knowing it too.