So... It was late at night, during the holidays, I might or might not have been in full possession of my senses, and I pulled the trigger on an Autavia I had been eyeing for a few days. The price seemed right to me, but I'm now obsessing over some details of the watch that don't seem quite right. Maybe the extremely knowledgeable folks here could help out?

The watch is supposed to be a second execution screw back case, ref 2446, with matchstick hands and applied metal markers. At first glance, everything checked out, but now I'm wondering:

- The 12 o'clock marker does not look like any I've seen online. It does not have a vertical groove in the middle like what I have found in my research.
- The spacing between the lume markers at 3 and 9 o'clock seems off
- The applied markers seem thinner than they're supposed to
- The caseback itself looks inappropriate for Autavias? I expected it to look like the Omega screwed casebacks (needing the special tool)
- The bezel looks like a replacement one too. In the front shot, it looks like those bakelite seamaster 300 replacements.
- Some of the registers look re-dialed
- The lume on the hands looks off.

Am I being paranoid, or is this a franken?

Thanks for your help!

 

Sorry to say, but it's a really bad franken. That seller seems to specialize in them.

That's the primary reason why it sold for 'only' $7k.

 

Yes, this is a California Special. This seller used to fake Speedmasters and has moved into Autavias recently. Recall your payment immediately

 

El Monte Special...

Get your money back ASAP.

That is a hideous piece of flaming dogshit.

 

Hey @omar so when you say that I had been eyeing for a few days....That’s when you should’ve asked a ton of questions. But I get it, don’t want to miss a good deal by getting a bunch of other guys all in your ..... well, ‘nuf said. Hope it’s not too late and you can return BUT any seller putting this watch out there the way you describe....seems kinda

 

I hope paypal will come through for you.
So many wrongs.

 

This guy also has some breitling specials. Beware.

 

Made the same mistake too. Hope you get your money back!

 

Thanks for all your answers! I’ve contacted the seller and PayPal.

I wonder: should this be reported to eBay or is it fair game in their policy?

 

Report it to eBay too.

At the end of it all, PayPal will give you your money back.

You could even give PayPal a call - they have good customer service from my experience.

 

Ouch

 

I reported this piece of sh-- as soon as I saw it, but looks like eBay left it alone. Too bad.

That said (please allow me to sit on my high horse)...a cursory amount of diligence would have made you realize that this looks nothing like a proper 2446 Autavia. If you're willing to plop down that kind of cash, you should be willing to put in the time to study the plethora of online resources about these very watches.

Sorry if that comes off as harsh - hope you can get your money back.

 

Yes, I got my money back !
I probably should have been more careful. Not that I didn’t go through online ressources, I guess there was just too much wishful thinking involved. Lesson learned!

 

now more of this next time...thank god you dodged a bullet.

 

Glad you got your money.