So since this thread has become about fake watches, I have a question:
At what point does a fake/franken (or series of them) that has become infamous and surrounded by controversy become collectible in its own right?
I have posted before about the Tudor Red Ranger I got 20 years ago from a friend who bought scrap gold and watches from pawn brokers. This watch came to me with a broken crystal but was running. I knew nothing of old Rolex/Tudor at the time and assumed it was real.
The case reference is stamped 9050, my watchmaker serviced it and replaced the crystal- said it had been hacked on and required a bit of work. I thought nothing of it and wore it occasionally.
Flash forward another decade and Internet forums became a thing. Curiosity hit and I decided to research the watch only to discover that there were multiple threads on the Red Rangers- did they exist, did they not- are they real? Rolex says they never made one but there are accounts of original owners saying they bought it new in the 60’s.
Keep in mind that in the late 90’s/early 00’s, Tudor Princes could be had for $250-300 and regular rangers from this period for a few hundred more. So it’s not like faking a watch that’s not worth much was a real profit maker at the time. What I gathered at the time was that these were fake dials and hands on real Tudor Princes that came from somewhere during the 90’s- who knows where they were being cobbled. I put it in a drawer and forgot about it.
Over the years I would see them pop up on eBay and have watched the values steadily increase with a flurry of bidders. Surely they must know- we all can search the internet, or are they all totally ignorant about the dubious history.
Then I saw this:
31 bidders and $1.5k….are there that many rubes or have these things gained a cult status of their own? And this is not an isolated incident, they have been headed this direction so I’m wondering if these Red Rangers have become their own piece of Rolex history despite being a likely Frankenfake.
