Hey guys,

a friend of mine asked me to post this pictures of his vintage ploprof which re recently sold.

The guy who purchased the watch from him claims that dial, hands, movement are genuine, the only issue with the watch was the case itself. He claims the case being fake, by being "casted metal" (poured iron/steel) instead of "milled metal". He says that this can be seen especially around the area where the strap is mounted. The purchaser wants a full refund and we are quite unsure if it is reasonable or not.

This is how the watch should look like i guess: http://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-166-0077-omega-seamaster-ploprof-w-unpolished-case—serviced.20970/

In my option its extremely hard to tell because the case appears to be highly over polished. Thats why i am seeking your advice. (I dont have further pictures as i uploaded all that i got from my mate)

Is it possible to examine from these pictures whether or not the case is fake? (sorry, i have no picture of the inside)

 

I would tend to agree that the case is fake. A few point to look at are the "rough" appearance of the metal between the lugs. This indicates the metal was cast. Same thing holds true for the rough grooves on the back. Have a look at the link below to see some examples of fakes:

http://www.ploprof.com/Fake PloProfs.html

 

If he got full retail for it, I can see where the buyer would be unhappy.

 

Better images would help, but it doesn't look right.

 

looks very fake to me. one point is, that the locking screw/stem must be flush with the guards, when secured . kind regards. achim

 

Not good, unanimous.

 

Are these photo's ones taken by your mate before he sold it?

or are they ones sent by the new buyer claiming fake?

Case is definitely fake without any doubt, look at the crown to guard gap, you could drive a friggin bus through that!

 

my mate returned the money already and contacted the guy from whom he purchased the watch initially around 6 months ago. thanks guys

 

well, to be honest im glad not to be directly involved. its a lot of money and a lot of disappointment. the thing that i understand least is why somebody has put a genuine movement/dial/hands into a fake case or how it can pay off to produce such fake cases... (is there that much of a demand?)

 

Yep, fake case. The hands as well, at least the minute hand. The bezel seems ok, strangely enough, or just a good fake.

 

I have seen one of these cases before and I am afraid to say I agree with the consensus that unfortunately the case is a fake, there was a bought of doing this with 2915 cases a little while ago, I guess where there is a market then there is an opportunity. IMHO your friend probably needs to accept a return/ refund and then take the person he/ she purchased it from to task

 

my mate took the watch to the official omega store in downtown Vienna. the watchmaker there examined the watch and said that it has been sand-blasted ("sandbestrahlt") and he cant tell if its fake or not. if its a fake he examined it to be "of extraordinary quality". he also said that ploprof cases were produced at the very beginning out of different materials (also casted metal) for the prototypes and that my mate should send the watch in to Switzerland to make a "certificate of authentication" as well as a "history extract". if it would turn out as a fake my mate would still get the watch back! the watchmaker also said that the watch is polishes to death.

opinions?

 

So the watchmaker is claiming that the cases for the same ref were produced by different methods? This does not really make economical sense. Also, in this case using a casting method for a prototype is unlikely, again because of the associated costs of generating the mold.

It is possible the case was sandblasted and then polished to death. But what would one do that? There are many possible scenarios to why the case looks the way it does. But applying Occam's razor: the simplest explanation is probably the most likely and that is that the case is likely a fake.

FWIW - the extract will not prove that the watch is authentic, it will simply give you information regarding the movement and in which case ref it left the Omega factory.Also, for an "extract of records" you don't need to send in the whole watch. The serial number of the movement should suffice.