Phillips auction Speedmaster - a 3.000.000-fake?

M'Bob

I always find the “why” of these things fascinating. The simple answer is always “ money and power,” but often the explanations run deeper.

Were there any mitigating circumstances? Was someone’s job on the line if they didn’t comply? I don’t see all nefarious behavior as equal. However…if those involved were living comfortably, could feed their families, and had enough materialism to save face with their peer groups, and purposely and knowingly set out to defraud a collector or institution, then this is just shameful and unforgivable behavior.

southtexas

Is fraud and/or theft EVER ok?

BlackTalon

I doubt it is ever okay from the perspective of the person/ company that had the food/ products stolen.

PlainVanilla

Some people will tell you they would kill her on the spot. We live in a sad world, remember.

M'Bob

As I mentioned above, it is never “okay.” But since stealing is technically a crime, if a mom who just lost her job went to your grocery store and gabbed a bottle of baby formula off the shelf to feed her baby, and you nabbed her doing it, and she told you the story, would call the police?

BlackTalon

The Washington Post ran the short Bloomberg article in their Business Section this morning.

BlackTalon

The Washington Post ran the short Bloomberg article in their Business Section this morning.

sathomasga

Non-paywall version

https://www.thenationalnews.com/bus...-swiss-prosecutors-over-3-million-fake-watch/

Swatch Group’s Omega brand filed a criminal complaint with Swiss prosecutors over the sale of a fake Speedmaster watch it bought at an auction for a record price of more than $3 million.

A spokesman in the Bern prosecutor’s office confirmed receipt of the complaint, but declined to say whether a criminal investigation had been started.

Omega alleged former employees conspired with others to produce a “Frankenstein” version of a vintage Speedmaster.

An amalgam of time-period correct and allegedly inauthentic components, the watch was sold by auction house Phillips in Geneva in 2021 for a record price of more than 3.1 million Swiss francs ($3.6 million).

Omega was the buyer and previously said that three former employees, including one that worked at the brand’s museum, were involved in the alleged criminal plot.

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News of the bogus watch sent shock waves through the Swiss luxury watch and auction communities last month when details first emerged.

Online blogger Jose Perez’s website Perezcope first raised questions about the authenticity of the watch in April and Swiss newspaper NZZ published a story in June alleging the former Omega employees had assisted others in Switzerland who were involved in constructing the watch before it was consigned to Phillips.

Omega and parent company Swatch Group AG declined to comment. A representative for Phillips said the auction house welcomed the investigation and looks forward to seeing the outcome of the findings.


Phillips is co-operating “in full” with the authorities.

“We are expecting to be contacted by the prosecutor’s office and are ready to hand over all our evidence relevant to this transaction as soon as that happens,” the representative said.

Omega previously said that Phillips had not disclosed who sold the watch purported to have been produced in 1957.

The auction house said it would disclose the seller’s identity if requested by police or prosecutors.

Known for its Speedmaster and Seamaster models, Omega is the third-largest Swiss watchmaker by revenue, with sales of about 2.5 billion francs last year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.

The brand generated more than half of Swatch Group’s pretax earnings from watches in 2022, Morgan Stanley said.