Here is a DON bezel in perfect condition. I thought it was good until I saw the dot above the 1 of "140" It looks closer to the 1 than on every other example I've compared it to. Here it is:



Trusted DON from Moonwatch Only:



Is this the best reproduction we've seen yet?

 

The "7" in 70 is goofy too.

 

Now you’ve done it.

Here are some that have been through my hands, so we all can compare together.


I do see subtle differences that would make me question OP’s bezel, but @djmusicman : please post a higher resolution photo if you can.

 

It's not mine, it was listed for sale by a dealer called Horare in Paris here is the only other photo in his advert.

 

Now we need to make sure that we are getting DONDOF bezels

 

Take a look at the shades of these numbers

And then, yours:


It’s a damn good reproduction, if it is one.

 

Damn... I don't know. Interested in what others have to say about this. So many details look right, but there are several very confusing things about it. 4000 euros seems pretty steep even if it is legit, though... but I guess perfection would be expected to come with a cost.

 

If fake it is very good. The dot over 200 looks like it touches the top edge of the 2 unlike the other examples shown. How disheartening that doing the right thing by alerting honest people about a potential fake has the side effect of helping the fakers.

 

Maybe but all a faker has to do is to copy the original precisely, that's still the case. The dots are slightly misaligned between 200 and 130, it's easiest to spot on the 150 and 140.

 

Every single picture of a DON which has seen some wear and tear has the dot over the 4 for the 140 mark.
I'm convinced that it's a fake.

 

They have been around for nearly a year now. the only problem in outing them on a public Forum is the chance, that the next batch will have these quirks fixed. we are approaching high value territory and it looks like we go the Rolex way in getting high grade reproductions . these are easy to design and print. take care out there ! kind regards. achim

 

If these are easy to design and print, why aren't they perfect? I don't know a lot about bezel printing, but I assume one would start with a genuine bezel and take a high-resolution digital image of it. Things could change as one manipulated the photo to get it the right size and such, but we wouldn't see the dot over 4 in 140 migrate over to the 1.

 

Pretty scary if reproductions DONs are out there. And here I was thinking the vintage Speedmaster market was niche enough to not have to worry about aftermarket parts.

 

So ghost bezels FTW?

 

Could be that they didn't use a perfect one to build from in the first place and instead had to do some manipulation before printing to clean it up. This could explain why some details are pretty much perfect and others aren't - if they had to recreate the dot over 140 because there was a ding on their original that could explain it.

This may not be a popular opinion, but my biggest issue with this is what they are charging, not that it's being replicated. At this point it seems to be made to defraud, which is not ok. I don't really see a lot of difference with having an almost perfect aftermarket bezel insert like this available, and having a bakelite bezel getting the Aldo treatment. But also I am saying this from the perspective of not having any watches that a DON would go on and not having to consider how this could gut the market for original DON bezels - which for a lot of people is a not inconsiderable amount of value.

 

Hmm. Makes me wonder now if I should invest in a nice DON for my 68 transitional. If they are being reproduced in a matter such as this and are off just a little...it’s only time before they nail it and the value of the DON takes a dive.

 

@1972Steve You just beat me to the question. I'm thinking the same thing. What happens to the value of genuine DONs when we get the next generation of fakes coming on the market with almost perfect fonts and alignment, ghosting and carefully placed hand made knocks and scratches?? There will probably come a time when we won't be able to verify whether a DON is genuine without expensive testing of the metal or paint and at that point why even bother stressing about the bezel!

 

Depending on the cost of manufacturing... if you can unload a few at 4K you should be able to recoup your cost to produce in no time.

 

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Precisely this is the fake one that is reported. You can also notice from the underside where you see the back of the insert bulging over the modern bezel ring.

 

considering the guy literally only sells bezels in NOS condition, and the comments above about inconsistencies, I'd say it's pretty clearly a fake.