Reproduction DON bezel

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We all need to come to grips with the reality that there ARE perfect fakes out there...maybe on some of our watches...maybe lightly aged by the maker. Focusing only on the tiny differences we find is helpful, but it's naive to assume perfect/near perfect fakes have not been circulating for months or years. Sorry. There's also no Easter Bunny.
 
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We all need to come to grips with the reality that there ARE perfect fakes out there...maybe on some of our watches...maybe lightly aged by the maker. Focusing only on the tiny differences we find is helpful, but it's naive to assume perfect/near perfect fakes have not been circulating for months or years. Sorry. There's also no Easter Bunny.

So what is your conclusion?

Should we ignore the tiny differences and should we stop paying silly money for parts like bezels? So if we (as potential buyers) stopped to care about these details would the prices of these watches come down?
 
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it's naive to assume perfect/near perfect fakes have not been circulating for months or years.

My attitude is, if the level and quality of the fakes rises to the level where experts can’t tell the difference, then it doesn’t really matter. Further, what could be done about it at that point?
 
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We all need to come to grips with the reality that there ARE perfect fakes out there...maybe on some of our watches...maybe lightly aged by the maker. Focusing only on the tiny differences we find is helpful, but it's naive to assume perfect/near perfect fakes have not been circulating for months or years. Sorry. There's also no Easter Bunny.

My attitude is, if the level and quality of the fakes rises to the level where experts can’t tell the difference, then it doesn’t really matter. Further, what could be done about it at that point?

One cannot expect that, once the price asked for items which can be very easily manufactured, like inserts, rises significantly, perfect reproductions are not made and circulated as originals.
Many, many years ago, my instructor at BHI told me that at the end of the day the real value that you can attach to a timepiece is simply given by the work necessary to make it. In this respect I always advice my customers that one should be quite safe by collecting répétition minutes. 😉
 
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what is the opinion for this reproduction bezel?


agree this is a clear repro
 
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Dot markers in wrong places… same as one I shared here last week.
 
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Would love to hear opinions on these. I doubt a perfect DON will sell for 5k anymore... Remember those days? 🥰

Pretty glad I got my 5k perfect DON for free now (switcherooed it a few years ago)..... But these Lewis watch co ones look good to me. A few people complained that I was pointing out the errors in the reprodutions and helping the counterfeiters, but some of those inserts set out to decieve people. Most looked like crap anyway.

This one (only looked at the DON so far) offers a good solution to people with damaged original inserts to improve the look of their vintage watches and is engraved LWC so won't be used to fool anyone. 6x the resitance of standard grade anodised alumimium, very cool 😀.
 
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....and is engraved LWC so won't be used to fool anyone....

I like it in theory but its only on the back, what reseller will actually take it out of the bezel to check before listing it on ebay? I really wish they would do something subtle to ID from the front as well. Back in the 1980's when pocket watches were still going strong there was a guy making really good reproductions of early Montgomery Dials. He changed the color of one single minute marker dot from red to blue to make his product instantly recognizable from the original. That is integrity and watching out for the hobby as a whole, IMO.
 
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Found this reply on comments under Lewis’s Instagram post.

 
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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.

Agree
 
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Hi all
I tried to get evidence if this is a genuine one... It still looks to good to me... but i did not find a tell yet... maybe you can help:

 
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Hi all
I tried to get evidence if this is a genuine one... It still looks to good to me... but i did not find a tell yet... maybe you can help:

A bit blurry image but the bezel to me looks fine.
 
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A bit blurry image but the bezel to me looks fine.
thanks for your help...
i haven't a hight reso picture at hand... i triy this evening....
 
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my cellphone camera is not able to make better makro photos... i tried with a lens...