I have heard a few times from those in the clothing industry that the high quality copies literally come out of the same factory. Bought some “fake” Billabong boardshorts in Thailand a few years ago. Exactly the same finish, labelling and retail tags showing the price in $A and $NZ to those genuine products in the shops back in Oz. Easy to believe that Billabong orders 100K and the Chinese factory makes an extra few which go out the back door...
I travel to China and Vietnam regularly and the horror stories we see on the web is just scratching the surface. There are fakes and there are fakes. In China you can buy 'high end' fakes running to thousands of dollars in 18k gold. Think Breguet, Piaget, Blancpain, etc. Movements are bastardised with replacements which you can't see unless you strip the movement down.
In Hanoi it gets even more interesting. Prices are very high. US$10,000 for a Rolex Cosmograph. 722 movement with Rolex engravings filled in gold like the real deal. The serial numbers are running and same as the real models. How they do it no one is saying. The older Rolex tool watches are the best😀. 3135 movements again bastardised with SA3135 and SH3135 parts.
These sellers are not easily accessible. There are no shop fronts. To get to one of these sellers wear an expensive or hard to find watch. Trust me these people know their watches. In the case of China I was wearing a Reverso Tribute and this girl approached me to see if I was interested. In Vietnam my vintage Big Blue and 1000m did the trick. These sellers look for people whom are into watches.
Funny thing is the sellers are honest, if you can call them that, upfront they tell you the watches are franken and recommend you return the watches to them if there are service issues. The majority of buyers are from the USA. flippers I would think.
If you are not interested, which I was not, leave asap as they can become nasty. 30 years of watch appreciation and I have never been so afraid in my life watch wise.
Every watch I buy, if preowned, goes to the manufacturer for a service. No ifs or buts. 15% down and the rest after the watch is back after a clean bill of health.
Dangerous times we live in.
Stay well brothers and sisters.
Take the 8800 or 8900 movement for example. I know Omega boutiques don’t authenticate watches but if I brought a modern Omega with one of these movements and had them do a 6 point inspection including pressure testing, wouldn’t that also be a good way to tell if it’s fake? I assume the fake movements that are dressed up like modern movements wouldn’t have the same water resistance or accuracy specifications. Just throwing it out there as a possible way to authenticate if you have any doubts...
They don't - there are no wheels. It's just a cover plate made to look like the real movement.
I’m not misleading anyone. If the jewels don’t have pivots in them, it’s a sign of a fake watch.
What's to keep the fakers from just using a real serial number?
Here's a fake Planet Ocean Big Blue. Ceramic case and all... Not mine of course, got the pic from a replica website.
