Internet Horology Club 185
Fakes (some are nice)

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9886009961/m/2151053012

September 29, 2006, 18:34
Samie L. Smith
Fakes (some are nice)
Here is a fake Patek i bought this one is nice a good finish on the dial and case,,this thing is sharp on my wrist ,these are much better than what i have saw in the past this one is a great timekeeper.


September 29, 2006, 18:35
Samie L. Smith
2


September 29, 2006, 18:36
Samie L. Smith
3


September 29, 2006, 19:09
Robert V. Jones
Sharp Watch That is the best kind to wear daily no worrys if you damage it. SHould have bought 2 one for my birthday you missed.


tymekeeper005
September 29, 2006, 19:26
Peter S. Balkan
My daughter just came back to the States after living in Beijing for 4 years. I made at least one trip a year there and became familiar with the best of the fake-watch sellers. As soon as they saw me, they'd pull out their aluminum cases that they kept UNDER the showcases where the cheapo fakes were. They even got me some "special-order" things.

I'm not a wristwatch collector, but I bought quite a few fakes, especially when they looked well-made and exotic. One of the most exotic was this Patek.

It is fully auto-mechanical and has two time zones (one train, I believe). The two seconds registers are interesting. They are each 30 seconds and one runs down and then the other one starts. Dunno why that's good but it's sure neat!

I don't know if there was EVER a real Patek like this but.... it probably cost me about $25.00.


September 29, 2006, 20:10
Robert V. Jones
Nice looking Peter Now you guys have me wanting a good looking fake like those. Only thing I would feel comfortable wearing. Wonder where I can find a good looking one. Roll Eyes


tymekeeper005
September 29, 2006, 21:29
Samie L. Smith
Robert when is your next brithday someone said it was 2010 .. Big Grin

Peter i like your watch that is sharp.
September 29, 2006, 22:02
Robert V. Jones
Samie I have several birthdays a year when ever I see something I like I use that excuse everytime. Wink


tymekeeper005
September 29, 2006, 22:20
Peter S. Balkan
I hate to say it but that wasn't the fanciest or the gaudiest. I posted that one because it had class! Wink

For gaudy.... try this.....


September 29, 2006, 22:26
Robert V. Jones
Fancier but still a sharp watch I do not think it is gaudy. How many do you have. Frown I got to find one now


tymekeeper005
September 29, 2006, 22:50
Peter S. Balkan
Errr.... quite a few. (Email me.)

Some are cheapies but some are very close to genuine.

I bought a high-grade Rolex Daytona there. I wore it to the Amarillo Regional and was having coffee with a guy who was retired as a watchmaker for a national jewelry chain. He could NOT tell that it was fake from external cosmetics.

There are a lot of them that are simply gorgeous but do not have proper function. For instance, a Rolex chronograph, like the Daytona, might have the right buttons but they will control day/date rather than the stopwatch function.

Some... are pure fantasies. In Vietnam, there is a cottage industry in old wind-up watches with new Rolex and Patek designs that never existed. They look very antique. They'll buy up old low-jewel wristwatches, service them and put in one of the new-old dials.

My "good" Rolex and a very nice Movado are my best because they look so genuine. One tip... if you are buying a fake Rolex, go with stainless steel. The gold-filling on the fakes wears off quickly and looks awful.

If you do a google on "Rolex Relicas" you will find dozens of US outlets for some very, very good ones. I don't know how they get away with it but.... that's Rolex's problem.

I just chose the gaudiest and most outrageous watches I could find.... at $12-$25, I was just having fun.

In the "dirt-market" of Beijing (one of the world's biggest), I bought an Omega with crystals (back & front) that formed a ball. The seller wanted several hundred dollars for it and kept telling me, in Chinese, that it was genuine. But.... I kept telling him "incabloc, incabloc," because the balance jewel was obviously modern. He pretended he didn't understand but when I began to walk off, he sold it to me for under $2.00.

My daughter speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese and some very wicked Beijing street-slang. Before I learned my way around, she was a help. In fact, one day she called a watch seller for me and when I went down there, the woman was certain that I had a Chinese girlfriend! Wink
September 30, 2006, 10:56
Michael Dias
Peter, Very nice indeed. I like the first Patek you posted. Very classy with the stacked sides, and the second bits look like asian fans. Sure would like one of those in my collection!
September 30, 2006, 13:43
Peter S. Balkan
I'd like to make one thing clear. Both the watches that I posted, I consider to be... fantasy watches! I have checked the websites of the exotic watchmakers and I've never found "real" watches that resemble these.

On my last trip to Beijing, I went alone. My daughter worked days, so I just "hung-out" in Beijing. I know a little (horrid) Mandarin and decided to stick a city-map in my pocket and wander through the neighborhoods, trying to get lost and then find my way. The bus is 12 cents, the subway is 36 cents and taxis are often around $1.00. As a matter of pride, I tried to take buses. If I should get into really bad trouble, my daughter lived in a Hu-tong (alley courtyard home) near the very famous Drum Tower or "Goo-low" (ph.). I could always "bail" by getting into a taxi-cab and by saying "Goo-low."

With all this time, I often visited the watch-sellers in the embassy district, "Sanlitoon" (ph) and got to know them.

My point is that fake watches are, after all, illegal. I always thought of mine as curiosities and fantasies rather than "fake" copies. I can't understand how so many web-sites can sell virtually undetectable Rolex-copies.

I may have "stretched the envelope" by buying these watches with real logos but they are not and will never be actual copies of genuine watches.

As an example... I have a "Rolex" that has 3 sets of sub-hands, none of which are functional. The FACE of the watch says "Officially Sertified!" (sic.) I don't think that even Rolex would call that a copy!
September 30, 2006, 14:52
Frank Kusumoto
I look at these watches and I see the $4-$8 wholesale priced movements inside them. Then I roll my eyes. There are some watches that have some interesting adaptations but that's usually the first thing to break on them. These fake Patek's are good examples. They do look better than they did five or ten years ago but they really aren't much better IMHO. It is interesting to see the Chinese manufacturing ramping up but I'm seeing the stuff I'm interested in (quality and durable innovation) mostly in the white and gray markets, not in the black market.

Frank "407"
September 30, 2006, 15:39
Tom McIntyre
If you want to pay $500 for a fake Patek or Rolex in Singapore or China you can buy a watch that is the equal of the real watch. A perfect copy that can only be detected by checking the reference numbers with the maker.

However, these watches are still counterfeits and have exactly the same impact as counterfeit currency. They devalue the real item. As such they attack the livelihood of the owners of the brands.

That is why it is illegal to sell them (even in China). It is not illegal to own them in this country but they are certainly worse than any of the marriages or "Frankenwatches" that so many of us deplore.

Made up "fantasy watches" are less of a moral problem, but they still dilute the brand identity and are, of course, also illegal. I think of these as being similar to the plastic dials that Roy had made up that still upset so many people.