I have recently noticed a number of more or less well done military watches that are marriages of old movements with new casingsand phantasy markings. This is getting more sophisticated all the time and it apears that people are lead by wishful thinking to aquire thes new and unique pieces. ebays hide the bidders name function makes it impossible to warn bidders.: http://cgi.ebay.com/Mens-WWI-F-W-KREIS-Prussian-AIR-TRO...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hi Oliver.

I saw that one too and was equally saddened to see the seller offering an obvious forgery and that gullible people were actually bidding on it. It is possible that some or all of the bidders so far are equally fake and it could be that the seller is using some additional Ebay accounts of his own to shill bid on this forgery to make it look like there is some actual interest in hopes of fooling some uneducated person into really bidding on it.

All that can be done in such cases is to email the Ebay people at: Reporting fraudulent listings on Ebay

I have found that 4 times out of 5 they don't do anything, but sometimes they do especially when you can support your statement such as referring them to an expert website such as this forum.

In cases where the seller is not using those obnoxious Ebay tools to hide bidder information such as this seller is doing in order to further his selling of this forgery, you really need to be careful about personally contacting bidders to warn them off. If you can believe this, that is considered interferance in an auction by Ebay and the crooked seller can actually file a complaint against you with Ebay and get them to cancel your account. The correct way to handle these situations is as I described above, plus reporting them here on the forum so at least those who stop by here will know about them.

Jim

Oliver is correct, there are alot of fake military watches on ebay.

It seems that the fake makers are constantly working to improve their products, especially the source of this Ukrainean made fake. Someone clearly studied the subject. The seller uses all of the right names and catch words to attract attention to these auctions and tempt their victims.

Hopefully the forgers will continue to be as sloppy as this guy in terms of making ones that are relatively obvious to someone who has any knowledge. It will get really scary when they start making ones that look authentic. For example, at this point in time I would estimate that about 99% of all First World War German pilot's badges that have been sold in the past 30 years are fakes and most of these are very difficult for even the best experts to discern even when they have them in their hands to study closely. The forgers of things like those have become truly proficient. As military timepieces become better known, more collected, and as prices rise, the forgers will get better and better. My guess, though, is that there are already a few pretty good forgers of military timepieces out there already. For example, I have seen a few Second World War A-11 aircraft clocks that seem to be coming out of Eastern Europe and Russia that I doubt are authentic.

Hi there,

thanks for having raised the subjet.
We have made a post on our Forum where we report what we consider fakes and that stands in the top of the posts.
It has been visited more than 5000 times.
It would be good to do that also here.
Hopefully that has helped more than one bidder to not have been trapped in a fake watch.
You can surely rely on our help in fighting the fakes in reporting to Ebay also our Forum.
tnks rgds

Enzo

http://germanwatch.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=gene...ay&thread=1122978709

Fake Seiko

And now a fake Seiko from the Ukraine. An ordinary but respectable 7 jewel pocket watch re-made into crap. I could go on and on about what's wrong with this item, but it's best not to educate a bunch of crooks.

Best regards,
Greg

http://cgi.ebay.de/Sehr-seltene-Doxa-TU-Eigentum-der-Fl...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

lovely work not and this guy produces all kinds of different models.... very creative with the crown... that will fool people who think that it can not be a fake because of good craftmanship... check out his other auctions!!

Ive seen these for sale and i always am suspect of any "great" watch for sale in somewhat unlikely countries(for lack of better words). However im interested moreover in the place where one can get the cases. Authentic or not the hinged wire lug case is not easy to find. I more mvmnts than cases these days on the Bay. To get a case like these that would fit some of these mvmnts would not be authentic but an eye catcher anyway (not you everyday diamond encrusted sports looking rolex watch they keep cranking out for the "public" every yr). Has anyone figured out where to get these. ive even seen some of these with display backs. i love these as they show the quality and the workings of these great mvmnts.

These cases are made-up by adding lugs to old pocket watch cases. It is not a good thing to do.