Watch Me If You Can
I don't know about you, but I get a great deal of spam from companies offering “replica” Rolexes and other high-end watches at a fraction of their cost. I have followed a few of these emails (and a few Google searches) to their conclusions and have found a huge world out there.
It is tempting to go for some of these “deals.” Sites like Ireplica
offer hundreds of watches that look like the real thing for one-quarter to one-tenth of the originals' price. Are any of them worth it? It's difficult to determine from an online survey. There don't seem to be any reliable sites that rate and rank the replicas for their quality. I found a few that purported to do that, but they didn't ring true to me.
However, if you get a Rolex that you think may be fake, here are some ways to determine its authenticity (similar rules apply to other brands), courtesy of Ehow.com:
1. If the second hand is ticking and not sweeping, it's a fake. A Rolex second hand sweeps around in one continuous motion. But beware, as of 2005, the good fakes have caught up to this technology.
2. Look for the small engraved crown at the 6 o’clock mark on the crystal. Most fakes will have some sort of large, obvious version of a crown, but this mark on a real Rolex is almost impossible to spot with the naked eye.
3. Look for the word “Rolex” and the watch's serial number engraved at 6 o'clock under the crystal on the area between the crystal and the dial. While many fake Rolex watches post-2005 have this feature, they’re usually printed, not engraved.
4. Most new Rolex models have an added model number engraved at the end of the watch end-link. This engraving includes the band model and two tiny Rolex crowns. Your good fakes will have something similar, but not all three indicators.
5. It if costs less than $500, be suspicious! If it's in good shape, it can't be so cheap.
Ultimately, any deal on a new luxury timepiece that looks too good to be true probably is.
Comments
This is kind of funny ... i mean does it matter that is a fake? I guess of course it does ... but they both tell time, and if you cant tell the difference easily then who cares!
If your fake Rolex is like mine, it does not tell time... The hands move and would probably be worth the money if we had 40 minute hours and 32 hour days. But alas, we don't so I reckon I was swindled out of $450.00 US and judging from the comments I read, I am not alone. Bruce