I believe many people are familiar with fake watches. At present, the market is full of fake watches produced by even a small factory, and the market is also distributed with a 1:1 complete industrial chain from rough manufacturing to fine imitation, especially the real movement with fake watch case, which makes it difficult to distinguish.
How fake watches are made?
Not long ago, a friend suffered a big loss on the second-hand Hublot Big Bang Unico sapphire crystal watch. The watch he bought is with a sapphire case which was made by other factory instead of the original watch manufacturer.
Sapphire is actually sapphire crystal, a synthetic material that began to appear in the field of watches in the 1970s.
In recent years, due to the permeability of the material itself, it has become an upstart in the watch case industry. Hublot, RICHARD MILLE, Blancpain, Parmigiani Fleurier, Jacob & Co., Bell & Ross and other brands have successively launched sapphire case models, and their stunning visual effects have made them very popular.
In that case, the market is getting hot and profitable, so fake watches appear.
The fake Hublot watch bought by my friend is difficult to distinguish. It is not the common method of fake movement + fake case, but take the HUB 1242 UNICO automatic winding movement from the real Hublot Big Bang chronograph watch. And then assemble it into a fake sapphire case.
Since then, a second-hand Hublot Big Bang Unico sapphire crystal watch came into being.
What about the cost of fake watch?
It is reported that a set of sapphire case produced by a factory contains 6 parts, and the total price is only 3,000 dollars, which is far lower than the market price of the regular second-hand full set price.
In fact, the fake watch with real movement and fake case on the market has gradually become a scale. Hublot’s after-sales service also admitted that they are now paying special attention to every sapphire crystal watch case. Once they find that the case is not made by the brand, they will immediately refuse to service.
How to spot fake watches.
Before you even think about buying a luxury watch, you need to do ample research on the brand and the models you’re interested in buying.
And There are plenty of measures you can take though. To make sure your heirloom doesn’t turn out to be a horological mistake.
- Movement
Movements are where, with a little sleuthing and knowledge, you can definitively identify a fake or replica timepiece. No matter how good a counterfeit watch looks, it’s not going to have better movement than the real thing.
Movements are exceedingly complicated components that are very expensive to design, develop and produce. So complex and costly, that many top watch brands rely on third party specialist manufacturers for their movements.
Movements should obviously have everything in the right place, and be engraved with logos/badges and/or serial numbers in the appropriate locations. So consult with a watch expert and have him or her examine the watch and its internal mechanisms.
2. Packagings
Except for the fake watch itself, there is also an approach of purchasing watch boxes and forging guarantee cards, so as to artificially make a single watch into a complete set. The reason for this approach is largely due to the huge price difference between some popular styles in the second-hand market and the full set, which can reach nearly 15,000 dollars.
A full set of high imitation brand papers, plus watch boxes and other accessories, which can be done at 300 dollars, and consumers’ attention is mostly on the watch, and the ability to verify and distinguish the accessories is relatively weak.
- Weight
Counterfeit watches are usually made with cheaper materials and are lighter than the original.
Genuine timepieces are generally made from more solid materials, typically high quality stainless steel or precious metals, which weigh more than the inferior metals and components used to construct a fake or counterfeit watch. Watchmakers will often weigh a suspected fake on an electronic scale to confirm its authenticity.
4. Dials
The logo and printing or engraving are also a point you can distinguish a fake watch.
The detail on the dial including the size of the logo, typography and wording on the dial of a fake is often not perfect, though fakers are getting better at this – to the extent that some experts have been fooled. These detailed elements of a watch are very difficult to reproduce faithfully, and could indicate you are dealing with a fake.
- Workmanship
The material, finishing, and color of counterfeit watches will sometimes be slightly off. Gold watches should also be hallmarked.
Counterfeiters struggle to match this quality and craftsmanship as they invariably are working in very different conditions, with inferior tools, materials and resources.
On fakes this often results in ill fitting bracelet end links, where they interface with the case lugs, as well as metal cases and bracelets with rough edges and finishes. Bracelets on a genuine timepiece will also often have stamps inside the folding clasp mechanism. Another giveaway are bezels that do not rotate smoothly, or fail to rotate at all – all common features of a fake watch.