An obvious fake

An obvious fake "Maurice Lacroix" watch.

  

Fake "Baby-G"

Fake G-Shock / Baby-G

  

Reverse Psychology

 

Here's an interesting thought.

 I have a friend you see, who is quite well off. How well off? Well, he has quite a few property, drive an expensive car and has a big house. Generally, he is amonge top score ranking in the game of life. He's rich, basically.

 He can afford expensive watches, but doesn't buy them. Instead, he goes out to scout night markets, usually on business trips, and buys most of the stuff we watch collectors would call crap..

 So, he's not really a watch guy.

 Here's the funny thing; on a recent trip to Indonesia, he bought a watch from some street peddler that he liked; it is a skeleton watch. The fact that it has the name "Rolex" on it doesn't matter, he's not interested. It's the general shape and that it's a skeleton that led him to buy it.

 Now, when I'm with him a couple of times with friends, they would look at his hand and say, "wow nice watch".

 And then he would say, "Thanks, I found from a street peddler for RM90".

 And then friends would say, "Nah, you're pulling our legs. It must be expensive."

 Haha. They don't believe it's a fake. I don't think they ever do believe it. Even though Rolex doesn't make skeleton watches (as I understand it).

Fake "Rolex" - This Time : A Skeleton

What's up? Another day, another watch.

  This one is from my same friend who collects all the odd watches from night markets and other questionable places. This time, he got this from a trip to Indonesia. Off of some guy who sells watches on the street. Behold, a "Rolex" skeleton. I don't even know "Rolex" makes skeleton watches. I assume they don't, but I am not an expert in Rolex. Also, I am not an expert in fakes, but this one just screams FAKE. Well for one thing, the date ring doesn't even move.

 It is an automatic though. The rotor at the back doesn't spin very freely. Like it is resting on sandpaper. Fortunately, it has a manual wind option.

 The bracelet is also funny. The pieces that you could take out aren't many, so when you resize them to the maximum available to take out, it still makes a very large bracelet, which just barely fits my friend.

Therefore, I should show it all in pictures!

PierCarlo d' Alessio - A Really, Really, Bad Fake

Yeah this one is a really bad fake. I thought even the brand was some random name but I searched it on the internet and apparently it is a real brand.

 How bad is this fake? Firstly it is quartz, and the smaller dial hand in there is totally fake. It's printed on the dial. LOL!

And the back, there's nothing at all, just a flat piece of metal disc.


Watch belongs to friend who likes to scout cheap night market.

Fake Rolex Ladies Datejust

This is a fake women's Rolex. Very low quality build. This is a watch that is left behind by my wife's grandparents.

As you can see, everything about it is low quality, the crystal is foggy and not sapphire, the case is not well polished. And one of the "diamonds" near the crown is missing.

I am not condoning fakes, as you can see by above I point out just how bad it is. But in my neck of woods back then, these fakes are everywhere and authorities don't give a damn about it. Almost everyone I know had grandparents or parents who had one at some point.

So I decided some watch customizing...

I found a fake automatic Rolux™ at my parent's storeroom, which was just sitting there probably waiting to be thrown out. It once belonged to my grandfather. So I took it, shook it, and wow, it still ticks. So I took it and thought about customizing the watch.

What made me interested to customize it is because it doesn't look like the usual Rolux™ fakes, in fact it doesn't look like any Rolux™ that I know of. And also, aside from that, it is a see-through transparent skeleton watch. It isn't all see-thru though, it's mostly just fake stuff on the dial like it is see-through, but good enough.

So I thought, why not customize it? Just paint or stick something over the logo and the words "co-axial escapemint", and I would have a decent looking watch. Decent, maybe from 25 feet away. 

Taking it apart was fairly easy, but when I figured out how to take out the stem, I was hooked. I began taking apart more and more, polishing the case and crystal, and put it back together. By then it look clean. But when I put it back together I dropped the whole thing (clumsy me) and bent the minute hand. OK, fine - just bend it back to shape, since it's crashing with the seconds hand. 

By this time I dropped it again and bent the second hand AND the crown stem. GRRRR.

So bending the hands back to shape, and putting it together, with a wonky crown stem that doesn't turn well, I pressed too hard on the crystal and cracked it.

This was all after midnight of course, when I start doing things like this.

The next day I took it to a watch repair shop, and asked if it could be repaired. The watch guy said, yes, in fact he could do it immediately, I was surprised. Well I didn't leave it with him and thought about asking other places, but I didn't have time and brought it home.

Back home, sitting at my desk, holding it in my hand, it managed to slip while I was pulling out the crown and then I dropped it. AGAIN. And this time I broke the stem.

....and here is the result:

Broken crown and crack at 3 o'clock position

So I guess that the lesson is if you're going to do something, use the proper tools, use the proper space, do it in the morning when your mind is fresh and hands are steady, and don't rush it.

But the loss isn't that bad, after all it is a bad fake, and at least I learnt how to take apart a watch. It still ticks, but can't set it obviously with a broken crown.

Fake Tissot PRC200

This "Tissot Prc200" is most definitely a fake. It belongs to my sister-in-law, who got it off a night market for cheap. I am hardly an expert on telling between fake and authentic watches, but this one I can really tell it's fake easily. The overall low quality of the metal (it is very light and flimsy) and the metal bracelet is the cheaper folded type. Plus it is bought at a night market, without box, warranty card, or documentation, that is real warning sign.

Here're the pictures: