A friend of mine recently returned from a business trip to the Middle East, so we had an opportunity to catch up at a bar. A short while into the evening, he asked to look at my watch and was surprised that it was an Omega Seamaster like his. So we swapped to compare them.
But as soon as I held his watch, it just didn’t feel like mine. While I have a passion for watches, I am not a trained professional, yet I knew right away it was a replica. A touch was all that was needed. This replica looked great but it was lighter than mine. The metal was cheap and the back of the watch was thinner. It wasn’t difficult to notice that difference even in a bar at night. I asked my friend if he knew he had a fake; to which he answered “yes” but he wanted to see if I could tell.
Wanting to examine more closely, I observed the hands for about 30 seconds and I noticed that the sweep hand ticks were much more perceptible on the replica.
The real giveaway was the absence of a serial number. All Omega watches have a serial number that is etched by laser on the back of one of the lugs, or on the back of the case. They are typically hard to find, but can be seen by the naked eye. Many people don’t know this, so replica makers don’t tend to bother with it.
It must be noted, however, that the serial number is not always fail safe. Some replica makers do put bogus serial numbers on their watches. For example, fake Rolexes sometimes carry serial numbers. Even when you buy from an online store that looks legitimate, always get your watch appraised by a real dealer or validate the serial number with the watchmaker.
The bottom line is that a fake will never stand up in quality to the real thing. There are people out there for whom it doesn’t matter, but to me it’s an ethical issue. It also happens to be illegal to make replicas in most places. If you really want a fake, don’t spend more than $60 on it because you can bet that the seller is going to be making several hundred percent profit on a sale to you. Even $60 is too much… you’re better off getting a nice Timex or Casio. In the end, a fake has virtually no intrinsic value and the seller got my friend’s hard cash in return.
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