Interesting stuff on fake Omegas

ke02eww

Sorry about the vagueness of this post, but watches arn't my "thing" - where's Dell when you need him - perhaps we could have a "Dell Signal" made like in Gotham!..

Anyway, saw this Omega on ebay...bid low, got run over, been watching....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270162191896&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=017

the comments on the watch and it's authenticity read like a blog-fest....though it borders on abuse of the English language )

then saw this attached review on how to spot fakes...
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Spot-a-Fake-Vintage-Omega-Seamaster-300_W0QQugidZ10000000000958528

thoughts anyone?..

are these good tips?
are the allegations on the ebay re: O & A plausible?..

Dell...where are you?..:s

Higgins

Hello,

it is not Dell, I have not heard from him since he left here, but I am pretty certain, that he's still following the forum here, kind regards.

I would like to respond to your question on how to seperate fakes, but I am afraid, I am not able to give you a general reply.

The ebay tutorial sounds very funny to me as the times of incorrect fonts and spellings are long gone and only the most stupid fakers are offering items with those obvious mistakes.

Additionally the tutorial leaves people with the impression, that if the fonds and spellings are correct, it MUST be a real watch, this is not the case.

Unfortunately, there is no thing like THE detail, which seperates fakes from real watches, as if this would exist, all the fakers would immediately immitate this detail right away.

The only thing, that prevents you from fakes is:

! Having the item for sale in hands and have experience, how the real deal looks like. If you don't know this, consult an expert!
Don't take any second-hand advise or opinions, they are all myths from people with less knowledge.

Another aspect:
I have heard from so many people, having been cheated by pics of real watches and then having received cheap fakes, so, the most promising pics are worthless, if the seller sends you a different item.
By the way, many of the webpages for fake watches contain pics of the original, what you receive later is a different thing.

There are many more sub-variants for faking things like restored or reproduced dials, so-called marriages with the real dial glued on a non-original movement etc.

So, I strongly recommend everyone, who has no experience with the original watch not to hear on anything, which identifies a fake watch from the real one, this does not exist!

The watch is only as good as the person, who's selling it.

The only easy and obvious thing, you can be certain of is a jumping second hand in a mechanical watch.

Donald Grant

I agree with a lot of what Markus said above. I think the single most valid point he made is that when you buy a watch, you are buying the seller. With new watches that is very easy, just buy from an authorized dealer. With older vintage watches, you have to find a dealer with a good reputation for honesty and a square deal. But I'll say it again as I've said before, nothing beats an educated consumer. Which means educating your self first.

Asp9mm

The watch in question looks very much like a genuine Military Seamaster. His description however, leaves alot to be desired The ironic thing is, if Bond had been a RN diver in the late sixties, he would have been issued one of these or a Military Rolex sub. I know which one I'd prefer :v

Billythekid

The turorial is a very good one - and funny enough one that was written by a friend on a military watch collecting form. The points he brings up and the things he describes to look for are the most common things to look for - and the most common things found on these fakes (mostly on Ebay - but even the Auction houses have sold fakes ; the Omega they sold Omega themselves bought. Many collectors believe they realized their mistake and bought the watch to cover themselves). While there are fakes which are getting better and correcting many of these mistakes - most still have one or two of the details completely wrong (as Martin points out).

Here is another similar tutorial on how to spot fakes:

http://www.scubawatch.org/hallofshame.html

I've been collecting military watches for over 6 years now and both these reviews and the authors are right on in regard to the fakes you'll find (though those making the fakes will always be evolving).

If anyone is interested - i have a small webpage with some reviews of military watches (a portion of my watch collection). No review on fakes though - but the Glycine Airman review has a link to a fellow collectors site with a tutorial on how to spot the Airman fakes being made lately

Here's the link:

http://www.freewebs.com/billyschorr/index.htm

Care out there - as vintage watches (and vintage military watches in particular) become more and more collectable i'm sure more and more fakes will come on the market.

Kind Regards,

Billy

Billythekid

Asp9mm wrote:

The watch in question looks very much like a genuine Military Seamaster. His description however, leaves alot to be desired The ironic thing is, if Bond had been a RN diver in the late sixties, he would have been issued one of these or a Military Rolex sub. I know which one I'd prefer :v

The Rolex and Omega were not being issued during the same period - being issued either one would have depended upon which year the watch was issued. The Rolex is certainly a much more desirable watch in collecting circles = the Rolex will sell for tens of thousands of dollars (the last real one i spotted for sale was being sold for nearly $30K). The Omega on the other hand can be found for a fraction of that sum - just over a tenth really (somewhere around $3,500 would certainly be a good ballpark figure).

Hope this is of interest and Kind Regards,

Billy

Higgins

Billythekid wrote:

The turorial is a very good one .....
The points he brings up and the things he describes to look for are the most common things to look for - and the most common things found on these fakes (mostly on Ebay....)

If you are talking about old military watches being faked in Vietnam or the old Japan, you may be correct.

But it will definetly be not enough to spot a fake of a current model.

Asp9mm

Billythekid wrote:

The Rolex and Omega were not being issued during the same period - being issued either one would have depended upon which year the watch was issued. The Rolex is certainly a much more desirable watch in collecting circles = the Rolex will sell for tens of thousands of dollars (the last real one i spotted for sale was being sold for nearly $30K). The Omega on the other hand can be found for a fraction of that sum - just over a tenth really (somewhere around $3,500 would certainly be a good ballpark figure).

Hope this is of interest and Kind Regards,

Billy

Yep I know, my dad was in the RN when they were issuing Subbies, then they introduced the Omega after a couple of years. The Subs were still issued at the same time but if they were lost you would be brought up on gross misconduct charges (people used to sell them, especially bootnecks - RM's), therefore most people went for the Omega option. When I joined up in 92, I had a crappy CWC but luckily inherited my dads Subby and my uncles too which was unworn {[] This is what set me off on collecting Rolex Subs and led to Bond stuff too.