Have you see a fake watch in the wild?

Is there anyone who hasn't seen a Romex at this point?

Tell me about it..

There's harm being done mate. Some organized criminals and terrorist get their money from making/selling fake watches and luxury products ect..

Yeah. At a group job interview there was a nice fella who said he emigrated from India a few years ago. On his wrist was what can only be described as a dark dialled shoddily PVD coated Daniel Wellington with a Rolex crown at 12 o clock and 'RoLeX' written above the pinion. I asked him whether he realised it was fake and he vehemently disagreed claiming it's legitimacy. A child could tell that it wasn't a 10 grand watch and yet he was trying to convince me. Unrelated, that was the single worst interview Ive ever had. 

I've got a friend with a rose gold Daytona. It's real but she tells people it's fake. 

Nice approach!

No one notices or cares about my watch :)

In addition to seeing them on a trip to NY being sold on the street once or twice, I was visiting my 85 year old Dad a while back and found what appeared to be a gold Rolex Yacht-Master in his drawer while looking for hearing aid batteries. It looked odd but I was shocked to say the least and ran into the living room to ask my Dad about it. Took a while (his hearing aid batteries were dead) BUT he told me it was a fake. On his grand tour through Asia with his buddies post retirement (pensions are great), they all thought it would be funny to buy fake Rolexes in Thailand. 

Sorry for the bad pic. I put in on the end table and quickly took this to run out and show my dad what I was asking him about. After learning the provenance, there was obviously no need to take a better pic.

The only people I’ve come across that care about what watch I’m wearing are the people at the mall kiosk selling jewelry cleaner 😂

The contractor building the enormous house beside us has a real Rolex but wears a fake copy of the same model while on job sites.  Not the approach that I would take, but it’s his money.

I don't run into these cool people. 

So does he have a secret mark to tell them apart? 

Yes, I just bought a role of 12/2 with a ground wire.😂

Good question.  I don’t know, but suspect that the real one goes straight in and out of its factory box and doesn’t get left lying around next to the fake.  By now, the fake probably has multiple scratches as well.

I was on vacation in Mexico and noticed our waiter had what appeared to be a Casio Mudmaster GWG-1000.  Not a Rolex, but it would be about $600.  I said “cool, I have one of those!” He became real uncomfortable and evasive, trying to keep it out of sight.  Then I realized it was probably one of the many fakes out there, that he may not have had a load of money to dump on a watch, and it would likely only embarrass him for me to pursue the subject.  

Love it. If I was in Thailand with my buddies and they all wanted to buy a fake Rolex I’m in. 
Worth it for the story, and all you want in a watch is to look at it and have it bring you joy - and a memory of good times and good friends would do that!

The OP is right though. It's a well known fact counterfeit goods in many places are funding criminal organizations. It's no different than buying illegal drugs perse.

That said, I do agree one should not judge a person for wearing a fake straight away. Most people I'm sure are not aware and do not intend to harm others when they buy a fake. It's simply out of mere curiosity, ignorance or plain "I don't want to spend so much on the real thing".

It also depends who you buy a fake from. If you're buying it say from an AliExpress seller that accepts legitimate payment methods like CC or PayPal (i.e. you can request a refund and be protected as a buyer), then likely you're just engaging with someone partaking in some good old IP theft. But if you buy it off the street or on a public online classifieds where they insist on cash, bank transfers or the such (i.e. no buyer guarantee) then you have no way of knowing who you're funding. I mean if you want to be very cynical, you can't know what people do with their money ever. But illegal goods have a good chance of funding other illegal activities.

As I said, I don't think most people purposely intend to harm others or don't care for that matter. Our society is full of these kinds of things, it's hard to know all the time if you're inadvertently doing more harm than good. It's up to individuals to make their choices as they go.

I did myself once buy a fake moonswatch (on AliExpress) for research purposes. I wanted to compare it to my real one to see if it was really noticeably different in quality. My conclusion is that it was and wasn't. Despite the fact I feel the moonswatch is overpriced, the original is much crisper and looks better overall. They are both still as durable, but one definitely looks nicer. Not to start another moonswatch s#!tstrom here though, please, love it or hate it, there are other threads for that.

For real luxury items, I would sooner buy a homage like Pagani than a fake. Even lesser known brands make solid homages. The main reason being the product is just better and you at least have a real manufacturer to go to if you have an issue. The look is near identical except for the logo. If you're in the "no one else knows any better when they see it" camp, then I think this is the route. If you're insisting on the real logo on a fake product then you may as well admit you want the real attention as well. Again, you do you, I won't judge as long as you're not delusional.

I've seen many fakes in my time but I'm pretty bad at identifying them in the fly.  I don't even know that I could identify a Richard Mille fake period.

I live in Singapore. MAJORITY of Rolex’s here are fake. Its just the Eastern Asian way.

I live in Thailand, so every day.

Yeah, I was trying to say I think you're both right. I just type too much sometimes...

I really haven't. I have seen so many offerings, and I'm sure people have them. That being said, I hardly see any wristwatches these days, and I'm happy to run into people that are wearing an actual watch, and not a fitness tracker or smartwatch, or have bare wrists. 

People wear what they want but for me I feel you are only fooling yourself . What's the point anyway who cares what you wear? Wear the watch for your own enjoyment at the end of the day. Also most people don't know what your wearing and don't care. Only us watch maniacs care but that's fine with me peace.✌️🤪

I don't know how my laptop works, but I have one.  

If IT told me they needed to change the screen fluid, I'd buy it...and, after 30 years of being into watches, I still don't really know (or particularly care) how they work.  😂

Fair point. If I didn’t know what I know on watches there’s no way I’d pay this kind of money for them.

So not specifically on a person, but I hit the pawn shops around me from time to time and I've come across a fake Seiko Presage, Grand Seiko, and just today a Movado. From a distance it's usually passable, but the moment I pick it up, you can tell somethings wrong. I only told one shop it was a fake since they were super cool, and they immediately looked at each other and exclaimed that they knew it. Apparently they had suspected the Grand Seiko was a fake, but the manager had taken it in as real and they had it listed for like 1200 bucks.

A big tell is when you pull out the crown to set the hands, and there's literally zero resistance to turning. Feels like you're not even turning it.

Bad interview... did you tell him it was fake before or after? 😉

Lol.... brilliant 

I just thought of a good "fake busters" experience.  A couple of years ago I had a kid working in a Rolex boutique tell me that a Thunderbird was fake because "there has never been a Datejust with a rotating bezel".  👌

I was gifted a fake Omega Seamaster.  I wear it on occasion.  It keeps decent time.