Fakes of homages of originals - are they real?
Browsing some watches on AliExpress made me come across some watch stores that sold predominantly (if not exclusively) fakes.
How did I know? Most of the watches they sold were under 30 Euros, and there were Tissot, Breitling, Grand Seiko etc. One supposed Grand Seiko had 68,000 beat rate and "automatic" on the dial, but listed under specs a quartz movement. No customers buying one of these would seriously believe they are real, and one satisfied customer commented "great copy of GS" - so they were in on it.
However, that also means that there is a firm ceiling of what they can charge for these watches. What if they sold fakes of, say, Pagani Design instead? If you sell a Pagani at 70% of what the official store charges, then people may think you sell a real Pagani at a bargain price, when it may be just another fake. Thus, potentially there might be a better profit margin in faking the homages than faking the originals.
So, I am asking you lot: has it ever happened to you that you bought an homage on AliExpress (or elsewhere) and you deeply suspected that the watch you received was just a fake of an homage?
UK-based German expat. Likes cheap watches. Not bothered about brands.
A fake of a homage?
Nada, I assume any watch on Ali is absolutely a replica or best homage. Their market caters to private label brands (glorified drop shippers) and you absolutely get what you pay for. Would never buy or consider anything from them or Wish.
Nada, I assume any watch on Ali is absolutely a replica or best homage. Their market caters to private label brands (glorified drop shippers) and you absolutely get what you pay for. Would never buy or consider anything from them or Wish.
Well, the Ali watches we get to hear about in youtube videos are almost all homages, in fact almost all homages of Rolexes, Omegas and Seikos.
The vast majority of watches on Ali are originals, and the vast majority of those is cheap crap, from a Western POV. I say the latter, because Western fashion and Eastern fashion can be poles apart, and what is cheap depends on your funds.
Often, the Ali homages are at the higher end of the quality spectrum on Ali, because that's what most of their (more affluent) Western customers are looking for. I'm looking for good quality watches at a good price, homage or not - I'm not too fussed. [Sometimes I'm just looking for a fun watch, and risk it for a biscuit.] Fakes bother me primarily because if the watch is fake then so are its specs, and I cannot have any trust what I'm getting.
So, I have started getting a bit cautious of Ali shops with random names, e.g. just a sequence of digits. These pop up and close on a whim.