I've bought 2 everyday watches in the past year. A Seiko for me and a Citizen for my wife.
Our good watches were taking a beating in day to day living. My good watch is a Swiss Army diver's watch, my wife's is a Tag Heuer.
How does someone even become an "Independent Expert" on watch authenticity? Specifically Rolex
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Our good watches were taking a beating in day to day living. My good watch is a Swiss Army diver's watch, my wife's is a Tag Heuer.
Which one is the Automatic movement, the watch only begins to tell time when shaken to get it started then it just uses the momentum of movement ?
There are a lot of fake watches that are very high quality, that is hard for inexperienced to tell. That said, I once heard a story of a wealthy man wearing fake Rolex to party and was praised for how nice it is, and he got a kick out of it. His son asked why was he always wearing fake watch, and his reply was, if you are rich, even a fake watch looks real, but if you are broke, even a real watch looks fake.
The easiest way to spot a fake watch isn't to look at the watch, it's to look at the person wearing it.
I have to admit that I did own some replicas at the beginning of my collecting days. I thought it was cool, but it bothered me, and I'm not trying to sound like a born again whatever. I felt dirty and stupid wearing something that I knew was fake, so I took 3 apart, and turned these into Poley by careful application of paint. The Swiss made on the dial was changed to wiss made with same paint. The Triple crown on the crowns were ground down to a smooth surface.
One I had of a AP RO was crushed in a metal working vise. That one was too hard to disguise for what it tried to be.
I learned about myself from those errors. I still have those Poley watches and no, they are not for sale !
One I had of a AP RO was crushed in a metal working vise. That one was too hard to disguise for what it tried to be.
I learned about myself from those errors. I still have those Poley watches and no, they are not for sale !
Skill can be learned. Louis Vuitton is made in China and their craftsmen would gladly switch job to competitors for better pay, and so could the Rolex craftsmen and engineers in Switzerland. They could switch jobs and do consulting work, teaching other guys how to make a Rolex from scratch. It is mass production (although limited to keep its value high), mechanical, and high profit margin, it can be reverse engineered.
The main reason many luxury goods (like Hermes) are in high value is because of the limited supply. When they cannot sell them all they will destroy the remaining inventories instead of flooding the market.
How would someone know if something like this was real or not ?
https://www.bobswatches.com/submari...VtwytBh3tBwCZEAQYAyABEgIkjfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
The one I had said "Automatic movement" or "Oyster perpetual" (I forget) where this one says "Officially Certified."
Do they really say that?
You buy the seller.
Bob's is a legit seller with a solid and established reputation. They're not selling knock-off watches.
Rolex uses Automatic or mechanical movements, they did make a quartz in the early days of quartz, but no longer.
A mechanical watch operates without a battery, or sunlight. The watch needs input from the owner to tell time for the time to be continuously told. The smoothness of the seconds hand is dependant on the how each second is split, the more splits per second, the smoother the hand seems to flow. A 10hz watch looks pretty darn close to a Grand Seiko Spring Drive, the Spring Drive has no interruption of flow, it has no tick. The issue with 10hz watches is that they are not as reliable as a slower beat movement, as you go down in Hz, you go up in robustness and also get a longer power reserve - all things being equal. I am simplifying this - so don't expect this paragraph will suffice to make you an expert.
Automatic watch: tells time by controlling the unwinding of a coiled linear mainspring to show hours , minutes, seconds, day and date (some). This watch type can often be hand wound from the crown to build up the power reserve and then when worn the watch - presuming the wearer has enough arm movement in a 16 hour period - the watch will continue to run after you take it off for 36 - 60 hours depending on what movement is in the watch. Another type of automatic watch movement can only be wound up by forcing the winding rotor to oscillate (spin) by movement of the watch in a gentle movements - like holding the watch in your hand and pretending it's actually a snifter of brandy. For this type, turning the crown of the watch does nothing.
Mechanical winding watch: same time telling principle as above, but all energy stored in the mainspring must be generated by winding the crown of the watch, usually every day - recommended to be done at the same time each day. Swinging this type of watch does nothing to add more power to the mainspring, it winds down without any care about your air drum solo.
Quartz watch: needs a battery or sunlight to function, often 1 discrete tick per second but I have a Heuer 2000 Quartz Chronograph that beats in 0.5 second intervals. The Bulova Precisionist line beats at a pace that makes it look completely smooth, but battery life is only about 1 year.
I hope this helps?
Just don't buy branded fakes ever....rewarding bad behavior.
It does. I like your information!
And yeah, mine used to stay moving for about two days after I took it off lol.
Maybe one sign of it being a fake was it did NOT keep good time...
I like the look of the watch and don't mind that it says Rolex, again I'm not buying one but.. shoot. I'm 40 soon. 40....
At one time Rolex was just a very good watch maker.
One of my professors bought a Rolex in Aden in the 1950s and didn't touch it for 40 years. It eventually stopped and cost him a lot to repair it (because it hadn't been maintained), actually more than he had paid originally. It wasn't unusual or special looking in any way, just a very good watch.
One of my professors bought a Rolex in Aden in the 1950s and didn't touch it for 40 years. It eventually stopped and cost him a lot to repair it (because it hadn't been maintained), actually more than he had paid originally. It wasn't unusual or special looking in any way, just a very good watch.
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I remember people wearing gold digital Armitron watches when I was a little kid. You'd push the button on the side and the display would light up the time in red digital numbers. I remember thinking that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
Actually, there is a YouTube video where someone who owns a Lambo explains ALL the shortcomings and faults of it. If you are tall it is a terrible vehicle for you, and even if you are short, there are a lot of faults with them. Frankly after watching that video, if money were no object, I would not even give one a first look.
JHZR2
Staff member
There are some really good looking automatic fakes. Plenty for sale on 5th Ave and Chinatown in NYC by street vendors. Actual automatic watches, just not Rolex, and obviously not with precious metals.
So you can start with the materials, weight, and the movement design and construction. Then go from there.
So you can start with the materials, weight, and the movement design and construction. Then go from there.
JHZR2
Staff member
Im not a fan of fakes... but I do own a few high end watches, including Rolex. The thing with fakes is, you can get an automatic watch for not much money. Go to any box store and it’s all quartz. Even at any fancy department store. I’m sure someone will come up with an obscure brand and vendor of automatic watches... but it’s not a common thing. At least fakes get you an automatic watch.
When I was in second grade, my father gave me an old automatic timex he had, to help,with learning to tell time. It was the 80s, amd digital watches and calculator watches were the rage. Probably was from the late 60s or early 70s. Can’t find those anymore...
You buy from an AD or someone heavily vetted by the community.
I bought a beautiful fake Rolex for $10 in China. Mechanical movement, beautiful band. It has the tick and it doesn't work very well but how on earth could they sell it for only $10. It's not like it's plastic. Someone had to put all them gears together inside it.
There is a guy on survival channel that wears a Rolex in case he needs to trade something for a car. You never know.
There is a guy on survival channel that wears a Rolex in case he needs to trade something for a car. You never know.
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I remember being in jr high school and the teachers would confiscate any calculator watches the kids were wearing.
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That's the only time I'd wear a watch again too, it definitely completes the dressed up look. Back when I had to dress up for work, I always wore a watch. Of course that was also before cellphones became chic. I always wore (and still have) my Fossil watch my gf bought me.
