I can't believe a watch dealer tried to sell me a fake!

[AlexM]

Not a huge surprise.

The industry is rife with this sort of thing and has been forever. It is a little easier with a watch. Such things , even to the less knowledgeable, as serial numbers and the obvious movement are an immediate give away. You actually need to be a bit daft to end up buying a fake watch F2F.
Imagine what the Ruby, Sapphire, etc you are buying is really like. Diamonds are less of a problem now, due to anyone sensible demanding certification. I regularly see Glass filled stones in jewellers, as well as synthetic Sapphires. All on sale as the real thing. Often the jeweller himself wouldn't know the difference.
Caveat Emptor

Quite literally a minefield. Then you have jewellers advertising used stones as new for double the price to contend with. Many of the well known high street jewellers do a fabulous trade with massive profit margins simply because they are generally trusted by the majority of the public and when buying diamonds trust is of paramount importance.

[TikTokTrev]

That's jawdropping, especially as he clearly knew what he was doing.
I had always (mistakenly it seems) believed that the higher price of buying through a bricks and mortar dealer was in effect 'insurance' against this sort of thing.

[spaceslug]

That interplay between the dealer and his assistant could be a scene between Father Ted and Dougal.....

[Baden H]

I've named it in a thread above but sadly my business is local and known to him as well as he has my contact details, I don't fancy the repercussions from dopping him in :-( he's a bit of a wide boy too (yes I know!) he would know its me, all a bit too close to home for me.

[snowman]

That interplay between the dealer and his assistant could be a scene between Father Ted and Dougal.....

Ha ha - Yes

"Ah, you want to see inside that watch?... Well you sees I sold it this morning to old Mrs Miggins"
"No you didn't Ted, it's right here. look!"
"Oh, thanks Dougal... Trouble is I don't have the right tool fer it"
"Sure you do, Ted, here it is, see?"

Classic.

M

[ach5]

Truly shocking.

Desperate people do desperate things... sounds like business not going too well for him - this sort of thing is enough to wreck a business where trust and quality is everything.

[Neil.C]

This doesn't surprise me at all TBH.

If you look around any watch fair you will see plenty of fakes/marriages/bodge ups etc etc.

Plenty of people buy this stuff, are happy with it and probably never find out unless a nosy WIS sticks his oar in.

If a dealer gets stiffed he will try and pass it on.

It's shocking stuff but nothing new.

[SlimJim16v]

Does this scumbag use the internet to trade in any way?

[Vanguard]

This guy deserves to be run out of business if you ask me

We should collectively post on every review site about this, I'm tempted to call them and ask if they have anymore fake Omega watches for sale ?