Reply With QuoteThere’s always the real thing...and everything else is a fake. Nothing changes that. If people wish to wear fakes, that’s their choice. It tells you all you need to know....
When a website has the name chinanoobwatch.com you know someone somewhere is taking the Michael. They do everything from A Lange through to Harrods Tudor Black Bays, and advertise proudly that you shouldn't worry if customs seize your watch as they will just ship you another free of charge. It really is a malaise in the industry and of course this isn't exactly news but its the boldness of it that surprises me - do the brands really not care that their pieces are being put out there like this? A cursory check on Tudor's site reveals no "contact us" button so maybe they don't want to know about it. The whole thing could kill the industry if replicas get better and better quality, since the time will come that the majority of people (WIS excepted of course) will end up just opting for the replica and spending the saving on something else.
https://www.chinanoobwatch.com/conte...d_your_package
There’s always the real thing...and everything else is a fake. Nothing changes that. If people wish to wear fakes, that’s their choice. It tells you all you need to know....
This a dangerous game I think for brands that are purposefully restricting supply, if some people just can’t get the Rolex/Patek they desire I could easily see this being the answer for them.
There is a vast market for them and I can't see anything ever changing. There are those that don't know any better and those that don't care;neither of these are unlikely to change their views.
It seems to me that if you are a 'fan' of fakes then you will defend them to the hilt. I seem to remember somebody on TZ who had/has a collection of fakes (as well as genuine watches) and was always ready to defend his choices. How do you battle that!?
I'm no fan of fakes, but when it comes to a Rolex that you want, it's not just about having the money available. I spoke to my local Rolex AD on Wednesday about getting in the queue for a GMT Master ll Pepsi and was told that it would be years (ie 3-4 years). Now, I knew there would be sizeable list, but that is ridiculous and I'm not willing to perpetuate the Rolex value nonsense by paying over double the RRP on the grey market (cheapest I can find in £13,500).
So, for some people (not for me) it might be the only way to get close to what you want (if you can call it that).
And, if anyone can guide me towards finding the real thing without being totally shafted with a huge premium, that advice would be greatly appreciated.
Can`t fail to be impressed by the website and the sheer cheek of it!
The watches look to be decent quality, but looks can be deceiving, the fake Rolex movements will fool a lot but they won`t fool anyone who knows what to look for.
If the replicas really do reach a good enough standard the argument in favour of buying the real thing diminishes .....for some people. No point in having that debate on here, but try talking to the normal 'non WIS' community and they'll put forward a very convincing argument.
As ever, the real problem comes when folks try passing replicas off as the real thing and defrauding some poor sod out of a few grand. That's where my objection to replicas lies, I don`t buy into the 'fake people' theory, that's just elitism stated by folks who can afford (and choose) to buy the real McCoy and this forum has plenty of them.......but trying to rip people off is a different matter.
Despite the elaborate website etc there's no guarantee that the watches won`t be junk when they arrive, and that's a few hundred pounds thrown away.
You have to consider that the counterfeiters' target market is not the relatively-small percentage who will spend thousands-upwards on a watch, but the much-larger percentage looking to spend up to a couple of hundred.
It's companies like eg. Limit, Michael Kors, Armani & Daniel Wellington who lose thousands (or more) of watch sales annually due to counterfeiters. Rolex/Panerai/Tudor etc. are hardly affected in sales terms. Perhaps that's why they seem not to bother (but probably do)?
______
Jim.
Maybe they could teach Rolex how to do better bezel colours on the BLRO
Not this fakes thing again
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Yes. Looking on there at some replicas of watches I own, they look amazing in the pictures. Maybe even real. What would show up in the post could be fairground tat.Originally Posted by walkerwek1958
It's a Chinese site, there's very little anyone can do about it
Just to be clear - I’m just querying why brands seem unconcerned about not only their designs but also their names being used. Do they seriously never try to get these sites closed or do they genuinely just not give a fig?
Its a chinese website so chinese law applies and from what I gather China doesnt give two hoots about copyright unless its an infringement of a copyright held by a Chinese company. This is particulalry evident in the car industry.
Why not ask the only sites that truly can answer your question - the original brand sites themselves?
Nearly all will have a means of contacting them directly.
Personally I have no detailed knowledge of their counterfeit strategies.
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Why not ask the only sites that truly can answer your question - the original brand sites themselves?
Nearly all will have a means of contacting them directly.
Personally I have no detailed knowledge of their counterfeit strategies.
Gray
Pretty sure OP works for chinanoobwatch.
As above. It's a Chinese site, the manufacturers can't do anything about it.
I'm not sure Rolex are bothered tbh. It's not harming Daytona sales, because they won't let anyone buy the bloody things
they regularly close them - they reopen at a slightly different domain in minutes.
Your powers of deduction are awesome, why didn`t more of us reach the same conclusion?
I'm not sure too many people able to and considering spending 5-6 grand upwards on a Rolex will settle for a fake.
A large part of the attraction of luxury brands is that they're expensive with the association of exclusivity etc. Whether you're a 'wealthy' genuine enthusiast or a pure poseur, spending a lot of money is a way of expressing your passion / wealth. The 'poor' enthusiasts and poseurs wouldn't have bought the genuine brand in the first place.
If you appreciate certain designs but couldn't care less about the brand then you'll get homages and I think this demographic may increase to the detriment of the major brands if their prices keep on rising. Perhaps it has already.
You are Ted Rogers and I claim my £5
Rather random (verging on moronic) comment. Care to elaborate?
I did try to contact Tudor as per my post but they have no contact us button on their site. I’m sure they wouldn’t be interested anyway or are fully aware.
What worries me is i bet there is some poor souls walking around with a fake believing it to be real and paying top money for the privilege
Presumably it would be illegal to sell these watches in the UK?
Is it also illegal to ship these watches to the UK and then sell them?
They seem to indicate that if you are in the EU, you should use the "UK forwarding" method for delivery......... presumably to get through say French or German customs ....... are they indicating that the UK is a "loophole" to avoid EU VAT etc.?
Last edited by BillN; 20th January 2019 at 15:39.
Fascinating how they see their business.
Fake Pelagos watch $390 - 10% of OEM cost
Fake RubberB strap $90 - 50% of OEM cost
Wierd - perhaps they figure people are more likely to buy a fake strap, so they want to cash in more on those.
I too have tried to contact Tudor - cannot find an e-mail address anywhere - I would love to have the opportunity to ask where and to whom my Snowflake was originally sold in 1976.
Dave
I was in Greenhills Manila and saw all black Bay fakes including the Harrods green they are appalling in real life. The fake sellers there can spot the real thing a 20 paces. I guess they fool a minority only. I looked at supposed Louis Vuitton superfakes and they were equally as bad.
I think these people often post up pics of genuine watches and what you get is pretty different.
Who would you complain to?
Cheers,
Neil.
I have been to China and seen fakes markets the size of department stores.
My work colleague purchased a dlc coated milgauss. Visually it wasn’t too bad but the movement broke just before the flight home.
At the time I had only owned an SMP and then a PO. The PO copies were terrible, generally they have two tiers of fake the very bad and then the ok (described by them as best quality).
I remember vividly as we left the little Chinese woman in broken English saying 2 year warranty knowing full well we’d never be back!
Many of these pop up on the Dutch website marktplaats.nl (site now owned by eBay I think). Even labelled “noob”.
Reported lots of them but gave up in the end. Should be easy to shutdown if they want to.
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A bit expensive for replicas, but they look really nice and supposedly have 2824's in them.
I’m sure the OEM % cost isn’t relevant to them - only their production costs plus margin.
The obvious answer is for people to stop buying them.
Unfortunately there is a demand for such things hence a market is created. Lose the demand, lose the market.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
This. As long as people covet objects of value like watches (or other jewelery or items of fashion), and they're seen as a symbol of status, and they can be pretty well replicated to all but the most untrained eye... then there's going to be a market.
The watch market is the tip of the counterfeit iceberg.
Chinese authorities have turned a blind eye to it for many years and no western governments have been generally prepared to rock their boat till Trump last year.
The world is completely dependent on Chinese production so this is a long way from being tackled with any intent.
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Sure there are some very tiny exceptions but surely these are two different markets and won’t really harm sales of the real thing.
A person who wants a real Rolex ain’t gonna settle for a fake. And people who are buying fakes cannot afford the real deal.
I guess the real damage is scumbags peddling them online as genuine and ripping poor sods off.
I was googling online reviews of the 5164 Aquanaut earlier and it chucked up a link to a “repro” forum. It was amusing as members were slating the fake as the case was double the thickness and the GMT hand didn’t work and was actually a power reserve.
They don't have Panerai... even the fakers can't be bothered with them anymore...hehe
These days watches are just wrist-art. Some like real paintings and others are ok with prints. Who cares?
Thanks OP, just ordered
I jest, I think that anyone with a genuine interest in watches wouldn't want or couldn't bring themselves to wear one... That aside, it is criminal and damaging to the industry. What can be done to prevent it? Very little in really I suspect. There's a market for them in this WANT WANT WANT age and the countries where they are manufactured have absolutely no interest in policing their manufacture.
Until all the chavs and neds are wearing them and the bottom falls out of sales of the real deal.
The time to worry is when the replicas are better than the real ones.
I might buy one then.
As famously happened to Burberry. But, for Rolex there appears to be no association that negatively hits their brand.
From drug dealer to investment banker to gang leader to surgeon to taxi driver to presidents, Rolex is all things to all men. An amazing achievement.
But, a genuine question, why does it bother you so much? It's hardly a site claiming to sell real watches with the risk of the buyer being fleeced?
I rather suspect that the movements in them might be horribly cheap, worthless pieces of nonsense too.
The Rolexes say Rolex on the dial. In what way is it not pretending to be something it’s not?
Indeed, that happens when they are sold onwards on Gumtree and eBay.
It's the buyer then fleecing someone else that's the problem.
F.T.F.A.
+1
It's not only the buyer fleecing an unwitting person that's the problem, there is a secondary effect.
The more fakes that are sold, the more a brand is devalued. E.g. Burberry scarfs and Louis Vuitton handbags are so commonly faked that their brand equity has been damaged. I will by default assume an LV handbag is a fake if I spot one.
If you own a Rolex, or another commonly faked watch, it damages the resale value (if that matters to you) and the image that watch presents. There is a level of value in the exclusivity and rareness of fine watches, at least for me but I'm sure this applies to many of us, so when more of them appear it slightly reduces the value I see in my watches. As shallow as that may be, it's true.
Hmmmm....but the evidence is against you! Despite the world being flooded with fake Rolexs, their resale values continue to be insanely high - and increasing!!
Good to see that they don't have any Sinn models listed.
This is why, back in 2007 I decided on a Sinn U2 rather than any of the luxury high street brands when I was looking for a new watch.
I know that there a a few fake Sinn models around now but they are rare compared to the likes of Rolex fakes etc.
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