Reply With QuoteThanks for the tip, sounds like a film not to miss in that case.Originally Posted by Seamaster73
There’s an amusing couple of scenes in the new film House of Gucci about precisely that. Al Pacino explains it all!
Thanks for the tip, sounds like a film not to miss in that case.
Once you realise lady ga ga isn’t going to ask you when your dolmio day is.
Wear a pair of Lonsdale trainers and a Tap Out hoody, no one will come near you.
Was in Mayfair today, had lunch at Nobu in the YM42, no issue at all. Might be a different story after dark but it’s winter, you’ll have sleeves and a coat.
Probably wrong but I’d say most people get done outside smoking between meals. They’re all pissed, no jackets and everything on display.
Thats fine you wear your Rolex without issue but the reason you have no issues is because nothing has happened...........yet
A Rolex is far more valuable than most other personal possessions like phones and wallets and remember a mugger has only to spot your watch once, how he/they take it off you is another matter, might be a simple hustle and its gone or you might take a beating along with anybody else your with.
I own Rolex and I want to keep them and my health in place, I dont like backing down to scum but for peace of mind and being able to relax in London I would wear something else, wonder if I would get turned over for a Speedmaster or a 2254 Seamaster??
I think I'm the one who gets to determine why I have no issue
The point I was making is if we choose to look for watch related crime over a massive population of people, of course there will be ample examples of bad things happening over anything remotely valuable. A huge number of people wear expensive watches in London, the vast majority aren't being mugged. Of course some common sense does go a long way to reducing the risk as with any valuable item, and equally some people will simply be unlucky and targeted. But plenty of people get mugged for phones, wallets, cars etc too, that's just life.
I'm not saying you should wear a recognisable watch if you don't feel comfortable with it. That's your personal decision and I certainly wouldn't fault someone for choosing not to. I just find sweeping statements like there's some sort of Rolex theft pandemic to be mild overreactions to media induced click-generating fearmongering, which is of course pushed into our view as watch enthusiasts because the algorithms feed people who like watch content any clickable articles on Rolex. Just my 2 cents, opinions will inevitably vary.
Last edited by M1011; 6th December 2021 at 03:30.
Rolex has become an investment no matter you could buy it new at the mercy of your dearest AD or from the used market, most of the people would probably wear it for few pictures then ceremoniously put them in the safe and wait for appreciation, while others rather enjoy wearing the not real.
I am always struggling with my NOS EXPII in white that I still lack a good/important excuse to pill off all the plastic and wear it...
Last edited by seikomatic; 6th December 2021 at 09:27.
My sister is a buyer who has worked for a number of businesses that I would say are mid-tier high st. Pre pandemic she regularly travelled to the sweat shops in China and one of them was openly making fake LV bags that she reckoned were 1:1 (she got given one that my mum proudly wears now).
She also got given a ladies Omega Constellation she assumed was fake that sat in her drawer at work for years which was actually real!
Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
Like most TZ people, I would never knowingly buy fake goods. But if it’s nigh on impossible for me to tell a fake Rolex from a real one, I question why the genuine watches are so pricey. Yes, I know, the Wilsdorf brand pays Geneva – not sweatshop – wages. But it doesn’t explain such an incredible price disparity.
Incidentally, a friend bought a fake Breitling in Thailand that I couldn’t tell from the real thing. Neither could his local AD! He took it into his local (UK) AD to get the strap adjusted, and the dealer didn’t bat a fake eyelid. (The fake was so good that he deliberately went into an official AD to see if, without opening the caseback, they could spot it wasn’t genuine.)
Last edited by Dougal; 6th December 2021 at 09:51.
Where do people stand on replica g shock bezels and straps? If you buy a genuine gshock to start with? Does adding a AliExpress kit make it a fake? I guess it's a little more like adding 3rd party parts to your car
You are trying to equate cost of production with retail price on a luxury goods item. That isn't how the economics of luxury goods works. Veblen's effect - demand for luxury goods increases with their price.
In addition, a counterfeit could be for all intents and purposes identical to the real product but this doesn't impact the desire for actual product because a significant part of its value is being the real thing.
I haven’t read all of the above so apologies in advance if already addressed.
Funding of terrorism through counterfeiting is a well known typology and is associated with several terror groups.
I won’t bore with the details, but a text on terror financing cites the examples in the NY in 2002 of three raids:
A souvenir shop, they recovered suitcases of fake watches and at the same raid a flight manual for 767 annotated with “notes in Arabic”.
A handbag shop where fakes were recovered and evidence or buying bridge inspection equipment.
The third included fake IDs include AQ suspects and IDs for staff at the second premises.
I won’t bore with the details but there are several touch points for organised crime and terrorism associated with the economy of fakes and watches.
We had a mugging right outside our showroom recently at half five ish. Guy had been followed.
We've also had a group on scooters drive through our window with machetes, broad daylight.
There is a group known to follow people out of Selfridges if they spot anything interesting on wrist.
I wouldn't wear anything noticeable in Mayfair.
As far as fakes go, about 1 in 4 of the watches that are offered to us by walk-ins are fake. Some obvious, some scary clones made of mixed parts.
The "nobody buys them to sell them on, they're just interesting" is self soothing BS.
Scary stuff. Followed out of Selfridges was how Mike Wood was done for his AP I believe.
I was out in Soho for dinner with a few watch mates last week. They wore a BB58, new Exp 2 Polar and WG Daytona on Oysterflex. I wore my Garmin and got properly jeered for it lol
Rolex spend fortunes on marketing, r and d, shop concessions etc. Counterfeiters have v little of that. The price for each model is set high and yet still doesn't keep supply and demand in equilibrium. The price is, therefore, dictated by the huge demand, not cost of supply.
Sent from my CLT-L09 using TZ-UK mobile app
Sorry, while I'm not bothered about similar looking homages the way some are, if a watch says Rolex/Omega/Patek/Sinn/Whatever on the dial, it better had come out of the factory it claimed to.
If you like the look, say, of a Rolex Submariner or a Daytona, but can't get, for whatever reason, the real thing, then buy a homage.
If you want to have the brand name on the dial, you need to buy the real thing.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
You should see the activities that are funded by real Rolexes.
This is the Achilles heel of all the attempts to justify fakes: 'not trying to fool anyone/just want a close facsimile/trying a cheap one out before I buy the real thing', etc.
There is only one reason to have 'Rolex' on the dial of fake watch and that it to pretend it is a Rolex.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Totally this.
If you want a Sub but can't afford one, buy a Steinhart! 99% of people won't notice it's not aSub.
I realise it, but the amount we pay for a brand name is incredible. When a watch looks like the original (only an expert can tell it’s fake) and runs within COSC spec, it asks questions of the real thing. I know, R&D, marketing, Veblen goods and - most importantly - not paying sweatshop wages make a difference. Nonetheless, the immense price difference shows how staggeringly little the price of a genuine watch relates to the cost of goods.
Setting aside fakes for a moment, my Steinhart Marine 38 was the most accurate watch I’ve owned. And the Marine 38’s finishing equalled my Longines. (I know, the Rolex-a-like Steinharts aren’t as good.) But people – including me – have paid considerably more for the Longines brand.
It’s food for horological thought.
That's dangerous. I've ended up with 9 of them.....
Sent from my CLT-L09 using TZ-UK mobile app
How did you get on the Steinhart list? Did you have to buy eight (less pricey) Steinharts before you could purchase a steel sports model? And how many months was it before you got ‘the call’ from Gunther? I hope he liked the chocolate and flowers.
Last edited by Dougal; 6th December 2021 at 20:57.
Fake is fake- copied design with copied branding. To me, it would bring into question the moral and intent of the individual wearing it. Similar to the thoughts in post 168.
‘Replica’ is just a fake by another name but almost tries to add value by highlighting how closely they can fake.
A Homage may copy/ Imitate the design, but is clearly branded differently to avoid entering the dubious categories above.
Lol.
Sent from my CLT-L09 using TZ-UK mobile app
Your comments assume that there no people who buy rolex because they are fantastic watches,well made and long lasting.
Not everyone does it for show.
I've owned a couple in my time which get shown perhaps a little less than other watches because of jealous a holes that covet other people's property.
Options are like arseholes though as in everyone has one.
Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
I’ve owned several Rolex models over the years and I still own one. Fantastic watches?............ not sure whether they’re fantastic enough to justify the price tags but when you’ve worked on a few hundred watches (as I have) you tend to see things a bit differently. Rolex have become over- priced pieces of jewellery, the designs are classic but somewhat mundane, when you’ve seen/ owned one Oyster cased watch the next is much if a sameness and has been for years. That’s part if the classic appeal but it’s also a limitation in my view.
I own plenty of watches that I find far more appealing and enjoyable than Rolex. 10 years ago I saw things differently.
Obviously you have one of those holes because Rolex doesn't make anything special over others. There have been many threads over the years about Rolex and build quality and I think the informed know much better than uninformed as to what is truth and actuals as opposed to brand marketing. Paul, like most here, are much better informed than what your trying to imply.
Rolex does makes a nice watch as do many others. Rolex does marketing at a much better scale than all the others as well and that proof is in your blind statement like the many before you.
Reading this thread has made me genuinely glad that I have never had anything other than a fleeting desire to have a Rolex. Even though most prestige brands are faked, for some reason every mention of ‘replicas/fakes’ rapidly becomes a Rolex issue.
another good reason why genuine rolex should be kept in safe whereas fake should be wore as a real "tool". I assume the reason why rolex cares little about those counterfeit is that they are also one of the beneficiaries.
No. Absolutely not. What are you thinking? Wearing a fake Rolex is just as likely to persuade a mugger to attack you, unless your fake is so bad that the mugger can tell it is dodgy.
Wearing something that the mugger dismisses, or is unaware of may protect you from violence. A fake will not, and is it really worth getting beaten up (or worse) for the sake of some counterfeit watch?
One would think that it would be quite simple for Police to bait and catch the criminals. Or would that be seen as entrapment.
Not enough police though... :0(
But would it only be entrapment if a Genuine Rolex was used as bait? If it was a fake, then it might not be!
I don't think it would matter if it was fake or genuine. It's still a theft.
No more so than using plain clothes female police officers to catch kerb crawlers. I assume that still happens?
Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
That was the 80s/90s, it’s moved on to social media peado hunters and spikers drugging drinks and jabbing people on nights out!
Ah right. I suppose the old kerb crawler honey trap is labour intensive, and unless volunteers come forward among female officers fraught with potential sexist pressures also.
Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
I don't know. I've never been caught. :)
I wouldn't know where to go to get caught in the first place. I shudder to think who may be plying the oldest trade in my neck of the woods.
Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
Exactly what I was going to say. I hate fakes.
There is no such thing as entrapment in U.K. law. You're either guilty of committing a crime or not. Being baited into doing so by law enforcement (or anyone else) isn't a get out of gaol free card.
They do in my (privately held) company, who seem to think that they can hand them out in lieu of a pay rise.
Thread starts off about fakes decends into usual rolex haters etc etc.
No change tgere
Warriors of the cyber wasteland some of these.
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Actually, I think that's about the only thing missing.
Very good.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Well, this is coming from an owner of a Hulk Submariner... there's a point to be made of a 9k € watch that can be convincingly replicated in a sweatshop in China for 300 €. Some of those fakes are outstanding and Rolex isn't arsed to even trying to add some degree of decoration to the movement (the thing really hard to replicate)
Eh, every Rolex movement I've ever seen has been decorated, and every fake Rolex movement I've seen has also been decorated to try and match the original. Big difference in the quality of the decoration though and no surprises on who does it best.
Ahem.
This is what a nicely decorated movement looks like:
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Indeed, some people believe that perlage and some stripes of Geneva are decoration.Ahem.
This is what a nicely decorated movement looks like:
If they’re not functional then surely they are decoration? Of course it may not be great decoration comparative to something like that GO, but it is decoration that goes far beyond the replicas when they do side-by-sides on YT.
It’s not a GO, it’s a bit pricier than that!
Posting Permissions
