Replica Hause :-(

Thats why anytime i buy something worth more than 100 dollars i dont use Ebay i try to find a store i can walk into or a really really reputable site.

 

Hmm...pretty good replicas, ha-ha.

 

Come on, its a replica and this is fchat. Lets start flaming those watches already. In all seriousness, I've never bought a watch online. There are some reputable businesses online, but for the most part there are too many scam artists online.

 

There are plenty of terrific sources on the internet who sell watches. Do a little research and you'll find them.

 

I'll start off by saying that I know very little about luxury watches, so excuse my ignorance. However, I found this link interesting. I always assumed that knockoff watches would necessarily be cheap and of low quality. These don't appear to be (at least according to what I've seen on the website), and they claim that they have reproduced the watches exactly (which seems to include many of the materials as well), so I'm just curious about a few things:

1. What kind of markup do manufacturers charge on real designer watches? I know that there is a significant premium that you pay for the name, but I am surprised that this number seems to be as high as some clothing manufacturers (e.g. cost of goods is often around 5% of retail price, or so I've heard). What is the cost of goods for your typical Rolex, or other luxury brand?

2. Where is this web business located? It seems like there would be lawyers scrambling to get this website shut down. I can't imagine that it's located in the US for this reason. I couldn't find it anywhere on the website that I looked.

I'm not considering buying one, but the site seems to have taken the knockoff watch to a new level of sophistication.

 

All depends on what watch you're talking about.

ETA (the most used source for automatic swiss movements) automates their whole process so a finished movement really doesn't take too much time to make. Some manufactures that use ETA movements will then hand decorate them (blued screw, skeleton rotors, etc...) and make some changes to them like adding addition complications or other modules.

IWC is a good example of a company that really reworks and ETA movement for their non in house movement calibers. Omega also now does a lot of changes to a base ETA caliber.

Fortis, Sinn, Hamilton, etc... mostly use the base caliber in their watches, and that's why their watches are about 1/3 the price of a similar IWC.

Now when you get into high complications like Tourbillons, Repeaters, and such a single watchmaker can spend a few months on each watch. So paying tens of thousands of dollars for a fully hand worked watch isn't out of the question. Even the dial is hand engraved. Amazing level of skill and time is needed for such pieces.

Yes a lot of replicas are great looking on the outside and it would take a true watch collector to spot it, but you would know you are wearing a fake. Also the true nature of a luxury watch is spoiled with a fake, because the movement is just some cheap high volume movement, not are miniture work of art. Just like women can by high end knock off purses on the net, they still know it's fake and a trained eye does as well. Most would like the real thing though

As for buying online, you can't always be 100% sure about the seller. You have to go off of customer feedback and such. We've been in business for about 25 years and have been selling on Ebay for about 3 years now. We have 100% positive feedback and ~ 300 feedback comments left. Trust me if we sold one fake / not as advertised watch, that would not be the case.

Take a look:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=luxurybazaar

Our website has only been online for 5 months or so, and this was a venture that I talked Roman into. It's his business and he allowed me to partner after I completed the full project of the site.

 

Ok these replicas are just bad, I've seen much better ones...

Here's a replica of the IWC Portuguese Tourbillon Mystere which MSRP is 95,000.

For $219 you get a steel version with Japanese Automatic movement. My Seiko Samurai loses 15 seconds a day, most Seiko Automatics range from 10-45 a day. Now I'm guessing for $215 they don't even use a Seiko level movement

Can you tell the difference between the fake and the real versions
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Like I said, I really don't know much about watches, but just found it fascinating that the knockoffs seem to look nice. I'm not really passing judgment, though, because I haven't seen one in person. That being said, I do see some differences between the watches that you showed - mostly that the real one has nicer-looking "guts" behind the glass window. Other than that - they both look.....nice. In fact, very elegant. I can see the artistic nature of the nice IWC.

Thanks also for the commentary as to how long it can take to make a very nice watch. Puts things more into perspective. I agree that the real ones must be nicer, but I wasn't sure HOW much nicer. Fascinating.

I'm still also curious how they can get away with selling such blatant knockoffs, with the correct logo and everything. Did you have any idea where these types of outfits are located? I'm guessing someplace like Russia, but I really have no idea. You also mentioned that you have seen better fakes. Any examples? (I feel like I have to defend myself here... I promise that I am not wanting to buy a fake watch, just curious....)

Thanks again for the response. Very insightful.

Eric

 

Somebody posted some pictures of a fake Omega Planet Ocean right after the real ones came out.

I basically had to hold the one I had just ordered in my hand and examine the pictures of the fake for a few minutes to find the differences.

It came down to the spacing of the seconds hand to the bezel and the centering and space behind around the date window. VERY VERY good fake, but I never held it in my hand to see if it had the same weight that my 200+ gram Planet Ocean had.

 

I collect wristwatches and attended a recent NAWCC (collector) show where $3K replicas of $20K+ vintage (Late 70's and earlier) Rolex watches have recently been created from bits of original parts (cases/movements/dials/...).
It has gotten so bad that I have been told that US Rolex service centers will no longer verify or service vintage pieces that have not been serviced by Rolex in the past.

 

Didn't know that

 

Wow, much bigger business than I had ever imagined. Thanks for all the info, it really is an interesting topic. Your time and responses are greatly appreciated!

Eric