Half of all fake watches are Rolex knock-offs – and the replicas are harder to spot than ever: around 10 per cent of pre owned timepiece are now bogus, from Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet
The number of fake watches uncovered by pre-owned dealer Watchfinder & Co is rising – with Rolex replicas accounting for about half of the knock-offs in circulation.
As many as 10 per cent of the watches received from sellers last year were determined to be fakes during an authentication process, according to Watchfinder CEO Arjen van de Vall.
“Rolex is the most aspirational luxury watch brand and has the highest demand – hence, it’s the most replicated,” said van de Vall.
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Fakes are also becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot. Watchfinder used to be able to identify about 80 per cent of bogus timepieces by sight alone but now that’s just 20 per cent. Employees at the company, owned by Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont, now need to perform more detailed inspections including opening watch casebacks and checking movements to identify the high-end knock-offs.
Fake or replica luxury watches are a growing problem in the US$27.3 billion per year secondary watch market, with some counterfeit versions fooling even the most knowledgeable experts.
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It isn’t just Rolex watches that are being faked or altered with inauthentic parts and components.
“You see replica or clone watches – very, very high quality watches – of virtually all of the big luxury brands,” van de Vall said. “The whole gamut.”
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Less volatile prices in the watch market as speculators exit is welcome, van de Vall said.
“We’re not interested in the next crypto run. For us, it’s not about speculation, stability is good.”
- Experts at pre-owned dealer Watchfinder used to be able to identify about 80 per cent of bogus timepieces by sight alone, but now that’s just 20 per cent according to CEO Arjen van de Vall
- As the world’s most in-demand watch, Rolex unsurprisingly makes up half of all the fakes Watchfinder sees – but last year a ‘Frankenstein’ Omega Speedmaster sold for US$3 million