WHY IS IT
COUNTERFEIT?
WRONG
MOVEMENT
counterfeits. However as soon as you
put the name or logo “Rolex or Omega
or Panerai” anywhere on that watch it
becomes counterfeit.
As counterfeiters get better and better
at reproducing the external characteristics
of watches, the movement is becoming even
more valuable in determining authenticity.
Gone are the days when quartz move-
ments were put into automatic watches and
the action of the second hand was all you
needed to consider. Today’s counterfeiters
make mechanical movements, complete with
complications. Copied movements cause
problems for external identifi cation because
the dials will be in the correct position and
the functions will work correctly.
However, fakes are made to a budget and
that means they are hugely inferior in qual-
ity and reliability. Remember, a Rolex has a
warranty of fi ve years. Try fi nding the fake
Rolex man on the beach fi fty minutes after
purchasing that knockoff . Buying counterfeit
watches even at the $200 price point, steals
sales away from legitimate brands such as
Bulova, Seiko or Citizen, each of which sells
watches at these price points. This is very
bad for the overall industry.
For my Luxury or Lie? class and train-
ing I own dozens of fake watches by all
manufacturers, and most will operate about
as long as a prawn sandwich is edible. And
you have no comeback to the clandestine
Chinese manufacturer. (One final strange
anecdote – I could not bring my pieces into
the U.S. for purely training purposes, yet I
could easily order a package of six replace-
ment “replica” watches from China, on two
ADAM HARRIS
Adam was born in Glasgow, Scotland, lived in England and retired to
Spain. H e has served as a guest wristwatch curator at the National Watch
and Clock Museum from 2012-2016. His background is as an electronic
engineer. He spent the past 25 years prior to retirement as vice president
of Fujitsu Europe and other Japanese and British companies. Since
retiring, he studied horology under Mme. Cinette Robert, ex-owner of
Dubey and Schaldenbrand, Mr. Marcus Hardy of Vintage Jewelry, and as a
guest appraiser in a Pawn Shop – Gold Rush. Adam has a large collection
of more than 200 vintage watches, which are part of his knowledge in
appraising timepieces.
168 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2017
separate occasions. Seems only Chinese
companies can import counterfeit items into
U.S. Again – go figure.)
The fact that is fakers can only give the
appearance of quality. There has been no
research and development, no stress test-
ing, no chronometer tests, no waterproof-
ing tests. What you have is a cheap Asian
movement pretending to be an expensive,
highly developed and tested timepiece.
These entitities cannot produce the
substance or the functionality of the real
thing. However, counterfeiters are getting
very close – and it is scary.
Remember that the genuine piece
comes with a name usually gained by
years of good reputation, stemming from
quality and reliability. And that comes
with a price.
HIS AREAS OF INTERESTS INCLUDE:
1) Early Rolex from 1910 to 1950
2) First early automatics from 1923 to 1940
3) Beginning of the wristwatch
(so called trench watches) 1900 to 1920
4) Early hermetic / sealed watches (1910 to 1930)
5) American wristwatches