INDUSTRYNEWS
SPONSORED BY SECURITY HARDWARE
IS THAT A REAL ROLEX...?
Victor Southern of Lockdecoders
Ltd puts forward his views on the
controversial issue of fakes and copies,
and in particular, how this is impacting
on the bona fide locksmith sector.
Once upon a time there was a wonderful
firm of Swiss watch-makers.
So skilled were they that their watches
became a symbol for quality. Rolex!
Who has not heard of them? Who has
not desired one? So, it came to pass that
in a land in the East men who had not
those skills found a way to make watches
that looked like the wonderful Rolex. The
mechanisms were rougher and cheaper,
the tick was louder, the hands moved
erratically, the “gold” plate wore off but
still the trademark Rolex would be on a
wrist. “See my Rolex” you could say and
“by the way can you tell me the right
time?” A rusty “Bolex, not a trusty Rolex.
So a giant ‘shadow industry’
exists producing fake watches, fake
pharmaceuticals, fake designer clothing,
fake perfume, sunglasses, fake diamonds,
fake DVDs, fake software – an industry
of theft, an industry that goes so far as
to make fake pharmaceuticals that can
endanger lives.
2004 to 2013 in development and never
made a penny from it all before 2011.
Even today we spend more than a half of
our collective time on development, on
technical back-up, on ordering spares
and consumables, on training, on factory
visits. Apart from that we spend thousands
of pounds annually on buying new locks
and lock-sets so that we can keep up to
date with trends. And we are just one of
the original developers [