![Illegally copied wristwatch which shall look like Rolex Daytona](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Illegally_copied_wristwatch_which_shall_look_like_Rolex_Daytona.jpg)
A counterfeit watch (or replica watch) is an unauthorised copy of an authentic
watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
. High-end luxury watches such as
Rolex
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...
,
Patek Philippe
Patek Philippe SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company ha ...
and
Richard Mille
Richard Mille is a Swiss luxury watch company founded in 2001 by Dominique Guenat and Richard Mille, and based in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. The brand specialises in ultra-high-end luxury watches.
Company history Introduction
After studying m ...
are frequently counterfeited and sold on city streets and online. With technological advancements, many non-luxury and inexpensive
quartz watches are also commonly counterfeited.
According to estimates by the
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
Service, there are some 30 to 40 million counterfeit watches put into circulation each year.
[Faits et chiffres, Swiss Customs Service 2005] For example, the number and value of Customs’ seizures rose from
CHF 400,000 and 18 seizures in 1995 to CHF 10,300,000 and 572 seizures in 2005.
According to a 2012
Federation of Swiss Watches estimate, counterfeit Swiss watch sales generated $1 billion in sales per year.
History
Forgery of watches became a serious problem in the eighteenth century when Britain came to rival France as the leading producer of quality clocks and watches. By the middle of the century, watchmakers in
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
(Germany) and in various small towns in French-speaking Switzerland were producing watches falsely signed with the names of well-known English makers such as
George Graham
George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former football player and manager.
In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Ch ...
and
Eardley Norton
Eardley John Norton (19 February 1852 – 13 July 1931) was a Madras barrister, Coroner and politician of British origin. He was also one of the earliest members of the Indian National Congress and a champion of civil liberties and rights of th ...
. Other, less obvious, forgeries carried imaginary names with a vaguely English sound, such as 'Samson' or 'Simpton'. In the following century
Breguet became a frequent target for forgers; at the same time British makers continued to suffer, many forgeries bearing the name 'M. J. Tobias' - a mistake for a real London maker named Michael Isaac Tobias. In the 1860s, when the American watch industry was gaining strength, the Swiss industry was responsible for many imitations of
Waltham watches; these, unlike most of the earlier forgeries, often imitated the appearance of the genuine article quite closely as well as borrowing the names. This practice died out in the early 1870s, as the Swiss could not compete, so surrendered the mass-market field to U.S. firms and focused on branding high end
status symbols
A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of economic or social status. Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. ''Status symbol'' is also a sociological term – as part of social and soci ...
.
Modern infringers
Replica watches are frequently sold from street stands in districts catering to tourists or Internet websites (mostly Asian). For instance there has been an "open market" for counterfeit watches along
Canal Street in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for over 20 years.
During the 80s and 90s,
David Thai
David Thai, (born Thái Thọ Hoàng January 30, 1956), is a Vietnamese-born American gangster who was the founder and leader of the notorious Born to Kill gang during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was also responsible for running a massiv ...
, the leader of the infamous
Born to Kill Born to Kill may refer to:
Film
* ''Born to Kill'' (1947 film), a film noir directed by Robert Wise
* ''Born to Kill'' (1967 film), a Spaghetti Western directed by Antonio Mollica
* ''Born to Kill'' (1974 film) or ''Cockfighter'', a film direct ...
gang was well known to have run a counterfeit watch operation on Canal Street in which he was able to profit at least $13 million in 1988 alone from the sales of counterfeit Rolex watches.
E-mail spam was a widely used means of advertising to potential customers of replica watches, though e-mail providers have been cracking down in recent years. The auction website
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
was previously known to have many listings for fake watches. Search engines have been increasingly pressured to remove search results of websites that sell fakes. Furthermore, many expensive brands do not sanction any online sales, and instruct customers to only buy watches from authorized retailers.
Swiss Customs estimates that 40% of counterfeit watches come from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, but counterfeits are produced elsewhere, even in the
US. EU figures show that at least 54% of fakes seized in 2004 originated in China. The Swiss Customs Service is obliged to confiscate and destroy such goods to prevent re-sale. While there are some exceptions, counterfeit jewellery is confiscated in all cases.
Types of counterfeits
Trademark violations: infringing on the rightfully owned trademarks, hallmarks, symbols and any other distinctive signs of a watch brand, with or without complete trade-dress or design violation. This extends to other false indications and or markings in violation of any law, or official agreement. Typical noted examples would include "Swiss Made", "Water Resistant", "Shock Resistant", false precious metal or any other "
noble metal
A noble metal is ordinarily regarded as a metallic chemical element that is generally resistant to corrosion and is usually found in nature in its raw form. Gold, platinum, and the other platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, o ...
" indications.
Trade-dress or design violations: the second group involves counterfeit watches designed to resemble the original (a
trade dress
Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is an aspect of trademark law, which is a form of intelle ...
violation). Some high-priced counterfeit watches are produced from inferior materials and have
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
en parts and
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...
straps.
Note that designs are extremely difficult to copyright; thus it is legal for watch makers to freely use designs from their competitors. However, all brands have trademarked their name and symbols.
Rolex
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...
watches have often been more susceptible to counterfeiting compared to other luxury watches, due to their brand enjoying the highest worldwide awareness and ubiquity of their design trademarks (for instance, the
Rolex Submariner
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner is a line of sports watches designed for diving and manufactured by Rolex, resistant to water and corrosion. The first Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair. It was the fir ...
has inspired plenty of imitations from both higher-end and lower-end legitimate watchmakers). Counterfeit Rolex watches commonly retail anywhere from $5 to upwards of $1,000; the latter for high-end replicas with portions fabricated from solid karat gold (although most gold Rolex fakes utilize gold electroplating). Such watches are known by several nicknames such as ''Fauxlex''.
Counterfeit characteristics
![Illegal copy (fake) of Patek-Phillipe wristwatch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Illegal_copy_%28fake%29_of_Patek-Phillipe_wristwatch.jpg)
A common myth states that a genuine watch can be discerned from a fake by the fluid movement of the sweep hand. This is because many counterfeited watches use inexpensive crystal quartz movements which produces the start/stop once per second sweep. Observed closely, one will see that even a true Rolex movement is not a perfectly smooth sweep, but is actually eight movements per second (or 28,800 per hour) in some models or around 21,000
vph in other models. The only mechanical watches that have a second hand that moves across the dial in a truly uninterrupted sweep are the
Seiko
, commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...
Spring Drive
Spring Drive is a name given to a series of watch movements produced by Epson in Shiojiri. The concept of using a mainspring to power a quartz timing package was first conceived in 1977 by Yoshikazu Akahane (赤羽 好和) at Suwa Seikosha (now ...
. Nonetheless, some of the counterfeits have automatic movements (genuine or imitation), and Rolex has produced a few models with
quartz movement
Quartz clocks and quartz watches are timepieces that use an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time. This crystal oscillator creates a signal with very precise frequency, so that quartz clocks and watches are at least an ...
s such as the OysterQuartz which produces the distinct quartz movement "ticks".
[The Rolex Report, 4th ed.]
Hallmarks
According to the Swiss Customs Service, counterfeit watches can be made in such a manner as to require special equipment to confirm near authenticity. Previously, replica watches could be distinguished by "sloppy printing, soft metal and cheap quartz movements that made the second hand clunk its way round the dial" while recent "fakes feel substantial, keep decent time and have the patina of high quality. Some are so convincing that the only way to tell they’re fake is to take the back off".
A high price is not a guarantee of authenticity. Indications of fineness do not necessarily indicate authenticity.
Hallmarks
A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''hallmark'' can al ...
can be forged, and may induce a buyer to believe a piece is made of real gold when it may only be made of a cheap metal plated in gold.
[See also, Swiss Hallmarks on Gold Watchcases, NAWCC Bulletin, , December 2005, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 686-699 ]4 pages
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
Frankenwatches
High quality replicas are sometimes modified by collectors and amateur horologists with genuine parts, such as movements, dials, hands, and bracelets, and are known as "frankenwatches".
It is in fact possible for a frankenwatch to be made entirely from genuine parts. eBay and other Internet websites have provided the means to buy or sell these parts, which were originally supposed to be after-market spare parts for repair. Some have retrofitted a rare limited-edition dial on a lesser/common version of the same line of watches, and often an original stainless steel watch is disassembled so its dial and movement is placed in an after-market solid gold case. These are difficult to trace, since the watch manufacturer's serial numbers are engraved only in watch case.
Counterfeit digital watches
Many low-priced digital watches has also been counterfeited in a similar fashion to luxury watches. It is primarily distinguished by its lower build quality than the original and are significantly less accurate. Examples of commonly counterfeited digital watches are popular
Casio
is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...
watch models such as
F-91W and various
G-Shock
The G-Shock is a line of watches manufactured by the Japanese electronics company Casio, designed to resist mechanical stress, shock and vibration. G-Shock is an abbreviation for ''Gravitational Shock''. The watches in the G-Shock line are desi ...
models.
Counterfeit versus homage
A homage watch is distinct to counterfeits, as it is a ''legal'' replica of an authentic watch. These are timepieces designed to be as similar as possible to iconic watches while usually of high quality while avoiding the use of trademarked names, logos or movements.
Homages are generally marketed as a more affordable alternative to an equivalent high-end watch of a similar design, although low-end homages of less expensive watches has also been produced. Most watch manufacturers offer homage models of varying price tags and designs.
See also
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Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
*
Horology
Horology (; related to Latin '; ; , interfix ''-o-'', and suffix ''-logy''), . is the study of the measurement of time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic cl ...
*
List of watch manufacturers
Watchmakers
This list is a duplicate of :Watchmakers, which will likely be more up-to-date and complete. Manufacturers that are named after the founder are sorted by surname. Names in this list require an article about the watch brand or watchma ...
*
Timepiece
A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...
*
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
*
Replica
A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...
*
Authentication
Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicati ...
*
Counterfeit consumer goods
Counterfeit consumer goods (or counterfeit and fraudulent, suspect items - CFSI) are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on eith ...
*
Watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
*
Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) is the Swiss watch industry's leading trade association, headquartered in Bienne, Switzerland. The Federation is a private, professional and non-profit association.
The Federation of the Swiss Wa ...
References
External links
Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, Definition of Swiss Made">Swiss Made">Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, Definition of Swiss Made
br>
Swiss Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Platform*[http://www.ice.gov/doclib/iprcenter/pdf/ipr-fy-2011-seizure-report.pdf Intellectual Property Rights Fiscal Year 2011 Seizure Statistics Prepared by CBP Office of International Trade] See Table 2 for a summary of US Customs seizures of watches and watch parts.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Counterfeit Watch
Watches
Counterfeit consumer goods, Watch