Confessions Of Serial Replica Watch Buyers

About 25 million authentic watches roll out of Switzerland’s manufacturing plants annually, compared to China’s 663 million. It is a known fact that some of these latter watches are illegal copies of others, resulting in a colorful and dynamic, albeit seedy and clearly criminal fake watch industry. Why are some of the world’s top brands copied when others are left alone? Who buys these replica watches and why? What can you do to ensure you’re getting the real thing? Let’s see Reference

While preparing this article, I spoke with a number of people who freely admitted to being replica enthusiasts. “Just don’t use my name,” each said. One young man told me how he justified buying his first copy watch.

“I had my eye on a Panerai Luminor Marina,” he confessed. “But at a price of $6,800, I wanted to be sure the size was a good fit for me. A week on the wrist ought to tell. Right? I put down $55 for the replica. I’m glad I did. The real one is beautiful, but after a week I decided the watch was just too big and uncomfortable.”

So he justified his replica purchase by saving $6,800 on a watch he personally wouldn’t have been happy wearing. Later, he told me how he disposed of the copy – more on that in a bit. Do replica buyers have no moral compass? Are they frauds, poseurs? Or fakes themselves?

POPULARITY OF REPLICA WATCHES

People spend a lot of time scouring the Internet for replica watches – something the Swiss say has no value whatsoever. Indeed, the replica industry costs the legitimate manufacturers billions in lost revenue annually. Of course, this makes the faulty assumption that the same people buying replicas would purchase the real thing.

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When the authorities discover a large cache of copy watches they sometimes make a show of the consequences. In 2010, US Customs officials shot a video of their steamroller crushing 7,000 fake Rolex watches. The message is clear – the US will not tolerate infringement of intellectual property rights by counterfeiters. Along with the 7,000 watches it crushed, ICE discovered 24,000 more fake watches in Binh Cam Tran’s home along with enough parts to manufacture another million pieces. This seizure and arrest cost Mr. Tran $2.2 million in fines and restitution, as well as six years in prison.

THE MOST POPULAR FAKES

Counterfeiters aren’t artists. They’re business people. They go for the largest possible market. That means copying watches with the greatest perceived demand. The variety of original watches copied by criminals is enormous. More so, the makes and models copied must be expensive luxury items. Otherwise, the counterfeiters would be competing against the legitimate manufacturers for the same customer.

Remember, those in the market for replica watches are not the same people who buy the real thing. Both types of customers make their purchase decisions for entirely different reasons.

Now, it’s not hard to guess what the most faked watches are. Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Panerai, Breitling, and Omega are amongst the brands that you’re most likely to find fakes of. Like Louis Vuitton handbags, the most popular and desirable luxury items in a category are also among the most likely to be faked. According to Rolex lands at the 23rd spot in the most counterfeited brands on earth. This makes it the most counterfeited watch brand, though the range of popularly counterfeited brands includes brands like Cartier, Hermes, and, yes, Viagra.

Ironically, some luxury watch brands take pride at being widely copied. They see it as an acknowledgment of the brand’s popularity. Indeed, according to Ariel, Jean-Claude Biver (CEO of Hublot) once shared with him that the authorities confiscating so many fake Hublot watches is a testament to the brand’s market success.

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