Buying Guide
A luxury watch is almost certain to be on the wish list of most people. This desire for a great luxury watch has spawned an entire industry of fake luxury watches often sold at a fraction of the price of the real deal. However, there are a few things one can observe to determine if a watch is authentic or not.
The functionality of these watches is so unique those manufacturers take great pride in the movements and other features in a watch. It is next to impossible to replicate the movement inside an original luxury watch and the first clue to finding out if a watch is a fake or not is to look at the movement. Original luxury watches have movements that are built with precision jewels that ensure perfect time keeping. On the other hand, replicas use simple quartz movements that function almost in the same manner, but not quite the same. While original watches have self winding mechanical movements, quartz watches are all battery operated.
Some luxury watches have the chronograph function and when a replica has the same, the task of spotting a fake becomes even easier. Usually, mechanical watches with chronographs have a sweeping seconds hand for the chronograph second, an advanced feature which is quite difficult to replicate. Replicas with chronographs have a quartz movement in which the seconds hand is ticking rather than sweeping. Moreover, original watches have a sub-dial marked with 60 for the regular seconds, which too is sweeping. For a poorly crafted replica, this hand too is ticking and usually in the wrong dial at that.
Replicas usually don’t have common engravings of the manufacturer on the crown, bezel or the strap. Almost all brands have the insignia of the logo on the crown which is usually missing in replicas or is slightly deformed or incorrectly engraved. As far as the bezel goes, if it has a circular rule, then it is bidirectional and has to have the manufacturer’s name written on it somewhere.
Luxury watches are an indulgence that few have the fortune to experience. If you are one of them, then best follow these simple pointers to make sure that what you have is original and not some knock off or replica.
