Rolex Duplicate Watches and the Effects of the Counterfeit and Duplicate Watch Market

The Swiss Customs Service estimates between watches 30 to 40 million counterfeit and duplicate watches are put into circulation annually. These counterfeit watches trigger appreciable injury to the watch trade, both financially as a result of potential misplaced gross sales and in addition brand degradation on account of the market being flooded with counterfeit copies of the unique watches.

The annual commerce show of the watch trade known as BaselWorld attracts many attendees from China who spend their time photographing the most recent fashions being displayed by the top luxury watch-making brands. The images of these new and prototype watches then find their approach back to producers in China where they're quickly copied and made into duplicate watches. The counterfeit timepieces are then rushed to market, usually upfront of the authentic watch.

It is estimated by Swiss Customs that armani 40% of duplicate watches originate in China, though counterfeits are also manufactured elsewhere, together with the United States. In October of 2006 police in Florida arrested a woman who had been working a counterfeit watch enterprise that earned about $8 million in sales. It is estimated that counterfeit watch gross sales worldwide cost Swiss watch producers greater than $600 million per year in misplaced sales. As soon as these counterfeit watches have been confiscated, it is the obligation of the Swiss Customs Service to destroy them. Surprisingly, in Switzerland individuals are allowed to maintain a most of one counterfeit watch per particular person, provided they personally import it into the country. As well as, the watch being imported should not embody any solid treasured-steel hallmarks.

Two Kinds of Counterfeit Watches

Counterfeit watches are divided into two teams:
The primary group is comprised of low-priced imitations of watches. A cheap counterfeit watch features the identify of a prestigious brand, but lacks its design and functions.
The second group involves counterfeit watches designed to resemble the unique authentic watch (a commerce-costume violation). Some excessive-priced counterfeit watches are produced from higher quality hamilton supplies and have golden components and leather straps.

Reproduction Rolex Watches

One of the extra popular counterfeited watch fashions are the Rolex duplicate watches - that are illegally manufactured replicas of authentic Rolex watches. As with lots of the costly brand-identify luxury watches in the marketplace, Rolex watches can often be found being counterfeited and offered illegally on the internet and the street. The counterfeit Rolex watches are largely produced in countries that embody Taiwan, Korea, India and China (statistics from 2004 show that fifty four% of counterfeits seized originated in China) and could be found retailing for as little as $5 and as excessive as $1,000 or extra for top-end replicas fabricated in gold, though the vast majority of counterfeit Rolexes use gold electroplating. The commerce in duplicate Rolex watches has develop into sophisticated, complete with full-colour shiny brochures and catalogues of counterfeited watches produced in China and supplied for sale to retail vendors.

Traits of a Counterfeit Watch

You usually hear you could inform a counterfeit watch from an authentic one by the smooth motion of the second hand. This is a fantasy, as a result of the fact that many counterfeit watches use cheap quartz crystal engines which produce the telltale begin/cease motion visible once per second of the sweep. In the event you observe intently you will notice that even an authentic Rolex motion doesn't have a superbly easy second-hand sweep, but actually eight movements per second. The one watch mechanisms that had a second-hand with a true, uninterrupted sweep were the Seiko Spring-Drive and the Bulova tuning-fork movement. That being stated, a number of the higher counterfeit watches in the marketplace have computerized movements, and Rolex has produced a few fashions with quartz movements which produces the distinct quartz motion ticks.

Another trait of a duplicate Rolex watches is that if it has a clear case back permitting the motion to be seen. Rolex never made such a watch, an exception being some fashions from the Thirties that are extraordinarily rare and the brand new Cellini Price models. You'll never see an authentic Rolex watch with an engraved firm logo, design or Rolex identify on the outside of the caseback. Exceptions to this are a few of the lady's fashions which have engraving on the case backs, and the Sea-Dweller fashions which say in black on the back, Rolex Oyster Unique Fuel Escape Valve, along with two Rolex logos. Apart from that, authentic Rolex watches have a easy caseback freed from engravings.

Lately, Rolex has begun shipping latest fashions with a third-dimensional hologram-encoded sticker on the caseback that has a floating Rolex crown logo to the top of the watch case's reference number, which is printed in black. Many of the stickers on counterfeit Rolex watches are both strong inexperienced or a repetitious "Rolex" sample, as a substitute of a hologram. A few of the duplicate Rolex watches manufactured in Laos, Vietnam and China from 2006 on have a strong inexperienced hologram on the caseback. Previous to 2002 the reference number was printed in gold and the hologram didn't have the Rolex crown logo. At present, counterfeiters are trying to extra intently match the precise hologram sticker. Rolex stopped using the hologram round 2007 and new Rolex watches are usually not being shipped with it.