Before anyone reads any further, please can they check their opinions and views about the ethics of fakes and replicas at the door. This piece contains numerous photos of fake / replica watches. It is intended to be educational. I did not do it so people could slag me off or take cheap shots just because I bought a couple of fake watches. Anyone who has a problem with what I am doing here had better stop reading now and back out of the link. The only apology I will make is that the photos are not as good as I would have liked. I recently moved and don't have my photo studio set up at the moment so the lighting wasn't right and the dial colours are not correct in the images. Believe me the watches look far better in real life than in my photos. OK now that is out of the way, on with the show.

Before I became addicted to Doxas, there were 3 watches which I felt were holy grails. In no particular order they were the Omega Speedmaster Moon Watch, the Breitling Navitimer and the Rolex Sea-Dweller. Obviously to acquire them would take serious cash. At one time I could have both afforded and justified buying them, but alas those days are gone and I doubt I'll ever be in such an affluent position again. Recently I was able to pick up replicas of the above mentioned watches. Because the 'quality' of fakes / replicas has increased significantly over the last few years and these watches are now a pretty good facsimile of the real thing, I felt it was a good chance to see what the real McCoy was like without having to sell a kidney.

Before continuing with the review, I think it is worth mentioning that the increase in quality of the replicas seems to have occurred with the increase in quality of Chinese movements. In the past there were several different grades of replica. The crappy ones which used cheap Chinese movements were fairly robust but not particularly accurate. They tended to be found in replicas which had the name Omega, Rolex etc on the dial but bore little resemblance to an actual watch that was in production. The cases also tended to be made of brass, which were chrome plated. The next generation of fakes used steel cases and Japanese movements. They tended to be much closer in appearance to the real ones. The exceptions were the chronographs. Even though the Navitimers, Speedmasters and Daytonas were looking better, they used quartz movements. The most recent generation of replicas use Chinese equivalents of ETA and Valjoux movements and the cases, dials and bracelets are virtually indistinguishable from the genuine article.

THE OMEGA SPEEDMASTER

I got this watch before the others and have worn it quite a bit. Initially I was going to post a review of it compared to a genuine Moon watch, but both watches were very difficult to photograph. The moon watch was very different in that it had a solid caseback and a hesalite crystal. Also I got slagged off unmercifully in several forums for wearing a fake so I killed the project. Recently I found that one of my colleagues had the real version of the replica so I had the perfect opportunity to compare them. Not surprisingly he wouldn't let me borrow his watch for a couple of days so I could photograph the 2 together. Instead I'll describe the differences.

From an initial look at the Speedmaster replica, the majority of people would have no idea that it is not a real one. It looks good and everything seems to be in the right place. The chronograph functions as would be expected and there is a nice smooth sweep hand movement. The font used on the Tachy bezel is slightly different to the real one but unless you can see a nit on a gnat's nut at 50 paces and have a real Speedy to compare it with, you will never notice the difference. The biggest give away is the length of the hour markers at 3, 6 and 9. On the genuine dial all the hour markers are the same length. Because the replica uses a Chinese movement which has slightly different subdial pinion spacing the subdails have to be moved closer to the outer edge of the dial. This forces the hour markers to be a little shorter. The chronograph works as it should, but I'm not sure what the function of the subdial at 6 o'clock is for. It is not affected by the chronograph and its hand mimics the position of the hour hand.

The crystal on the fake is described as 'toughened glass' whatever that means. The optical properties are good except when viewing the dial at a steep angle. Initially there is not a problem but the slightly domed crystal is not domed on both sides. It is domed on the outside but flat on the inside. This creates an optical 'bubble' when the viewing angle tends towards around 60 degrees. You can see what I mean on the above photo.

I believe another change with the replica is the machining of the case around the chronograph pushers, but I couldn't see any difference between my fake and the genuine one. The bracelet uses solid end links, looks and operates the same as the real one and is very comfortable.

To see how much the replica quality has improved recently, one only has to turn over the Speedmaster. It has an exhibition back and the movement is very well finished and decorated. It does look slightly different to the real movement but again only someone with a genuine watch to compare would pick up on it. However, there is one dead giveaway and that is the replica's use of blued screws. They look very nice but are not on the original movement. The movement is keeping time to about +25 seconds a day which is not particularly great but I'll regulate it and it see if I can get it better. The movement is non hacking and can't be set to a time signal the way the other watches can.

Overall the Speedmaster replica is a pretty good facsimile of the real thing. It would be fairly easy for someone who didn't have a good knowledge of Omega Speedmasters to be taken in by it if it was passed off as a real one.

THE BREITLING NAVITIMER

I have wanted a Breitling Navitimer for as long as I can remember. I think the first time I saw it I just fell in love. I'm a big fan of Slide Rule watches and have a beautiful Seiko 6138-7000 from the late 70s so I guess the Navitimer was always destined to be on my 'want, want, want' list. It has really only been in the last year that the new generation of mechanical fakes have appeared. The Chinese have started producing a version of the Valjoux 7750 with the triple subdials and these have now found their way into replicas such as the Navitimer and Rolex Daytona. I have only ever held a real Navitimer in my hands and that was a number of years ago, so the only thing I have to compare the replica with is photographs or long lustful stares through jeweler's windows. From what I can see, this replica is just about spot on.

With many fakes, the care taken assembling the watches leaves a lot to be desired. The Navitimer was one of those watches. When I got it there was a bit of dirt on the inside of the crystal. I decided to open the watch and clean off the dirt. I was pretty surprised when I did. As can be seen from the image, the rotor is decorated and the retaining ring is steel and not plastic. Nice touch, especially for a watch where people are very unlikely to see inside it.

The replica functions just like the real thing. The dial printing is very good. The only give away on the dial is that the subdials have a ridge close to the outside which is not on the real watch. The chronograph functions work as expected with the exception that the minute hand would not reset exactly. It resets to just slightly before the 12 o'clock position. It is not actually that noticeable but I suppose it could be seen as another sign of poor workmanship when setting the hands.

The interesting thing about the Navitimer movement was that when I got it, the chronograph second sweep hand moved very smoothly for most of its travel but for about 15 seconds at one part of the sweep it increased its step size. Really strange! However, over the course of a couple of weeks the sweep movement seemed to regulate itself and now it is a normal smooth sweep over the whole 60 second scan. The subdial second hand moves smoothly and the watch is running at around +30 seconds a day.

The bracelet on the Navitimer is spectacular. Solid end pieces and from what I can tell almost indistinguishable from the real one. It is also a bitch to resize. It is so fiddly with all the individual link pieces. Also the caseback is pretty good too. I believe the model number A23322 is correct for this watch. Overall the Navitimer is one of the "best" fakes I have seen. The attention to detail is certainly equal to the Speedmaster and like it, only someone who knew exactly what he was looking for would be able to tell that it was a replica.

THE ROLEX SEA-DWELLER

To be really honest here, I have to say that I never liked the Rolex Submariner. Given the fact that it is probably the most copied watch in the world and that it has a date magnifier which I hate, I suppose I never ever considered buying one. However, the Sea-Dweller is a different matter. No magnifier, Helium Release Valve, heavier watch and until recently not many great copies existed. Take a look at the images I have here and I think many people will be shocked at just how good the copies now are. The font used on the dial is pretty darn close and the font used on the date wheel is also very similar to the real Rolex Sea-Dweller. The real Sea-Dwellers are in the region of 4,000 US$ so the chance of me ever owning one is pretty slim. I'll buy one if I win the lottery.

I actually bought the Sea-Dweller fake to compare it with the Doxa SUB. Several people on the forum asked what the difference in size was. As the fake is dimensionally an exact replica of the real thing, I thought it would be a good chance to see what it would be like to wear a Sea-Dweller and do some comparison photos.

The first thing I have to say is that the Rolex Sea-Dweller fake is a very easy watch to wear and get used to. The bracelet is just like the real one. I personally think that Rolex are stiffing people by charging extortionate prices for a bracelet which is inferior to that on the Seiko orange Monster. Having said that, the bracelet and watch are very comfortable to wear. The watch has a nice feel, not too heavy and not too light. It feels about the same weight as the Doxa SUB 600T. It also sits well and looks well. The bezel has a nice click to it and very little slop. The crystal was advertised as being Sapphire but I can't be sure it is or not and I don't really want to try to scratch it just to find out. It does have the Rolex crown etched in it at the 6 o'clock position.

The movement is a Chinese ETA 2824. Fakes can be bought with genuine ETA 2824 but they are more expensive. I don't have a Rolex caseback opener so I wasn't able to open the watch and see what the movement was like. It does have a very smooth sweep movement, hacks and has quickset date and is running at about +20 seconds a day. Because I don't have the caseback opener I won't be able to regulate the movement. As can be seen from the photo above, the Helium Release Valve looks very authentic.

The Sea-Dweller looks for all the world like a real Rolex from the front and sides. However, the back is a different matter. Having gone to the trouble to get the size, shape, weight, bracelet, fonts, dial, hologram and Helium Release Valve right, they messed the whole thing up by making 2 spelling mistakes on the caseback....DOH!!!!!! Look closely at the image above. Look at the words ESCAPE and ORIGINAL. They are spelt ORIOINAL and ESOAPE. The interesting thing is, if you look at many of the sites selling Sea-Dweller fakes they never show the caseback or cover those words. I guess they were all made at the same plant and have the same duff caseback.

Ultimately all these watches are actually decent watches in their own right. They could certainly be regulated to be more accurate and all are comfortable to wear and are in fact decent quality products. The luminosity on all 3 watches is also not so bad. They all glow pretty well when charged and certainly the Sea-Dweller lasts for several hours and is still fairly readable. The watches look good, but then that is not surprising as they are copies of very expensive and very sought after timepieces. I think that the time has actually come that the manufacturers of the fakes could make decent watches in their own right and perhaps that is the future for them. For me it was an interesting experience owning the replicas of my Grail watches. When I first got the Speedmaster, I thought "why would I ever spend a couple of grand on a real one when the fake is just as good", well the more I wore it the more I wanted a real one. The same for the Navitimer and the Sea-Dweller. I stopped wearing the Sea-Dweller because I live in Aberdeen, which is the capital of the European oil industry and there are loads of people who wear Rolex Submariners and Sea-Dwellers. I was kind of embarrassed to wear the fake among them. I have compared it to real ones lately and even though it is a really close match, I feel awkward wearing it. As I have more watches than I have fingers and toes, it is unlikely that I'll wear these much anymore so I'll probably just sell them.

I hope people have found this interesting.The ultimate message is not about morals or wearing fakes. Everyone can make their own decisions, the message is...... be very careful out there because these things are getting better all the time and the unknowing and unsuspecting buyer could pay a lot of money for something that looks and feels like the real thing, but is pure fake.

Oh and one other thing you should know about buying one from abroad is; if customs open it and think it is real then you will pay the duty on a real one. If they think it is fake they will just keep it.

Dr. Pete Millar - Jan 2006