The idea of spending tens of thousands of pounds on a luxury watch , such as a Rolex, only to find out that it’s a fake when you take it in for a service is enough to make your stomach turn. But, according to The Watch Register, there’s about a one in ten chance of it happening. Instances of fake watches being checked on the site have increased 116 per cent since last year, the company said.
Technological developments have encouraged a boom in high-end counterfeiting, with CNC machines like 3D printers helping to make fakes harder to spot. For mid-range fakes—i.e.
, good but not great— teams use serial number checks to identify fakes being offered on the open market by collecting known counterfeit serial numbers from international police forces, insurers, members of the pre-owned watch trade, and auction houses. In the past, shallow engravings and peeling paint were the go-to evidence of a dupe, but fake timepieces can increasingly only be identified by specialist authentication . Ten per cent of the 40m fake watches produced every year are deemed “almost undetectable” unless inspected by a professional authenticator or the original manufacturer.
“Fake watches are definitely getting better, and harder to spot,” a spokesperson for Imperial Watches in London said. “For new players, it’s an issue..
. It is common knowledge that there are triple-A options available,” he added. “We’ve seen scenarios where a customer looking to sell a watch discovered on ins.