While in Mexico last week, my son-in-law purchased a wristwatch for around US$125. The watch face clearly says that it is a Citizen and there does not seem to be any reason to think that it isn’t. However, now he’s worried that the watch may be counterfeit and not a Citizen. Why he didn’t think of this possibility before is beyond me.
At any rate, does anyone know of a reliable way to check Citizen-ship (HA!)?
In these cases, it’s always better to wonder to think if you have any reason to think it is genuine. But if he likes the watch, why “worry” about it?
Was US$125 a reasonable price for that model of watch?
A jeweler can pop the cover and tell you by looking at the clockworks for 30 seconds.
That’s what I told him. He likes the watch. He paid what he thought it was worth (I think he could have bartered down more, but whatever). Why worry with it?
Ummm, maybe their web site?
How’s that going to help identify a knockoff?
There is an online market for really good fake watches. Really good.
A ‘proper’ fake Panerai, Rolex, TAG, Chopard etc goes for between $250 and $600.
If a top of the line Citizen is about $600 and the average one is about $200. I just don’t see the market for a fake.
It’s a quartz movement watch. $125 sounds about right.
My brother-in-law just got a watch from a friend as a gift. His friend got it in Beijing for $40 (forty dollars). It’s an absolute perfect knock-off of an $3600 (thirty six hundred dollar) watch. It’s perfect down to the tiniest detail. It’s got a glass back, so you can see the movement inside. Very cool.
I agree with other posters that your son-in-law certainly now owns a fake. But if he likes it, who cares?
My Sam’s Club Mexico Citizen came with a hologram card. Apparently those are harder to forge than watches. Did he get a hologram card with his?
A lot of fakes are not even true fakes but what are known as 3rd shift somethings somethings like the toss outs and defected ones or w/e get picked up by the staff and resold on the street
At the risk of sounding really…really, if he bought it in Mexico, it’s fake. That should be the default position for any purchase made at any place other than a super-ritzy shop in Mexico City or Acapulco.
Or, you know, Sam’s Club. And there are super-ritzy shops in other cities. And they don’t have to be super ritzy shops. Just avoid the stands and the tiangis and the people selling out of their doors. I think “respectible” is a good-enough descriptor of where to go.
Drum God, where did you say he bought it? Silenus is probably on the right track.
Was the watch New In The Box, or was a mugger fencing his ill gotten gains?
All the fake brand name golf clubs I’ve seen from China have fake holograms as well.
At the risk of being silly, there are obvious exceptions. I bought a warm blanket in Mexico once. It is definitely a genuine warm blanket.