# How can my son-in-law check the authenticity of a Citizen wristwatch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825 "2011-04-18T13:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/1 "2011-04-18T13:12:43Z")
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!)? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/2 "2011-04-18T13:30:41Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > 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. 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? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/3 "2011-04-18T13:31:38Z")
Was US$125 a reasonable price for that model of watch? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/4 "2011-04-18T15:17:39Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > At any rate, does anyone know of a reliable way to check Citizen-ship (HA!)? A jeweler can pop the cover and tell you by looking at the clockworks for 30 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/5 "2011-04-18T19:02:41Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > 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? 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? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/6 "2011-04-18T19:32:17Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > At any rate, does anyone know of a reliable way to check Citizen-ship (HA!)? Ummm, [maybe their web site](http://www.citizenwatch.com/)? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/7 "2011-04-18T20:01:35Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Ummm, [maybe their web site](http://www.citizenwatch.com/)? How’s that going to help identify a knockoff? ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/8 "2011-04-18T20:33:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/9 "2011-04-18T20:40:35Z")
It’s a quartz movement watch. $125 sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/10 "2011-04-18T21:22:24Z")
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](http://www.amazon.com/TAG-Heuer-CJF211A-BA0594-Automatic-Chronograph/dp/B001U3YF2K/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1303161502&sr=8-13). 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? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/11 "2011-04-18T21:22:56Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![macnut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@macnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/macnut)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/12 "2011-04-19T00:19:47Z")
[http://www.ehow.com/how\_5834205\_spot-fake-citizen-watches.html](http://www.ehow.com/how_5834205_spot-fake-citizen-watches.html) ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/13 "2011-04-19T00:55:50Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/14 "2011-04-19T01:06:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/15 "2011-04-19T13:03:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![curious11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@curious11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious11)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/16 "2011-04-19T13:21:40Z")
Was the watch New In The Box, or was a mugger fencing his ill gotten gains? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/17 "2011-04-19T13:34:54Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > 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? All the fake brand name golf clubs I’ve seen from China have fake holograms as well. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-son-in-law-check-the-authenticity-of-a-citizen-wristwatch/578825/18 "2011-04-19T17:03:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 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. 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.