Hello All,
Bored and can’t sleep so I do a Google search for Rolex. I was amazed at all of the sites selling replica Rolex watches. The first thing that surprised me was the “quality” of the replicas. I have seen some very good quality knock offs before but I was amazed at the number of different styles available and how “genuine” they looked.
I know that this isn’t something new, but what struck me as odd is the number of sites selling these and doing so “in the open” as if there isn’t a problem selling the knock offs. I am amazed that the Rolex legal dept. hasn’t shut everyone of these down the second they pop up. Has Rolex just given up and accepted that their product is going to be copied and there isn’t anything they can do to stop it? I mean, it isn’t like it is going to cost them any sales. If someone is in the market for a Rolex and has the means to purchase one, they aren’t going to purchase a $300 copy, they want the real thing. Seems to me that the people who are going to purchase the copies are the ones who couldn’t afford a Rolex to begin with.
So, my thinking is that they aren’t losing many if any legitimate sales to begin with. The problem I see for them is the dilution of brand image, although Rolex is such a revered name and those who own the real thing aren’t, in my opinion, concerned about Joe Six Pack and his fake Rolex making theirs unenviable.
So, what’s the deal. How are these sites able to freely sell these without a world of legal hurt coming down on them?
They do get sued, but you can’t sue everyone. I even read about a man taking back Rolex knockoffs from China and customs wanted to assess him over $50,000 for the watches, even though they knew they were fake.
I don’t know much about watches, but here’s what I can tell you about that kind of operation in general (knockoff merchandise of all types).
They are typically not run directly by the manufacturers; instead they’re run by affiliates, sometimes through several layers of a MLM scheme. Some of them are straight up scams that never deliver anything. Some are honest about the fact that they sell fakes, others misrepresent them as the real thing.
Most of them have a short lifespan - a few months tops. They’re either shut down for using spam to advertise, for breaking their web host’s AUP, or perhaps by the owner in order to cover their tracks. Perhaps some are shut down for counterfeiting, I don’t know about that part.
They’re usually connected with China. Obviously that’s where the manufacturing is. Often they’re hard to pin down: the goods are in China, the domain is registered in the UK to an American address and run from Thailand, the spam is sent from Burma through a Romanian proxy, the URL advertised in spam redirects to one hosted on a totally different network, and so on. Who do you call to shut them down?
Then there’s the sheer volume. There are probably tens of thousands of these operating at any given time. New ones roll in as the old ones vanish. There’s minimal cost and effort required to create new sites, and there are so many layers between the site and the people responsible for it that there’s no risk in them doing so.
An important point about trademarks is that you must defend them to keep them. In those countries where Rolex has a trademark, they are required to pursue anyone who is infringing upon it. And they will.
Fake brand name goods are illegal imports into most western countries. So it is very difficult to actually market or sell them, except on street corners (“Copy watch for you Sir?”), or on the Internet, where they run the gauntlet of postal inspection and seizure.
Fake Rolexes seem to be a rather special fake watch. There seems to be a remarkable amount of care taken over the better ones. So much so you need to know what a real one looks like to be able to tell, and even then you could be fooled. (Until you took the back off.) Rolex have stepped up the game over time, resorting to such features as laser micro-engraving, and on some watches high tech ceramic finishes. These are difficult to fake, and are more obvious if you have a real watch next to a fake one. If the truth be known, it wasn’t a very long time ago when many Swiss watches were not nearly so well finished as we expect now. Fakes had a lower bar to reach. The better fakes go as far as to match weights and dimensions. However the vast majority won’t stand scrutiny in the flesh. The most obvious is that the cheap fakes don’t have mechanical movements. Rolex have never made a watch with a quartz movement, so is the second hand jumps once a second, it is a cheap fake. The low grade fakes are little more than cheap watches with a Rolex name on them. There are many brand name fakes like this, where the name is about the only thing in common with a a real model. But for a Rolex, an Explorer II or Daytona are favourites of the fakers, and require significantly more effort. A Daytona has a different layout of sub-hands (both in location and function) to the common mechanical chronograph movements, so are easily spotted if you know. But there are good quality fakes that use Valjoux 7750 movements and good quality cases that are pretty hard to spot apart from this issue. They would even legally qualify as a Swiss Watch, bar the overt brand faking. They are sufficiently expensive that you could buy a medium quality Swiss watch for the same money. Clearly someone like that really really wants the fake brand name.
There are a whole range of other fakes about. Some hilariously bad. Some remarkably good from a cosmetic point of view. The real brand names will go after the sellers when they can.
No matter what, it is a strange sort of person that wears a copy watch. That alone makes the market a bit self limiting. It is rare to actually forge a brand name watch and to pass it off as real. Not new anyway.
That’s an interesting point. I work in anti-spam so I see a lot of these web sites. I just did a quick scan and it does seem like the watch sellers invariably describe them as replicas. The rest - fashion for example - almost always try to pass the goods off as genuine. Often they’ll explicitly describe them as authentic.
Francis Vaughan makes excellent points. I read online that some of them qualify for Swiss watches though they are the cheapest mechanisms allowed. This would run about about $5.00 cost. So you add in all the other cost, the site says an excellent Rolex knockoff would cost about $40 bucks to make and sells for about $400 (USD).
I listed a real Rolex on eBay only to have the listing removed within hours, Rolex was claiming I was selling a fake. I had to provide proof (an appraisal from a jeweler) that the watch was real before I could relist the watch. Make some good cash on that sale, bought it for $100 at an estate sale, sold it for $1100.
Yeah they did- the Oysterquartz, back in the 70s and 80s. Not sure when it went out of production. But yes, you’re right- the Submariners, Explorers and Daytonas never had quartz movements.
I had (still have, I guess) several fake Rolexes (Roli?) and Movados that I bought on Canal St. and one form Hong Kong.
It’s much harder to find them nowadays, the fakes police are getting more nasty apparently. It used to be a civil action, and much like whack-a-mole. Server one person with an injucton, 2 others start selling in his place. Lately, I understand, the activity has become a criminal charge - much more serious.
Rolex fakes can be everything from gaudy brassy “gold” to nice sedate fake silver or stainless steel ones. The first I bought, for $10 about 20 years ago, the crystal fell off 2 months later. Most have wrist bands that tend to turn green from sweat inside within a few weeks. I had one good one (cost $60US) that lasted for 2 years, and the silver finish was starting to wear off. It even came with the case and little warranty booklet, obviously meant to fool mail-order clients. The most recent, I bought in Hong Kong for about $50US and it stopped working in 12 hours.
Buyer beware. Of course, I showed the watch at work and one lady said “Wow! A rolex!!” the other said “Hmmph! Is that one of those fake Mexican rolexes?” Nowadays I don’t bother with a watch.
Of course, if you are bored, try to determine the location of your web site. Either it’s hosted at some “for rent” web hosting site, or it is hosted overseas where it’s harder for Rolex to figure out who to sue and where authorities are in no hurry to help.
I recall someone who had a work contract for New Caledonia ( a French protectorate or Department, IIRC) who mentioned that bringing fakes into “France” meant the police would (a) charge yyou the luxury import tax on the item as if it were real and then (b) confiscate it because it is fake. I have not heard of individuals being hassled over carrying something as personal property across the broder in Canada, the USA, or to Europe, but commercial shipments and mail you send at the risk the item may be confiscated without any option to claim it or get a refund from the seller.
I have a Rolex in gold and stainless that I’ve had for 30+ years. I’ve had it cleaned and reset several times by the Rolex dealer and it still regularly loses a few minutes every month.
In Bangkok the fake Rolex dealers are all over Sukhumvit road and, as Beowulff mentioned, the quartz movements ALL keep much better time than my authentic Rolex. I found some of the fakes to be a very good deal as long as I stayed away from the gold ones. They turn your wrist green after a few days.