# These “tells” that give away knockoff merchandise **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850 "2025-02-26T23:55:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/61 "2025-02-28T18:27:30Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Perhaps the knockoff second hand on your fake Rolex stops and starts rather than making a continuous movement. Even a Rolex doesn’t make a true continuous movement. I think is six or eight ticks per second. I have one. The only true continuous second hands I have ever seen are on plug-in electric wall clocks. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/62 "2025-02-28T18:28:58Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Is this some sort of legal fiction meant to shield the knockoff manufacturers from legal/civil action No. The part that is illegal is using someone else’s registered trademark either on the product itself or to represent the product. Quality that falls short of the original _per se_ is not a shield. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/63 "2025-02-28T18:59:59Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I have seen some Rolex “Pepsi” dials" in red and blue. They look like a toy watch to me but I guess they are popular? Even after some market pullback, those are still being [sold in the secondary market for about 2x MSRP](https://watchcharts.com/watch_model/733-rolex-gmt-master-ii-pepsi-126710blro/overview). The Pepsi (BLRO) GMT-Master II in stainless steel is _unbelievably_ difficult to get. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Remontoire? YES! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/64 "2025-02-28T23:44:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > The only true continuous second hands I have ever seen are on plug-in electric wall clocks. Grand Seiko Spring Drive. > **[GRAND SEIKO – Spring Drive Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEorK6elZM%2F)** > > Read more: https://timeandtidewatches.com/ Join the club: https://www.timeandtide.club/Shop: https://shop.timeandtidewatches.com/GRAND SEIKO – Spring Drive E... ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/65 "2025-03-01T00:46:30Z")
The Dankpods YouTube channel started out ranting about MP3 players, including knockoff iPods. Some made an effort at the design - you could easily imagine someone who wasn’t so tech-savvy picking one up as a gift - but most were noticably garbage. My company doesn’t deal with consumer luxury goods, but we had a rash of counterfeit electrical parts many years ago, to the extent that we had to implement special training and procedures to address the problem. Most of these counterfeits were very obvious due to poor build quality, but a handful weren’t detected until someone noticed issues with the labeling. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/66 "2025-03-01T23:51:27Z")
Is this gatekeeping of the merch for only certain buyers, a la what Rolex and Ferrari do, typical in the luxury brand industry? Does Lamborghini also care who buys their cars? Or does the dealer only care about the check clearing? Does Gucci reserve their most coveted products for loyal customers, or is it first come, first served? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/67 "2025-03-02T00:00:02Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Is this gatekeeping of the merch for only certain buyers, a la what Rolex and Ferrari do, typical in the luxury brand industry? Yes, that’s pretty common. But typically only for the higher-end, limited production products. Ferrari might be the worst as they hold a more, centralized list of their “good” buyers. But Lamborghini, while easy to buy their core offerings, still evaluates buyers for their limited edition, more premium cars. Even Porsche does it, although more at the dealer specific level. Want a Boxster? Step right up. Want a Boxster Sypder RS? The dealer _might_ sell you one off the floor for an enormous markup above msrp. If you want to order one, well, that dealer will have already committed all their allocations to known repeat buyers. ---
**Author:** ![Flightless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Flightless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flightless)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/68 "2025-03-02T00:24:02Z")
An Eames/Herman Miller Chair has 4 legs on the Ottoman. I learned that the expensive way. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/69 "2025-03-02T01:34:41Z")
Hmm, The interior of this Testarossa reminds me of my first car, a 1973 Chevy Vega, except for the gull-wing doors which don’t seem to open or close properly. And is the sound of the engine coming from speakers in the front? Isn’t this a mid-engine? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/70 "2025-03-02T01:45:28Z")
What Testarossa? Perhaps I’m being whooshed here, but those don’t have gull wing doors anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/71 "2025-03-02T01:51:05Z")
Oh rats. I think my $200K Testarossa might be a fake then. (JK, of course you’re right) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/72 "2025-03-02T05:15:05Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > typical in the luxury brand industry? The idea of limited run very expensive specials is relatively new. Well a few decades for cars. And always very expensive compared to ordinary Ferraris or the like. Think 5 times and worse. The margins are huge at this point. Which is another reason why manufactures do them. In times gone past special edition cars were homologation specials, made in just enough numbers to allow the car to compete under rules intended for road cars. Hence GTO (where the O was for hOmologation.) Make 500 cars and you could race the model against production cars, and clean up. But collectors started to pay silly money for them. Didn’t take long for the penny to drop and made for collectors special editions to arrive. The usual story goes that by the time the special car is released they are all accounted for. Even if they are not. These are the Veblen goods of Veblen goods. The whole charade is built on rarity and exclusivity. It isn’t enough to be rich. You need to be special and very rich. Buying into a club that even the ordinary rich won’t even get invited to. Ferrari are very good at this. If you reach the inner sanctum you can lease a real older F1 car, and have the right to race it against other moneyed enthusiasts in special Ferrari race days. Ferrari will do all the prep and maintenance. You just turn up for the occasional day of _very_ expensive cosplay. Pandering to human foibles will never cease to be a tactic to make money. Most watch brands do limited editions. Similar idea on manufacturing scarcity. It varies dramatically between little more than a cosmetic change eg. - Omega and the 007 edition Seamaster - to ridiculous complications, finishing and artistry from many boutique high horology brands. Eventually you just get bespoke pieces. Same deal. A manufactured exclusivity and membership of an inner circle. What sets some of this apart is that this exclusivity isn’t always apparent to anyone not interested in the product. A Phillipe Dufore or Rodger Smith looks, to most people, like just a nice watch. Maybe a bit stodgy in looks. It doesn’t yell out that the owner can afford a Rolex. If you were mugged wearing one, the muggers would probably ignore it. But membership of a very exclusive club it does bring. How much that matters to an individual owner is hard to say. Collectors get into hobbies for different reasons. If you like watches and can afford seven figures for a piece, you probably gravitate to that level of exclusivity. Even if you are “that guy” at parties that just talks about watches. Collectors are an anomaly in Veblen goods. Collectors become obsessive, and if you have decided that you want every model G-Shock, you may end up spending silly money on very rare editions that other obsessive collectors also want. Someone who has set their heart on a collection of every dial colour ever produced on a Rolex Datejust is making a rod for their own back. And they will wonder why they never get dinner invitations. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2025, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/73 "2025-03-02T08:43:11Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > They make Gucci throughout the shift, then instead of shutting down for the night they use crappier materials and a slightly different brand name at night. Lots of people say that, but when I worked for the Japanese branch off of a US manufacturer, we had set up production in China and there were people from the head office living there and working in the factories. I suspect it would be a lot harder to hide a whole manufacturing process at a factory than what this story suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/74 "2025-03-02T14:07:17Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I suspect it would be a lot harder to hide a whole manufacturing process at a factory than what this story suggests. My understanding is that they don’t really _try_ to hide it; knowing that knock offs will be made is part of the cost of manufacturing those things in China. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/75 "2025-03-02T15:53:26Z")
That certainly wasn’t the experience of the company I worked for. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/76 "2025-03-02T16:29:13Z")
“Ghost shifts” are a thing but I wouldn’t assume that they’re at every factory or even a majority. A bunch of factors such as security, company culture, availability of materials, value of product, etc no doubt factor in. For instance, a lot of ghost shift manufactured clothing is made from textiles rejected during the normal quality control process. This means the factory has a supply of materials outside the normal inventory tracking (since they were “destroyed”) to make detection more difficult than if they were using standard inventory and cheaper than bringing in their own. Obviously not all factories and products have something like this available to them. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/77 "2025-03-03T04:48:17Z")
I bought two ties in Korea, a genuine Polo by Ralph Lauren, and a cheap knockoff. The real Polo emblem was stitched in. The fake one was printed and was facing the wrong way. I feel so dirty wearing the fake one, but the color scheme really snaps with my navy blazer. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/78 "2025-03-27T21:14:11Z")
I went to Thailand in 1993 and a buddy of mine asked me to buy him a fake Rolex. I got one for maybe $10 if that. It was an obvious cheap fake to the point that the crown on the logo had one fewer point that normal. The kicker…he still wears it and it still keeps good time. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/79 "2025-03-27T23:57:45Z")
I bought a crap fake wind-up Rolex for IIRC $25 from an NYC street vendor in ~1990. Damned thing looked & worked great for 20 years then seized up solid. Cheaper to pitch than fix. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/80 "2025-03-28T00:04:48Z")
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