Michael Briese Helps People Spot a Counterfeit Watch

If you hope to purchase a branded watch, then you must ensure that you aren’t accidentally purchasing a counterfeit. Sometimes, this is clear. Walk along the streets of New York, for instance, and you will spot vendors of fake watches everywhere. Every once in a while, a heist happens and these vendors get busted, but they return very quickly. In fact, there are now even Facebook pages and email campaigns with clearly counterfeit products. According to Michael Briese, however, the problem lies in the watches that are such good copies that they become hard to tell apart. He aims to help people identify those.

How to Identify a Fake Rolex or Other Luxury Watch According to Michael Briese

Imitations today exist of literally every brand of watch and you can purchase them virtually everywhere. While people know that they should get a certificate of authenticity with them, those are easy to fake as well, as are the instruction manuals, kits, bags, and boxes. Rolex is particularly targeted with this and it seems almost impossible to fight this.

You should never purchase a watch that you cannot check through and through first. The materials should be genuine and feel heavy. The warranty certificate should tell you what the materials used on the watch are. On a Rolex, for instance, the face and back should be made of sapphire crystal, which is virtually scratch-proof. Meanwhile, materials such as titanium and steel should feel very heavy. A counterfeit is often made from aluminum, which doesn’t weigh as much. The mechanism should also clearly be quartz.

If, when you want to buy a watch, you wonder if it is a fake, then simply do not buy it. A recent survey from Switzerland, however, showed that, each year, between 30 and 40 million watches are forged every year. And some of those are excellent copies. 40% of them come from China, but they are usually quite easy to spot, as they are manufactured using a photograph as an example.

Two Types of Counterfeits

Another thing to be aware of, is the fact that counterfeits come in two types:

1. The cheap models with low prices and poor quality design and functionality. They bear a passing resemblance to the real deal, but no more.

2. The real counterfeits, which have high price tags and are manufactured using good quality materials. These look just like the real deal, and they have a very similar price tag as well.

There are a few things to look into when buying a Rolex in particular. Firstly, their back case should be transparent and it is also fitted with a range of unique features. The logo design, meanwhile, should be 100% genuine. Additionally, you will find that a real Rolex is quite heavy, and certainly heavier than most counterfeit models. If you purchase from a genuine dealer, they should also have no problem with you taking some time to check the serial number of the watch with the manufacturer.