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even years ago, watch fan Andrew Dakin bought a Movado watch on eBay for $500. It looked like a mint timepiece, well-maintained and classically styled. He had just started collecting watches, so he was happy to get a deal on a unique and valuable timepiece.“At that point I was probably like 30 watches in so I thought I knew what I was doing,” said Dakin, describing his early collecting experiences.
Many first-time collectors like to create huge collections of watches, picking up cheaper pieces to get a feel for the market. This Movado was something special, however. It was made by a classic maker made famous by their ultra-minimalist Museum watch, a piece featuring a dot, a noon and nothing else. The watch arrived in the mail and it looked legitimate. He wore it for a while and then took it to a jeweler to see how much it would be worth if he cleaned it up and resold it.
The jeweler took the watch to the back of the shop and came back upset.
It was a fake. A very good fake.
Ebay and other online markets have always trafficked in fakes. From fake memory cards[1] to swap meet Louis[2] it’s hard for the average online consumer to tell if they are buying real products and often they don’t care. But in the case of watches like Movado, Omega and Rolex, it’s getting harder to tell the real from the replica and the stakes are surprisingly high.
“I would have worn and eventually sold it thinking it was real had I never compared to a real one,” said Dakin. He was impressed.
“Once you see a good fake it’s actually scary to think...