Fighting the fake Rolex epidemic
Counterfeit watches are getting harder to spot, which makes it vital to deal with experts like Watchfinder when buying and selling pre-owned timepieces.
by Rob CorderApril 25, 2024
"Watchfinder and its parent company Richemont are ramping-up their mission to reduce the number of fake luxury watches being sold and circulated by criminals through secondary market dealers.
The illegal trade in counterfeit goods is estimated to be worth more than £8 billion in the UK, alone, and fake Rolexes are consistently top of the league for both supply of illegal replica watches and for demand.
A recent study by Uswitch into Google searches for fake luxury goods put Rolex top of the rogue league for both 2021 and 2022.
No other watch brand made the top 20, which explains why so much criminal finance is pouring into manufacturing Rolex watches, and movements. Criminals in far-flung parts of the world are investing in advanced equipment that helps them to make watches that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
“For two years in a row the Swiss watchmaker, Rolex, tops the list as the most in-demand counterfeit luxury brand. Annually, there are 312,000 searches around the globe for ‘fake Rolex’, as so many people want a lookalike of one of the world’s most famous watch labels,” a Uswitch spokesperson says.
Counterfeits spotted by watchfinder 1
Counterfeit watches discovered by Watchfinder.
Research by black market intelligence specialist Havoscope estimates that 40 million counterfeit watches are sold globally each year, generating a net profit of roughly $1 billion.
That means the illegal trade in counterfeit watches is equivalent to around 6% of the Swiss watch industry’s annual export value.
When it comes to units, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry recorded production of around 30 million genuine watches last year, so there is a worse than 50/50 chance a luxury watch bought through an illegitimate channel could be fake. “The extent of the problem is alarming,” a spokesperson for Watchfinder tells WatchPro.
If you think that, because multi-billion-dollar businesses likes of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet have deep pockets, the sale of fakes is akin to a victimless crime, think again.
The UK’s entire counterfeit industry is worth more than £8 billion, according to an ITV News report in 2023, and is proven to have strong links to human trafficking and terrorist organisations.
The problem is growing, with law enforcement struggling to keep up. Advances in manufacturing knock-offs coupled with rising demand for luxury goods like watches and handbags, which can have lengthy waiting lists, is both growing the counterfeit industry and making it harder to detect.
Watchfinder & Co. estimates that just five years ago, around 80% of fake watches could be identified just by looking at the outer case. Today, just 20% can be discovered this way and 80% require an in-depth inspection to be identified as fake.
This inspection process required constant and rising investment, which is why Watchfinder & Co is considered one of the most trusted companies for buying and selling pre-owned timepieces.
As many as 10% of all branded goods sold globally may be counterfeit and it is estimated that 80% of us have handled fake or falsified goods (whether wittingly or not).
Sales of luxury goods have soared in recent decades, but fakes have grown even faster. A study by Alice Sherwood in 2022 titled Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture suggests that counterfeits have increased by 10,000% in two decades.
The bigger the brand, the greater the problem. Rolex has by far the largest market share of all replica watches. As such, it’s not surprising that there are a plethora of clone movements available for the popular Rolex models.
Watchfinder & Co. has been filtering genuine watches from fakes for over 20 years and takes pride in its experience and expertise at protecting customers from the agony of innocently buying a counterfeit.
“Purchasing a luxury watch is a really special moment and something that often involves a significant amount of consideration and investment, so you can imagine the devastation people feel, if they discover the watch they’ve purchased turns out to be a fake. Sadly, it comes as no surprise to see how many people are being tricked into purchasing fake goods, especially as spotting them isn’t as easy as you would think. What’s equally concerning is how the rise of counterfeit goods is casting a shadow over the pre-owned sector,” says Arjen van de Vall, CEO of Watchfinder & Co.
Arjen van de vall watchfinder co. Ceo 3
Arjen van de Vall, CEO of Watchfinder & Co.
“This is why we are encouraging all pre-owned watch traders, retailers and marketplaces to publish their authentication policies, processes and credentials, as we do, so consumers gain faith in our sector. I am proud that I can say we have the most rigorous authentication process and policy in the industry and I encourage other legitimate pre-owned retailers to take positive action to keep building confidence in our industry,” he adds.
Every watch bought and sold by Watchfinder is meticulously inspected and prepared by highly trained, manufacturer-accredited watchmakers in a 60-step process that has been refined and perfected over two decades.
This starts with a check of each watch against international database to confirm its provenance and authenticity. During the servicing and any refurbishment, serial numbers on movements and case components can also be checked.
Consumer research conducted by Watchfinder has found that customers are suffering from unwittingly buying fake goods.
A survey of 2,000 adults across the UK by Watchfinder found that, in the last 12 months, 33% of Brits were scammed with a counterfeit item, having believed the article they were purchasing was in fact a genuine product.
The same study found that over a third (36%) who unintentionally bought a fake item mentioned they bought the item pre-owned, yet only 5% of pre-owned purchases have been made through a specialist retailer.
Uncovering fake watches may be an expensive and painstaking process at Watchfinder, but disposing of the counterfeits can be fun. The company recently shot a video that shows the company’s YouTube team destroy five fake watches with a British Army tank. Head over to the Watchfinder YouTube channel to see the results.
Another online feature helps the public identify fake watches by ... "
https://www.watchpro.com/fighting-the-f ... -epidemic/
