Horology fans, you’re in luck. This week’s Fashion segment is all about fine time pieces, or what less knowledgeable people call “watches”.
I’m off to Europe tomorrow and will be passing through my home town, a small city in southern England called London. My brother being a bit of a horologist himself, gave me a list of a few watches he’d quite like to get his hands on, namely this, this, and this. Some of these watches sell for over 10,000 US dollars, but the ever increasingly sophisticated Chinese counterfeiters have long moved on from just producing fake Rolex and Cartier watches and now copy many more niche and obscure brands as well.
I like a bit of a challenge, so I popped down to the fake market on Nanjing Road West (corner of Chengdu Road) to see if I could find any fake versions of these watches and here’s what I managed to pick up:
Audemars Piguet – Not the exact model requested but the fact that they make fake versions of this brand at all amazes me.
IWC “Ingenieur” with steel bracelet
Again, not the exact model requested but I quite like this one so if he doesn’t want it, it’s going in to my own collection.
Panerai Luminor Marina (44mm)
Not on the list, but I myself have a genuine version of this watch (the smaller 40mm version) with a leather strap and love it. It’s interesting how the dial that shows the seconds is far closer to the centre than the genuine model. I guess they had trouble making the mechanise so close to the edge of the face.
My genuine Panerai bought in HK in March 2007 for 31,500 HK dollars.
I was in HK recently and the price is now about 42,000 dollars due to both currency appreciation (Euro vs the HK dollar) as well as Panerai’s own rapid and frequent price increases, so I did quite well on that deal.
Oh, just one important detail missing – the price. He started off at 760 rmb for one watch (over 100 USD) but I brought my Shanghainese colleague along with me and after I left the room to let them discuss the price, she came out 30 minutes later and announced she got all 3 for a total of 520 rmb (74 USD). All I could hear was the sales guy still in the back room, sobbing like a baby.
Just for laughs, my hilarious brother optimistically mentioned that he’d be really impressed if I managed to find this watch in the Shanghai fake markets. Well bruv, not this time but my peeps down the market are working on it as we speak!
May 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
WoAi, I would have you pegged for a Patek Philippe man myself. I’ve found it quite interesting that as you delve into the seedy underworlds of the copied watch business there is a surprising amount of specialization. Each of the watch vendors that I frequent seem to have a strong suit. One store near my house has an amazing TagHuer selection that other stores I’ve been to can’t touch. I would imagine that if you look hard enough you’d find a watch store that carries nothing but different variations of the famous waving mao watch. (which by the way has outlasted all of my other copied watches, something to say about the longevity of Mao i would imagine)
May 30th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Matt – Thanks for the rare comment. You’re right. That’s why it takes so long to find the right watch. Some vendors had the AP but not the IWC and some had a good selection of IWC but not much by way of Panerai. But I prefer to buy all from one place to get better bargaining power. One store had a catalogue with about 50 AP watches – a bewildering range that made me dizzy from looking.
And yes, Mao is forever, but I think it’s the formaldehyde or whatever they used to stop his corpse from rotting.
Can’t say Patek Philippe has really caught my attention but I’ll have a closer look …
May 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
WOW, impressive
just the fact that you wrote this proves that your blog is so much better than host host swiss james.
too swiss james, please don’t take it personally
May 30th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Shopgirl – Obviously I agree my blog is much better, but why does this post prove it? Is it because he never goes shopping?
May 30th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
shopgirl: Maybe WoAi and Swiss James could have a Battle Of The Blogs to see which one is better?
I don’t know what it would actually involve, but it sounds like a promising title.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
but you seems to spend more time on it, like you write interesting topics from a humorous perspective so everyone understads
swss james does a lot of internal jokes that outsiders dont understand, and he doesnt seem to really care to think of the quality of his posts. Although his beer test was a very good post!!
May 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Rising above the bizarre digs at me, I also very much enjoyed your watch roundup WoAi!
That UR-202 thing is absolutely insane:
“The telescopic minute hands precisely adjust their length to follow the three vectors marking the minutes: 0 -14, 15 – 44, 45 – 60.
innovative new winding system regulated by compressing air utilizing minature turbines.”
Is it a joke?!
That Audemars PiggylyWiggly is the pick of the fakes for me.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
CP – Bring it on!
Shopgirl – I think we just have very different styles and focus. His humour is far better than mine but only (as you point out) if you understand it. I deliberately appeal to a wider audience but that means compromising some of the writing to cater to the lowest common denominator. James isn’t really using in jokes, but it’s often very British phrases and references which most Brits would understand instantly even if non-Brits might not. I admire his ability to stick to his guns and not try and please everyone all the time.
And an interesting topic for you might not be interesting to some of his readers.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I love you too WoAi!
Come on everyone, group hug.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
James – Yes that watch is INSANE isn’t it!! And I think my bruv is well excited about the AP. Love you too mate, group hug right back at you.
Shopgirl – Interested in a threesome since we’ll all be in Shanghai in a few weeks? Would make for a great group blog post.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
hehe, not threesome, but maybe we should collect all shanghai bloggers for a dinner or something. to exchange ideas and inspire each other? what do you think?
May 30th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Ooh cant wait to get my grubby paws on the AP! Shame about the Urwerk, but like you say another six months and I’m sure they will have found a way. I hope you subscribed to the stall holder’s newsletter so we can be 1st in line when his production reaches the stall
Hmmm, better post him a link to the Richard Mille models so he can get started on those too!
Speak to you over the weekend bruv.
June 1st, 2008 at 8:54 am
IWC eh? I want the IWC big pilot, but being a broke college student, i can not afford that as of right now.
WoAi, don’t you think 40mm is a big small? I like the big 42mm watches.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
not a fan of fakes, but those copies are incredible…
June 1st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Lei – I have a very small wrist, so the 40mm is perfect for my size. The 44mm would be bigger than my wrist although it might suit other guys better.
Picasso – Yeah I agree, I prefer to wear the real thing, but sometimes the fakes are good as a way to “test drive” a watch before making the bigger commitment to the real thing.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:06 am
woai – that might just be me than, if it’s anything smaller than 42mm, i think they are just too small for a man to wear.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 am
The pics dont do justice to the AP which looks and feels superb. I have already placed an order for various limited editions of this watch with woai. So if any of you readers fancy one for yourselves I suggest you get down to the market sharpish, before woai returns and relieves the guy of his entire stock!
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Glad you liked the AP bruv. I’ll be down to see my man as soon as I am back in Shanghai to buy up the remainder of his stock!
June 19th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hello Im going to be in shanghai for a week next Wednesday, and this post has inspired me to buy a few fake watches. Is this area of shanghai and this shop in particular hard to find?
Also you mention that a friend helped you get a good price, what is a average price for a non-shanghainese speaking foreigner.
sweet blog!
June 19th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Squidiot – The place is on West Nanjing Road at the corner of Chengdu Road, so it’s downtown. I suggest you aim for 150 rmb per watch and do NOT pay more than 200 rmb for any watch under any circumstances. Just walk away and they will chase you. But be warned they always open with a much higher price which is exactly why some foreigners end up paying 500 rmb for one.
Anyone can negotiate the price, it’s just a matter of knowing what the price is that is hard.
Let me know if I can be of further help.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
[...] as some of my good friends I do like a nice watch. I’m not really interested in expensive (or fake), mainstream stuff, it’s always the obscure, interesting stuff that interests me (yeah, [...]
November 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
The fake watch is not my cup of tea. I don’t even wear watch at my daily life. But I believe for some people it is quite worth collecting delicately-made watches, no matter the real ones or fake ones.