Help! I Bought a Fake Panerai: Comparing it with the Real Deal 

Thank you for the thoughtful message Earle 👍

this dude created thjs whole incident to make a controversial video for views. his videos werent even hitting 10 k views before this fake panerai video. its stupid to believe a well informed watch guy gets fooled so easily.

Thanks for the comment! It was a bitter pill to swallow, but all is well at the end 👍

this dude created this whole incident to make a controversial video for views. his videos werent even hitting 10 k views before this fake panerai video. its stupid to believe a well informed watch guy gets fooled so easily.

Great analogy! Too often the initial excitement gives way to disappoint as reality sets in. Reality is a B 😉

Morgan, always making me Google words 😆. That blue dial is memorizing! Yes, gotta just roll with the punches right? Not every step has to be forward, sometimes we shuffle a bit

@@WatchCrunchOfficial 😂 Great attitude Max

Panerai used ETA movements which are quite common, and as the patents expired many years ago they are carbon copied in China by several companies. This means when a watchmaker opens a Panerai he sees what s/he expects to see - an ETA looking movement. Pretty well the only differentiator between the real thing and a fake is the dial, and if the profit is in thousands, then the faker can spend a lot of money getting it right.

Smart man right here. And if you get a gen its a win.

@@Sht855 No need to pay more than $100 for a wrist watch that will look good & keep good time. I view with suspicion any big brand name watch and it's wearer as being a fake.

@@dustyfarmer they are all fake.

@@dustyfarmer sorry, but that’s stupid! What difference does it make if someone wears a fake or not? There’s a ton of watches out there that look really nice, but can’t be afforded by a lot of people, so that’s why they buy fakes or homages because they love the design, but that doesn’t make them a fake person. Of course if it’s a fucking annoying poser with a small dick and a massive inferiority complex the watch is most likely fake, but the watch doesn’t make a difference when it comes to his personality. Having said that, I’ve made nothing but bad experiences with fakes. They usually all fall apart after a few months or they get so banged up that you can’t wear them anymore. But there’s enough genuine watches out there for 100 to 300 bucks that are quite nice and will do the trick just nicely! And over time depending on how much money you spend on your fakes and how long they’ll last you’ll be better of buying something genuine, at least that was the case in my case. I bought some fakes in Thailand while I was living there for around 30 bucks a piece. One by one they all died after a couple of months. After 2 years of that I bought a Seiko SKX 007 for 175 bucks back in 2009 and it’s been my daily beater ever since, still running perfectly and it looks almost like new. I’ve replaced the bezel insert with a ceramic one and I’ve switched to a sapphire crystal about a year ago. The hardlex crystal it came with had two small scratches that were also still invisible and I’ve put that watch through hell. Best investment ever in terms of bang for the buck.

@@dustyfarmer not always for the materials used on some watches like 904 steel or 316 steel plus superluminova and sapphire cristal they actually use roughly about $400-700 worth of materials. So thats submariner costs around that to make. Again most of Rolex cost is advertising. But I think Grand Seiko is a much better brand than Rolex in Quality. Also you cannot fake a Grand Seiko Automatic Movement. A good fake rolex is around $500 and its extremely hard to tell unless you open it up.

You're welcome Tim, I need to nail your list of watch buying rules to my wall 😁

Thanks Pete, hope people can learn vicariously through my mistake

Thanks Petter! Welcome to the channel 👍

Thanks! It was definitely lesson learned so I wanted to pass it on and hopefully save someone the heartache 😊

Thanks Miguel! Keep up the good work down in Socal!

@@WatchCrunchOfficial Thank you brother!

Thanks ED, I learned the hard way, hoping others don't go through the same pain 😁

That's always the struggle isn't it!

Thanks dude! Appreciate it, more good stuff coming

Yeah Brian it's scary out there! Buy the seller 👍

Exactly! I feel lucky he was willing to work with me. Though he did drag it out over days... I did end up having to resort to threats before he refunded me most of the money. The watch is in a drawer somewhere, doesn't feel right wearing a fake for me.

Really glad it all worked out for you in the end and you didn’t spend thousands of dollars on a replica, even if it was a pretty good one. This is a perfect example that good things happen to good people. It’s great that you produced this video to share your experience. Hopefully it helps and prevents others from getting scammed. You’re one of the lucky ones!

Thanks Razvãn! Can't stop won't stop. That's a great idea 👍. My first mechanical watch was a visodate

Thank you David, and welcome to the channel 🙌

Haha, pouring my heart out 😅. Welcome to the channel

Thanks for the feedback! Yes definitely learned my lesson on this one

Yeah, not even a little. The Marina has a sandwich dial and this one does not.

Says a lot about Panerai, they were never that popular and suddenly tonsif fakes turned up...tells us they are easy to copy.

​@@dagnutPanerai was never popular? Wrong. Panerai was a watch for REAL collectors.

Congrats Andrew! I think you'll be surprised how well it fits!

I suspect this guy was in that exact situation.

@@WatchCrunchOfficial or he did find out and wanted to get rid of it

Scary stuff. I learned the hard way

Cheers Martin! Welcome 😊

Thanks Dave 😁

Yeah I was lucky, the price I paid for education😅

There ARE some pretty well made and high end movement fakes, if it serves you well then that's what matters

@@nikkimiddlekillsday5161 if that’s what you’re ok with. I prefer the real thing. In my humble opinion why wear a fake of replica. You can fool other people but you can’t fool yourself.

@@bertrammccray8847 I do somewhat agree with what you're saying, but if I can get a "fake" that's just as well made with a movement as good and dial and casing that's beautifully done I could live with that especially since I'm an average guy that works in repairs and NOT a guy that has money lol

@@bertrammccray8847 I've been collecting watches since I was a kid, my uncle and father are jewelers and another uncle is a watch maker. So when I buy a watch I want a good quality movement and a case and dial that I enjoy, names aren't too much of a concern for me

Yes I just admit I didn't know much about panerai at the time and thought this was my gateway drug, lesson learned. I'm still intrigued and hope to play with more in the future. 👍

Thank you!

Interesting. So many nuiances with these high end pieces. Good recommendation to meet at the AD if the watch is local! Thanks

Great idea Gavin, go into the lion's den ;)

Yes, definitely lucked out. Seems that he was duped himself. I kept the watch, so I can make this video

HAHA thats sick dude. i just ordered my first rep. will be here in a week. im stoked.

Where would one find these online? I just purchased one in Dubai

Yeah, Rolexes are great investments, but hey, if you don't sell your Panerai, then you haven't lost the money right ;)

To each their own. I personally would hate the thought of supporting counterfeiters.

Yes good call, at that stage, I had no idea the replicas were so damn close 🤦‍♂️

@@WatchCrunchOfficial yea man, I was very intrigued of how “good” those replica are couple of years ago, I did a deep dive researching those what they called the super clones. There are watch enthusiasts who takes a super clone (mostly Rolex), and put authentic dial, hands, and etc on them, and I think they called it the Frankenstein. The details on those Frankenstein are almost flawless, a regular person most likely can’t tell if they are clones or authentic, and for professionals, they probably would have to open the casing to verify authenticity.

Oh Jesus, that's a bad time. Hope they were responsive when you contacted them about that terrible experience.

I think you are right Mike, that mechanism must be hard to duplicate. The real one closes with much more confidence

Id buy one lol just don't know where

A good one is about $250 range to $350

gay

@@bodyemcal gay

@@Sht855 gay

Right, panerai really didn't empathize their movements until recently 👍

@@WatchCrunchOfficial no, they still don't decorate movement parts that aren't visible thru the casebook. Also they recently launched a very expensive model claiming it has an in-house movement when you can clearly see it's NOT in-house. They're losing credibility with nonsense like this.

It was the wrong regulator system 🤷‍♂️

Negative, came in a shitty box 👎

@@WatchCrunchOfficial thank you. so sorry man I hope the guy lose all his money if he did it intentionally

Yeah it's a whole other set of concerns with vintage: Franken watches

@@WatchCrunchOfficial Franken watches in my eyes are a bigger problem due to all the auction drama with frankens recently, it's never been a more dangerous time to be a watch collector

Just kidding, great video 😃👌🏾🇳🇱

Haha, you had me for a sec 😮

This really makes no difference, any copier will doubless be photographing and vectorizing the entire font/ logo in order to get the kerning correct and then producing the litho pattern from that with whatever technology (probably chemical etch) A better option might be to use custom inks with a particular signature that could be identified spectroscopically, then fakers would not only have to match visual color but also chemical composition of the ink.

@@mytuberforyou With regards to fonts: not as easy as you think. -The more hurdles, the better. Why do it in Arial or Times New Roman when it really could and should be something else. It’s tampon printing, and yes, a proprietary ink would certainly help.

Yeah, I've had good experiences with C&C as well. I imagine Bob's watches is another reputable reseller.

Good info. Thanks!

I think he's done, the shop closed unfortunate

@@WatchCrunchOfficial They were a great shop, and I'm sure he'll be enjoying his retirement. I've never used Nesbits before, but they impressed me in the video with their knowledge.

Cheers 🍻

I did manange to get most of my money back after a long conversation with the seller.

Mostly on Reddit watchexchange 👍

@@WatchCrunchOfficial thanks!

Sorry to hear that. Not sure what you mean by "doesn't have a plate"

Lesson learned...

@@jacobygulsten1103 I lol at all the young kids with these oversized fake gold and fake diamond watches. Rap videos are to blame. Plus all those cars in the videos are all rented😂

No, I only used chrono 24 to compare prices. It was from the forums

@@WatchCrunchOfficial oh that makes sense. Thanks!

It's what I had on hand...but yes, very poor movement on the fake.

I just saw that interview... how cool! He basically put that company on the map