Beauty and function must be real to be given full value and appreciation.
In the past, forged works of art, we can also call them counterfeits, depended on exposure by a connoisseur -- the art dealer, art historian, curator or consultant who had the eye as well as access to the piece's provenance.
Today, scientific testing, ocular instruments and computer technologies are the new sleuthing tools for amateur as well as seasoned connoisseurs. These tools are becoming increasingly important in detecting counterfeit drawings, paintings, sculpture AND luxury wrist watches.
I'm pleased that Adam Harris, National Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Museum Guest Curator and Educator has written and teaches about how he differentiates genuine luxury watches from fake ones.
Mr. Harris provides us with a summary of modern -- and accessible tools for watch aficionados to expand their authenticity-confirming knowledge.
In Adam's recent article, he explains how to verify luxury wrist watches' sapphire crystal from glass dial coverings and how to examine the delicate finishing of such watches' internal movements.
Modern Tools for the Watch Evaluator Toolbox
(Permission given by author to reprint to his article for this blog)
William Shakespeare once wrote that “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio than are dreamt in your philosophy.” (Hamlet) – suggesting that knowledge is limited.
When it comes to counterfeit luxury watches, there is nothing more appropriate. Similarities and likenesses that we believed the counterfeiters could never have achieved are now becoming a reality. We need to better tools and techniques to aid us to differentiate the genuine from the fake. I am therefore going to explain, some of the tools that evaluators of genuine watches should have in their arsenal of tools to help differentiate genuine from fake pieces. These tools are all covered in depth in the National Association of Watch & Clock Collector’s course: Luxury or Lie? ™ How to Identify Genuine Watches.
Let’s start with the crystal, the material that covers the dial. Most manufacturers have now moved from plastic, to glass, and recently sapphire crystal. For example, Rolex started using sapphire crystals in the mid-70s in preference to glass due to its improved anti-scratch properties, and most luxury manufacturers quickly followed suit.
There are a number of subjective techniques to determine if the crystal is glass or sapphire that have been passed down among the profession ranging from:
• feeling it with your tongue (don’t ask how it works)
• the tapping method; where a sapphire will emit a low frequency sound
• viewing from the side; mineral glass (like most glass) has a green tint whereas sapphire is white or clear, depending on the quality of the material & finish
• the finger test (performed at normal room temperature) - mineral glass always feels cool to the touch, while sapphire feels like room temperature.
Surely we have something more scientific than any of these! Well we do have the “water beading” test. Placing a drop of water on a glass just spreads out all over the glass, while placing a drop of water on a sapphire causes a tightly held bead of water, like the example photos below:
You should be able to easily see on the Rolex with the red/blue bezel the tight “bead” of the water, while on the other watch the water spread out over the glass. This tool/test is slightly more technical than the earlier ideas, but hardly the most efficient.
Thankfully, there is much more scientific and accurate way of testing the composition of the crystal. This low cost tool is a must for anyone evaluating the authenticity of watches, and most people working with jewelry evaluation would already have this tool in their workshop. A low cost diamond tester, designed by the diamond industry to determine genuine diamonds from fake glass, can also be used to determine glass from a sapphire crystal.
Using this under $80 tool glass shows as green (perfect insulator), diamonds show red (and beep), and a sapphire crystal shows as orange, following in-between glass and diamond.
This tool can now be used to tell if a crystal is truly sapphire and also if the cyclops (the small magnifying glass over the date (on a Rolex) (is this only on Rolex or all cyclops?) is genuine. Also this simple tool can also determine if certain bezels are 100% genuine on luxury watches, but you need to attend the course for that “tip”. Pretty good for an $80 item!
Another essential tool is a good loupe, and especially when dealing with small watch parts, an illuminated loupe is best to help spot the tiny differences seen on counterfeit watch dials and movements versus genuine watches.
This tool is a 40X LED illuminated magnifier loupe with a very strong light – a must for under $5!
Here is an example where the above illuminated 40X loupe becomes an essential tool.
This miniscule anti-counterfeit “Laser Etched Crown” (LEC) on modern Rolex sapphire crystals cannot be seen with the naked eye, or with a low-powered loupe, however it is easily seen with an 40x illuminated loupe.
But not even these high powered illuminated loupes can always allow us enough magnification to spot the errors in some “Ultra Super Fakes” and in those cases, a high definition 500X digital microscope is the best tool a watch valuator can have in their toolbox. These microscopes are compact desktop units that can be stand-a-lone with their built in display, or attached to a computer for even greater flexibility. The example below can be bought for about $300 and allow us to examine very closely movement and dial photos like this:
This amazing tool allows us to very closely examine the finish on movements. Swiss movements are finished to a variety of different levels depending on the price you pay for the watch. The highest levels of hand-work are reserved for the exclusive haute-horologie brands such as Patek Philippe, Breguet, and Audemars Piguet. However, even less commercial brands will have some degree of finishing to them. When the counterfeiters try to copy these processes, they produce a rougher result or finish. Using a HD microscope you can see genuine examples of “luxury” Swiss brand movement finishes.
In today’s world of counterfeits, one can never take a watch at face value and as the secondary market grows for pre-owned luxury timepieces, jewelers, auctioneers, appraisers, and pawnbrokers are all increasingly likely to be faced with potentially highly counterfeit/fake watches. Having an arsenal of tools that can help in the evaluation of genuine watches is one way to help protect against the counterfeit market, however; knowledge is the most powerful tool of them all. Those involved in evaluating watches for authenticity should always keep up with the latest information from manufacturers and continue to seek education in the latest trends and techniques in identifying genuine watches so not to be deceived by counterfeiters.
Adam R. Harris is the course developer and instructor of Luxury or Lie™ How to Identify Genuine Watches and Time is Money: Researching, Identifying, and Valuing Wrist and Pocket Watches courses offered through the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc , Columbia, PA. For details about the next course contact: info@luxuryorlie.com
