ebay watches - are they all fakes?

[Muncher]

I need a new watch as my old one is letting water in and I've had it a while?

I don't want anything expensive as I generally don't take them off which means it'll be worn when working on the car, carrying bricks, it will take a punishment so I don't want anything expensive.

I quite like the look of the Siko aerospace in blue. Now there's quite a few on ebay from established sellers, from singapore, now this screams fake to me but the feedback seems to be good and I have bought a fair amount of cheap stuff from the far east on eBay with less hassle than most UK sellers!

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/searc

Any way of telling whether I'd be buying a lemon?

[wedg1e]

Singapore?! I think you've answered your own question.

[Muncher]

It's a Japanese brand so they should be made around those parts anyway. I'm assuming they're fakes unless anyone suggests otherwise.

[wedg1e]

So how does a reputable brand product end up cheap? Either it's a copy or it's nicked. Or, heaven forbid, it's not cheap at all but the 'going rate', and it's just rip-off Britain that makes you think you're getting a quality product cheap.

[oggs]

Muncher said:

Any way of telling whether I'd be buying a lemon?

These are lemons


And this is a watch


HTH

[wedg1e]

A watch? Surely that's a smurf?

[cjs]

Only Pikeys and people who live in Council houses use Ebay.....go to the shops and buy a real watch.

[pesty]

muncher. I bought the exact same watch from ebay a hong kong place, I recieved a genuine Seiko for around the third of the UK price. Its the most accurate watch I own it will gain around a second a month max!

Apparently this makes me a pikey

anyway this does not guarantee you will get a real one. read the feedback and check the ebay page closeley. If it goes cheap enough wheres the harm?

Edited by pesty on Saturday 31st March 19:34

[Stu R]

how much are you looking at spending? If there's more than a few hundred quid to be saved, it could well be worth flying out (not joking). I flew to dubai when I bought both my rolex and breitling and still saved money over uk prices.
Singapore is a great place for jewellery and watches,spent loads of time out there. Fakes, sure they're easy to come by, but the geniune shops are all over the place too.
Best bet is to get the address from the manufacturers website for official dealers in singapore etc and give them a call. Also, be aware that most are open to bartering.

[fozzi]

wedg1e said:

So how does a reputable brand product end up cheap? Either it's a copy or it's nicked. Or, heaven forbid, it's not cheap at all but the 'going rate', and it's just rip-off Britain that makes you think you're getting a quality product cheap.

Sole trader buying wholesale goods with no retailer/outlet.

One of my old mates has been doing it for years and makes a tidy penny selling genuine watches... I believe he has manufacturer certificates of authenticity for everything he sells!

[Mahatma Bag]

[oggs]

cjs said:

Only Pikeys and people who live in Council houses use Ebay.....go to the shops and buy a real watch.

[anonymous-user]

oggs said:

cjs said:

Only Pikeys and people who live in Council houses use Ebay.....go to the shops and buy a real watch.

Sorry oggs, I'm with cjs!!!

[jagdpanther]

cjs said:

Only Pikeys and people who live in Council houses use Ebay.....go to the shops and buy a real watch.

Im no old pikey

[pesty]

garyhun said:

oggs said:

cjs said:

Only Pikeys and people who live in Council houses use Ebay.....go to the shops and buy a real watch.

Sorry oggs, I'm with cjs!!!

Hm so I bought a Seiko from EBay for work that makes me a pikey.

but wait wait I have also bought an Omega from a shop

so that makes me ok

But wait I bought a russian Poljot from Ebay so that makes me pikey

but wait I bought a Hand made swiss Zeno watch basel autotaic watch from a shop.

Im not sure does the Omega cancel out the Seiko and make me ok or am I still a Pikey?

Sorry but this site is full of ing snobs sometimes

[cardigankid]

Go to a real watch shop and they will explain the difference for you. If you want to buy a fake, fine. Plenty of people walk around with phoney rolexes but it will be a fake. The reputable watch manufacturers will put you in touch with a dealer over the internet but won't sell a watch that way. Nor will they honour a waranty rthat is not stamped by an authorised dealer. plus all their watches have serial numbers.

[pesty]

cardigankid said:

Go to a real watch shop and they will explain the difference for you. If you want to buy a fake, fine. Plenty of people walk around with phoney rolexes but it will be a fake. The reputable watch manufacturers will put you in touch with a dealer over the internet but won't sell a watch that way. Nor will they honour a waranty rthat is not stamped by an authorised dealer. plus all their watches have serial numbers.

why so sure it will be fake?

[tertius]

No they are not all fake, not by a long chalk.

I've bought plenty of watches on eBay and no fakes, though to be fair usually vintage rather than new.

As someone else said look at the site carefully, read the feedback, check the appearance against the manufacturer's website and so on.

[jamoor]

seiko watches arent faked I dont think, they have huge profits on them in the UK, so finding a cheap one from singapore etc is normal.
I bought a seiko from dubai for 40% of the cost in the uk

[cardigankid]

Look, if you read what I said you will see the answer. This applies to the big names in swiss watches, and of course these are the ones that people buy at big prices as 'jewellery' and consequently these are the ones that get faked. I am sure that there are loads of perfectly good stylish watches available at reasonable prices on the internet but not Rolex Omega Breitling or stuff like that.