Fake or Real

With there being so many different rolex models and different grades of fake watch these days, its difficult to give specific things to check for,
as always alot of it is down to common sense, i.e.

Where did you get it?
How much did it cost?

These things usually give you a pretty good idea of wether the watch is real or fake.

However there are some things that you can look out for and check to see if the rolex thats just been put down in front of you is genuine.

1) The Rolex crown logo - All genuine rolex's now come with a crown logo, micro-etched on the glass. The better fake rolex's also now have this crown, but the difference then comes down to the quality of the etching, compare it to a picture of a genuine etching and this will help you tell the difference.

2) The second hand - On genuine rolex's, the second hand doesnt tick every second, it is a smooth motion that infact steps about 8 - 10 times a second making it look like a continuous motion. The gearings are very precisely made and are smoothed down to create this motion, cheap replicas are cheaply made and probably tick every second.
The exception to this rule is the Quartz series, which have quartz movement and do make the ticking motion and sound.

3) Sapphire composition - The face on a genuine rolex is made with sapphire composition, whereas most fakes are made using regular glass. Sapphore composition is much smoother than glass and you can sometimes tell the difference by smearing a bit of water on the glass face, if it stays smeared then its an indication its regular glass, if the water groups together, this is a sign of real sapphire composition.

4) Weight - a real rolex is made from solid and good quality parts, it is a solid and quite heavy watch. Cheap fakes will be much lighter and cheaper in feel, it should have a feeling of quality that is obvious just from handling the watch for a few moments.

5) Case - Every case comes etched with a genuine reference number. This can be found between the lugs on the side of the case. In the better fakes this will be there, but again the quality will be much poorer, it should be very finely etched and look of good quality.

These are some of the most common things to look out for, although fake watches can sometimes be of very good quality and cost upwards of £500. The above points are generally common to the cheaper fakes that you would buy on a street corner or market rather than a specialist replica store.