How to Spot a Fake Rolex in 5 Minutes

Replica Rolex

Examples include precision pouch stitching, accurate embossing, and perfect box corners. Rolex maintains a database of serial numbers and the corresponding watch manufacture date. Although this is not publicly available, official stockists and reputable second hand luxury watch traders can verify the authenticity of a Rolex using this database. This same source can alo validate that the watch has not been reported stolen.

Guide to F.P. Journe Limited Edition Watches

The font size may vary slightly, since it depends on the dial’s diameter, which can be as small as 24mm on women’s Rolexes and as large as 44mm on men’s models. When checking the font on the face of a Rolex you’re considering, compare it with authentic pictures of the same model. It first made its debut in 2015 on the Everose Yacht-Master and later became available on gold Daytona models. We hope that you find this quick guide to the anatomy of authentic Rolex watches to be useful.

Engraved Rehaut

Do also try to run your finger over the lens – you should feel a bump which is dead-centered over the date. Look for high-quality photos from multiple angles and detailed descriptions. If a seller refuses to provide additional pictures or answer questions, walk away.

Engraved Model and Serial Numbers

Replica Rolex

Please note that these rules are only applicable to Rolex watches made after 2002. Therefore, caution is advised when considering a Rolex purchase from these platforms. Given the complexity involved in verifying a real Rolex, and the high stakes of inadvertently purchasing a fake, we suggest steering clear of these marketplaces. For a secure investment in a timepiece, we always recommend consulting with authorized Rolex dealers or trusted watch specialists who provide expertise and assurance in your quest for an authentic Rolex.

Rolex

The Triplock crown, which bears the Rolex crown logo above three dots, was first used on the Rolex Sea-Dweller, in 1970. When the crown is fully unscrewed, you can see the black O-ring that seals off the inside of the watch from water. Some good counterfeits will have similar-looking gaskets, but they’re merely cosmetic and serve only to fool the buyer. The crown — the small winding knob on the side of the watch used to set the time and date — will always have the famed Rolex crown logo, known as the coronet, engraved on the end. The Rolex crown logo itself is very detailed, finely crafted and well-proportioned, with five symmetrical points of the crown — no more and no less.

Most Commonly Asked Questions About Rolex

Knowing the signs of how to spot a fake Rolex can be particularly helpful when shopping for pre-owned watches. This comprehensive guide outlines several key indicators that distinguish a real Rolex from a fake one. Additionally, comparison photos of a genuine Rolex Submariner LN and a replica are included to provide visual examples of the differences between the quality of the two watches. There can be notable differences between genuine Rolex packaging and that used with counterfeits. Genuine packaging reflects the brand’s impeccable standards and displays the same commitment to quality and attention applied to their watches.

  • While the average person on the street may not realize that you are wearing a fake Rolex, collectors and those in the know may realize and your reputation can be damaged.
  • So, if you know someone who has a real Rolex, ask them if you can feel the weight of theirs so you have something to compare to.
  • In addition to the top tips for spotting a fake, it’s also important to keep a few things in mind to ensure you’re buying authentic Rolex watches.
  • However, there are very good reasons why you shouldn’t buy a fake Rolex.
  • And while the fake Rolexes of decades past were easy to spot — like when they were hanging from the liner of Times Square hustler’s trench coat — modern replicas are a bit more advanced.
  • Rolex’s cyclops provides a distinctive 2.5x magnification, and the date should fill up the cyclops window nicely.

How to Spot a Fake Rolex Fluted Bezel: Too Smudgey

It’s in the interest of those people that the watches they’re buying are as close to the original as possible, and so they collectively form a net that catches these mistakes. If you can get away with the former, it’s certainly not going to be the latter. And if you get all the benefit without all the spend, what money you do have can be spent exclusively on the quality of the product.

Rolex Real vs Fake – The Ultimate Guide Spotting Them

Here again, the finishing isn’t as good; the right type of graining or brushing has been used in the right places, but looking at it through a loupe shows coarser, less consistent work on the fake. Edges aren’t smooth, still bearing burrs from the machine that milled them out, and things like screw-heads lack the mirror polish that you’re paying for on a real Rolex. Faking an entire movement isn’t easy; chronograph calibres in particular are challenging to assemble, so even when you’ve gone to the effort of reproducing every component, getting it to work isn’t exactly a piece of cake. Advances in milling and rapid prototyping machinery mean that all of the above can be achieved with minimal hand-craft involved (which remains one of the un-fakeable defining characteristics of a real ). Today, the hermetic construction of the Oyster case guarantees Rolex watches to be waterproof up to 100m / 330 feet, and up to 3,900m / 12,800 feet for the Rolex Deepsea, their saturated diving watch. As of 2022, Rolex has released their most water-resistant watch yet, the Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Challenge, which has a depth rating of 11,000 meters (36,090 feet).

Sell My Rolex Watches Now

“Buy the seller, not the watch” is an enduring mantra among watch enthusiasts for a reason. Wanting to make a watch and being able to make a watch are not exactly the same thing, and if this were a decade or so ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. If it feels like there’s been a recent swell in the rise of fake watches, that’s because there has, and it’s all to do with the way technology has changed.

Watch and Learn: How to Spot a Fake Rolex Video

If you do know what dial details to look for, you probably don’t need me to tell you to look for them. Often details like text alignment, overlap, hue, and dial texture can be dead giveaways. Knowing how to spot a fake Rolex is mostly about knowing what a real one looks like, but there are often some dead giveaways. Rehaut engravings on current Rolexes have a clean, sandblasted appearance.

As one of the most coveted luxury watch brands in the world, Rolex uses only the most durable and high-quality materials. Any authentic Rolex feels substantial and solid, whether it’s made from the heavy-duty Oystersteel or the lighter-weight RLX Titanium or platinum. A good starting point when assessing if a Rolex is genuine is to pay attention to the watch movement.

Consider Bob’s Watches, where every sale is accompanied by an iron-clad assurance of authenticity. Our passionate team of in-house experts doesn’t just inspect every watch that comes through our doors – they pour over every detail, ensuring the integrity of your timepiece. And if your Rolex needs a little TLC, rest assured it’s in the hands of authorized service providers who use nothing less than genuine Rolex parts, maintaining the spirit and standards of the brand. And for true aficionados, seeking out specialists who live and breathe Rolex can add that extra layer of confidence to your purchase. Watchfinder used to be able to identify about 80 per cent of bogus timepieces by sight alone but now that’s just 20 per cent. Employees at the company, owned by Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont, now need to perform more detailed inspections including opening watch casebacks and checking movements to identify the high-end knock-offs.

Replica Rolex

The winding crown on a Rolex is always on the right side of the case for easy access — assuming it’s worn on the left wrist. The one exception is the left-handed GMT-Master II, which was introduced in 2022 to accommodate left-handed wearers. The Yacht-Master, for instance, has a much thicker minute hand than most models, while a Daytona’s hands are a bit longer, reaching all the way to the hash marks, and are rounded at the end. Counterfeiters often use whatever parts are available to save money, hoping the buyers will overlook this detail. The second hand on a real Rolex should appear to the naked eye to rotate smoothly around the face.

Ticking of the hands

The advantage of sapphire glass that is used in our Rolex Replica designer Watches over regular glass is that the sapphire crystal is much harder, and thus very hard to scratch. Cheap clones use mineral glass, which is 10 times more fragile than sapphire. Sapphire crystal measures Fake Rolex 9 on the Mohs mineral hardness scale, followed by Diamonds on 10. Others in the community won’t buy watches from you if they know you are selling or even own fakes. Typically, those who buy Rolex watches want their purchase to be known by collectors and other professionals.

The band — or bracelet, as Rolex enthusiasts often call it — should lie straight and not kink when laid on a flat surface. Link spacing may stretch and widen with time, but the individual links should still fit together correctly. Don’t panic if your watch is a few minutes off — that’s likely just a sign that the watch needs some maintenance. He’s the chief sales officer at The 1916 Company, one of the largest used watch retailers in the world, and he’s been buying and selling Rolexes since 1983.

  • ❌ Fake – Imitation Rolex models lack sophisticated seals and robust casings and are not resilient against water.
  • This micro-etching is a badge of authenticity for models crafted that year and following.
  • Another telltale sign on how to tell if Rolex is fake is the sapphire crystal, the glass that covers the dial on your watch.
  • Most counterfeit Rolex watches provide a magnification of 1.5 times or lower, making the date appear smaller and difficult to see.
  • Swiss grade watches are manufactured on machinery that is cloned to match Swiss technology and standards, therefore a higher accuracy and finishing is to be expected.

An International Network Of Quality Control

Another telltale sign on how to tell if Rolex is fake is the sapphire crystal, the glass that covers the dial on your watch. Modern authentic Rolex watches are outfitted with a scratchproof sapphire crystal to protect the face of the watch. What’s more, on Rolex date watches, there’s a magnifying lens on top of the date window to amplify the number for greater legibility. This lens, dubbed the Cyclops, is also made from sapphire crystal and it magnifies the date 2.5 times.

  • Below, we’ll directly compare a real and fake Rolex based on various factors to help you differentiate easily.
  • We are experts in luxury timepieces can guide you into this exciting world.
  • The hour markers, five-pointed crown and hands don’t catch the light as they should; their edges aren’t crisp and, when you zoom in, you can see evidence of machining which the genuine watch would never display.
  • Real Rolex watch weight is also very specific, all watches of the same model are identical, for example a true Rolex Submariner should weight 155 grams.
  • This could be a sign that the watch in your hands is masquerading as something it’s not.
  • Partly, that is an unavoidable consequence of the explosion we have seen in demand for Rolex’s key models.
  • Look for high-quality photos from multiple angles and detailed descriptions.

Up until very recently, the only Rolex date models that did not have a Cyclops lens were the Sea-Dweller and Deepsea. But that changed at Baselworld 2017 when Rolex introduced the new Sea-Dweller with a Cyclops lens. Now, the only Rolex date watch without a Cyclops lens is the Sea-Dweller Deepsea. For instance, Rolex watches exclusively use 904L stainless steel and 18k gold.

Counterfeiters are only getting better with time, and fake Rolex appears quite convincing these days. ❌ Fake – If you admire a Rolex’s case back and find a nice engraving or logo on it, you’re likely looking at a duplicate. Rolex prides itself on its solid case backs, a tradition that speaks to its minimalist ethics and underscores its luxury craftsmanship. Authentic Rolexes are carefully placed within the box, often with protective coverings and supports to secure the watch.

Note that on vintage Rolexes, cheap aftermarket crystals are common, so bad magnification alone isn’t a guarantee of inauthenticity. Also, as noted below, If you’re looking at a Sea-Dweller manufactured before 2017, it should not have a cyclops. It’s easy to see how the manufacturers of these fake watches are able to build what they have for the money they’re asking, but it’s worth coming back to an earlier point to understand the implications.

With no reputation to stand by, however, that doesn’t really matter, because there’s an army of people all around the world ready to put those problems right. With low overheads and rapid production, the opportunity for problems to arise seems high, but even here the manufacturers of the fake watches have their backs covered. For Rolex to release a product, it must be finished, perfect, otherwise it will find itself dealing with an extremely detrimental backlash. When you’re making fake watches, you can, quite simply, let your customer act as quality control for you. ❌ Fake – The counterfeiters pay little or no attention to the detailing, which can be easily identified by how the watch is presented within the box. A fake Rolex watch comes with documentation that has printing errors, spelling mistakes, missing elements, and looks rushed.

Because counterfeiters became so adept at copying it, Rolex discontinued the hologram. However, you can now be sure that any seller claiming that a watch with a hologram was made after 2007 is almost definitely peddling a replica. Counterfeiters often don’t bother to vary the numbers, instead printing the same digits on each replica. A simple Google search for the serial and model numbers of the watch you’re considering should reveal whether it is actually a mass-produced fake. For example, a Submariner model number for a Yacht-Master,” says Abe Diveroli, of Primetime305.

One exception to this is the Rolex Oysterquartz, which runs on a quartz movement instead of a mechanical one. If you’re considering a specific reference, spend 10 minutes researching its unique features. Compare the watch’s details—such as dial layout, engravings, and case design—to images of verified examples. With few exceptions, if a Rolex has no lume on the dial, it shouldn’t have lume on the hands, either. Sometimes collectors and resellers of genuine Rolexes do “dial swaps” and forget to match the hands, but in general, lumed hands on an unlumed dial are a red flag. If you’re shopping for a pre-owned Rolex it’s best to choose a trusted grey market dealer with a good reputation and an authenticity guarantee.