The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Interested in buying this watch Private Party; had some quick photos snapped of actual watch. One of the things that is concerning to me is the glow in the dark markers around the yellow ring (they look like little balls in the middle of the black square). Not sure if this is normal or not. No box or papers are present. I can get any other pics snapped pretty easily if more is necessary to examine. Thanks for your help!!!!

There's an INCREDIBLY close fake of this watch, so even without scrutinsing the pictures, I personally would say steer well clear of any of these if they don't come with box and papers (with numbers that match the watch of course). And even then I'd suggest being very careful. The fake of this model is almost too close to call.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Thanks for your input. If the watch was opened to expose the movement, would that be a definite way to tell whether it's real or fake? Thanks!

no.
as Driver8 wrote it is almost impossible to tell the gen from the fake.
never buy these without perfectly matching, complete papers, from a trusted seller.

Its Fake! Yes, you were right about those ugly blobs of lume on the dial ring, they should be flat and square

It also has other usual telltales:

Known serial number range used by the fake of this model, 1342xxx
Radiussing on the bezel numerals wrong
I can't see the wings logo on the dial well enough but that probably has the tells too.

The only thing that looks right is the logo on the crown. On the fake, the loop of the B does not descent properly. This one looks ok but it might be because of the light and focus.

Inspecting the mechanism would only help if you are knowledgable about the differences between ETA derived movements (ETA 2824 in this case) and their Chinese clones. I have noticed that the respective incabloc spring differs, for example, but most so-called skilled watch makers wouldn't notice this.

But you don't need to crack this one open, it is plain from the outside its fake

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Breitling (Navitimer A23322, Aerospace, Chronomat Blackbird, Chronomat A13352 +UTC)
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran Sport, Zenith Elite 670
Marathon (SAR, JSAR), Ollech & Wajs Cobra

Much thanks to EVERYONE here! I know that any high end watch manufacturer NEVER sells a blemished watch, and a couple of things on this watch just looked off to me. Thank you!

You should congratulate yourself that you can spot a dodgy Superocean Abyss/II better than some professionals. I've had a hard time trying to convince at least three luxury watch dealers that they have been conned into buying a fake. An Ebay seller, ironically, named Genuine-timepieces has had this one in his inventory for a while and refuses to accept it is fake:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370614030820? ... 942wt_1145

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Breitling (Navitimer A23322, Aerospace, Chronomat Blackbird, Chronomat A13352 +UTC)
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran Sport, Zenith Elite 670
Marathon (SAR, JSAR), Ollech & Wajs Cobra

Can tell it's fake by the 6 in 60

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End of Discussion.

Fake to me.

Definitely fake. The hour lume marks are inconsistent and a bit too bulbous. The 9 date font is ever so slightly off. The bezel numbers are too rounded on the corners – every fake so far has this issue. The dial numbers have the same issue, but less apparent. Date window marginally sunken. The HEV should be more flush to the case. I wouldn’t be surprised if cracking it open revealed a genuine ETA 2824-2.

Decent chance seller has no idea and, worse, an AD would likely sign off on it.

Don’t buy it under any circumstances.

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SHARKMAN

Must say I'm mighty glad you blokes are out there. The quality of some of these fakes is frightening.

The ones to REALLY watch out for in terms of accuracy are the new SO, the SA (with batons or stencils - the older non-stencil arabics isn't as good a fake), and the SOSF. I've also seen a very good Skyland/Avenger too. The latest versions of all these models are really very difficult to spot. As usual the biggest tells are the lume application, but you can still be caught out if you don't have your wits about you.

My advice would be to never buy any of those models without box and papers (with all matching numbers of course), and from a trusted seller.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Good advise from D8 and I'd also add the SOH and SOHC to that list.

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For more information on identifying Breitling replicas, please visit my web site
http://f4buz.com/watches/breitling/fakes/fakes.html

Good call on the SOH Sharky : that one only really used to be let down by a spelling mistake on the caseback. I assume they've fixed that now though.....

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Another thing, but hardly noticeable is lack of rim on the lower part of case (under the crown).