How to tell a real Rolex

[fsprow]

I’m sure we’d all like to discourage the sale of replica watches and help prevent people from spending their money on fakes, so I thought I would pass along a little advice.

To my knowledge no replica watches use a free sprung balance in the movement. I imagine it is too difficult and costly to produce to be worth their while when they can sell their watches with clone ETA or Chinese movements. I believe all modern Rolex movements use this system, but some older models do not.

If you’re even fairly handy, just buy a Rolex back removal tool set sold on eBay. Then either have the seller or yourself remove the back on the questionable watch and examine the mechanism. Just Google Rolex microstella and you’ll have plenty of information on what to look for. Be sure to carefully remove the o ring and use a bit of silicone grease to lubricate it before reassembly. I suggest this will be much more productive than using a loupe to examine the lettering on the watch dial etc.

Of course the best answer is to purchase your watches from people who have fine reputations, but perhaps this might be useful in other cases.