Pawn Shop Rolex's Over 40 fakes I saw in 2 days

[greekbum]

I spent the last 2 days driving around at every pawn shop withing 30 miles of my house looking for a non watch related item. I saw 54 Rolex watches all together out of them 10 were 100% fake Italian gold DD. 25 conversion watches were most likely the case and movement were the only original parts left. 6 newer flat out fakes in the cases in every instance I pointed it out to the manager they listend and were shocked. Told me they CANT tell and really try to authenticate. They have been to seminars by a known book writer and bought software to help. They claimed to be into these watches much higher than the TRF selling prices of similar real watches. Now not 1 of these guys pulled a watch from there case and ALL told me they were going to sell them as is. I have bought many watches from pawn shops and you can get good deals there but YOU have to know what you are looking at as the ones I went to were totally clueless.Only 2 shops I went to they were a bit knowledgeable and cared, they had NO fakes. All of the PAWN SHOPS were in the Tampa Bay area.

[Frogman4me]

Wow that is scary, you would think pawn shop owners would be Rolex experts considering what they do. Sounds like at the end of the day a customer is going to get screwed

[TempoKing]

Originally Posted by greekbum

I spent the last 2 days driving around at every pawn shop withing 30 miles of my house looking for a non watch related item. I saw 54 Rolex watches all together out of them 10 were 100% fake Italian gold DD. 25 conversion watches were most likely the case and movement were the only original parts left. 6 newer flat out fakes in the cases in every instance I pointed it out to the manager they listend and were shocked. Told me they CANT tell and really try to authenticate. They have been to seminars by a known book writer and bought software to help. They claimed to be into these watches much higher than the TRF selling prices of similar real watches. Now not 1 of these guys pulled a watch from there case and ALL told me they were going to sell them as is. I have bought many watches from pawn shops and you can get good deals there but YOU have to know what you are looking at as the ones I went to were totally clueless.Only 2 shops I went to they were a bit knowledgeable and cared, they had NO fakes. All of the PAWN SHOPS were in the Tampa Bay area.

Yep I agree with Nick...with that said my book about Rolex watches
remains unsold..
http://rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=150017

[Coricus]

Macau is awful for fake Rolex. I seen dozens when I was on holiday there mixed in with genuine ones at pawn stores. Need to be careful1

[Rolex116520]

Scary indeed .
May I ask what the responsibility of the pawnshop is if they were to sell one of these fake watches ?
In most european countries there are no pawnshops as you would know them in the US . The" pawnshops " are government controlled ( secondhand shop can buy and sell but not lend money against an interest ) In fact they are banks that will take mainly gold and jewelry as collateral against a fairly low interest loan .
I can imagine that if you would bring your original Comex or Paul Newman you'd get next to nothing if anything at all .
There are some good deals to be had when these "pawnshops" auction off non reclaimed objects .

[robertneville]

when i was on vacation in niagara falls ca last year, the pawn shop i was in had 4 Rolexes...all fake. when i called the guy on it, he said that older rolexes were poorly made....geez!!

[Mnicolini300]

Could the pawn shop take legal action against the person selling the item?

[CF999]

Originally Posted by Mnicolini300

Could the pawn shop take legal action against the person selling the item?

Ever tried getting blood from a stone?

[T. Ferguson]

And I wonder how many of the ones that are real were stolen and will get confiscated when sent in for service.

I guess I'm a hopeless cynic.

[Rodentman]

Run them by Seth Gold at "American Jewelry and Loan." He's an expert.

[Swift_Movement]

Scary that they just left them in the case to claim their next victim.

[crowncollection]

I agree they should have pulled them off the shelf. Dishonest IMHO


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[Mnicolini300]

Sucks to be the person finding out half your watches are fakes!

[Mnicolini300]

But what I don't get is the guy who buys the watch has their ID and info. Can they not make a legitimate case? I sure wouldn't lie down and take it if I were a pawn shop owner!

[jolimont]

it sucks they got suckered ( or maybe they deliverately try to sell fakes as real?) but to try and pass it onto the unsuspecting buyer is just plain unethical

[robie]

Originally Posted by robertneville

when i was on vacation in niagara falls ca last year, the pawn shop i was in had 4 Rolexes...all fake. when i called the guy on it, he said that older rolexes were poorly made....geez!!

Haha

[Swift_Movement]

Originally Posted by robertneville

when i was on vacation in niagara falls ca last year, the pawn shop i was in had 4 Rolexes...all fake. when i called the guy on it, he said that older rolexes were poorly made....geez!!

Not surprised. I live not far from Niagara Falls. It is a haven for unsuspecting buyers seeking thrills such as watches, cuban cigars, alcohol and gambling. Not hard to pass of a fake to an unsuspecting buyer in a stuper after a wild weekend.

Such a shame.