Vacheron Constantin

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here's a guide in recognizing a fake VC

used with permission of Shady Joe who had posted it elsewhere:

1) The watch is a gift: if the watch was given to you by a grandfather, neighbour, grocer etc… chances are that it ain’t the real McCoy. This is the real world guys and chances that someone gives you a $10,000 plus gift just because you are you (no matter how well dressed you are) are remote!! Rule n° 1 does not apply if you helped your uncle Ned get rid of his nagging wife…but if that’s the case don’t settle for anything less than a perpetual calendar (a minute repeater would be de riguer if said wife had subscribed a substantial life insurance policy).

 
2) You had the deal of a life time: Imagine you see a restaurant offering you a full three course meal of caviar, lobster and cappuccino mouse topped with a Chateau Lafitte all for $15? Would you have any kind of suspicion that what you may be eating would be closer to meat from a hairy rodent (recently heroed as a chef in a cartoon) than what is advertised? Same with a VC!! At $200, $500, $700 etc… the guy selling you the crap is getting a good deal not you.

3) Unnecessary indications and useless push pieces: I know that it is very trendy to have useless inscriptions on the watch dial such as: automatic, chronograph, limited edition etc… but often on fake watches the counterfeiters are kind enough to go out of their way and actually print a users’ guide on the watch: so if you have a watch with quarters, minutes, tourbillon, chronograph, repeater, espresso machine written on the case back or on the dial, be warned! If you also have push buttons like a chronograph but there are no chrono functions…yup you got it, the watch is fake.

4) You bought the watch from Shady Eugene’s “Buy 2 Get one Free” shop: try to always buy from an authorised dealer or a reputable second had source. Always remember that you are not only buying the watch but also the seller and if the later has a shop downtown selling, cameras, TVs, kitchen appliances, post cards and watches, that should put a doubt in your head. And when he plunks the watch on the table and tells you that this is a “Vacheronne Constanteen and its better than a Rolex” then run out of the shop, don’t walk… run….

5) Rust and scratches are not part of movement finish: A huge part of the cost of a high end watch comes from the manual labor and a rusty, scratched up ugly movement is not a new finishing technique but just what it looks to be: a butt ugly cheap movement!

6) The funky case shape and wonderfully unique dial does not mean your watch is a valuable ultra rare timepiece: Vacheron Constantin designers never decided to take a rectangular watch and squish it on its sides and make the case look like a Cesar compression, nor did they decide to copy a Journe dial and place it on the watch. And if it was a unique piece then check to see if Rules 1,2 and 4 above apply.