A Patek at work? Seriously?

[atomic]

I started a new project a couple of weeks back and one of the people we are partnering with I noticed, was wearing a nice mechanical watch, with what looked like a triple-date and a moon phase, with a white dial. It was striking for sure but it was not instantly recognizable.

After numerous meetings over the past couple of weeks I finally got a decent look (didn't want to be too much of a WIS geek, ya know). It said those two words on the dial... Patek Philippe.

Hmmmm.... interesting.

So the other day we had a few spare moments to kill and I said to him, that's a beauty of a Patek. The guy (in his 60s) said thanks and pulled it off and proudly said, "I picked it up in Singapore. It's a fake and I only paid $25 for it. Not bad, eh?"

Um... yeah. Needless to say, the wind was taken out of my sails.

[Ben]

At least the guy admitted it was a fake. Not everyone would have done that.

Weird thing with fakes. I have a client, a physician, that wears fakes - and proudly tells you so. We've had some very amusing conversations about them. He has about 5 fakes from Bulgari to Rolex. He could certainly afford the legit versions of any of the fakes he wears, but has no interest. The funny thing is....the fakes are more of a conversation piece than the real ones.

But...the really sad part is that many of the fakes are really, really good. He has a fake Rolex that only a watchmaker could tell was fake. I certainly couldn't. He bought it on the street in Buenos Aires.

Now, I'm not advocating fakes. Far from it. Just saying....

-Ben

[Archer]

Wow Johnny that sucks.

Funny I had my goldsmith friend ask me to fix his dad's Rolex once. It had a clear back and the rotor was covered in "RolexRolexRolex"

It was either a fake or a sign of things to come.

j/k

I declined the repair and used the excuse that I didn't have a case back opener (which was true). Even if I had one I would not fix the watch. He knew it was a fake and was fine with me not doing it.

[atomic]

I was more disappointed it wasn't real more than anything. It's rare enough to see a mechanical watch in the wild these days, let alone a PP.

[otis]

Man.... what a shame...!
Had a similar instance with what I thought was a nice Lange 1 at my work.
Well, luck you and I are around to pick things up eh?

[bondandbigm]

I am surprised he said he got it in Singapore, fake anything is something they really clamp down on and in the time I was there I never saw any, maybe some one got it for him on a trip, you only have to be an hour away to one of the Indionesian islands or up in KL for wall to wall hooky gear.

"You want to buy a watch mister"