Who knows where those fake watches come from?

November 18, 2011 6:48 PM

How can I learn more about the fake watch industry?

I'm living in Manila at the moment, and there are shopping centres dedicated to selling counterfeit products. Seeing the quality of these, and friends who have picked up a fake Tag/Omega/Rolex watch and have them for quite a long time has made me wonder about the industry.

I saw this excellent FPP which made me wonder about who designes and makes these fakes, what are the conditions they are assembled in, how is the money sent back and forth without attracting attention and so on.

I've googled but just found lots of "anti fake" ads from Swiss manufacturors, not much detail into the background of how/where they are made.

posted by Admira to shopping (3 answers total)

The FPP I linked to above is in no way related to the fake watch industry BTW, sorry if I gave that impression.
posted by Admira at 6:52 PM on November 18, 2011

OK, i'll jump in.

My guess, and it is a guess, is that the majority of fake watches are made in south Guangdong province and are sidelines of a few of the factories that make regular watches for legitimate buyers in the US and Europe. Many of those regular watches are made to order for well known watch brands. So it is real easy to produce fake watches with inferior parts.

How do the watches get to places like Manill?. Almost certainly thanks to individual Filipino traders who regularly visit Shenzhen, China.
posted by Mister Bijou at 1:32 AM on November 21, 2011

Manilla
posted by Mister Bijou at 1:32 AM on November 21, 2011