Is it fake?

June 29, 2014 9:23 PM

I bought a fancy (to me) Longines watch used. I'd like to verify that the watch I got is legit, ideally without paying too much for the service. Should I take it to a Longines dealer locally (I'm in D.C., looks like a place called Diplomatic Duty Free is the only authorized dealer) or should I take it to a different kind of place? How much can I expect to pay for this?

I bought the watch from an eBay seller with good reviews. After googling the name of the seller and business (which I got after googling the name attached to the paypal account) I discovered that they appear to be a high volume business that liquidates watches and have had a few BBB complaints in the past.

Any advice? I've scrutinized the watch and it looks like the watches on the website but I know virtually nothing about watches.

posted by arnicae to Shopping (6 answers total)

Dealers should charge $75-150 in my experience. Sometimes there's smaller shops run by cranky old men that may be a bit cheaper, and in fact are the places the big shops will farm theirs out to, but they would generally also be authorized. Worth it for peace in mind in my book.

You can also post a few very good quality pictures to some watch forums and have them take a stab at it, but you'll never be 100% sure that way (unless it's an obvious fake).
posted by kcm at 9:46 PM on June 29, 2014

Does the watch have a serial number? You can email them and ask if the serial number is legit, at least.
posted by empath at 10:20 PM on June 29, 2014

On higher end watches, the easy to verify part tends to be genuine, and some of the parts inside get swapped out for copies.
posted by devnull at 11:57 PM on June 29, 2014

I find that all you have to do is take it in to get the battery replaced and the guy will growl at you, "Hell no, this is a fake, I ain't touching it." Or, "Okay, twenty bucks, come back in fifteen minutes."
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:46 AM on June 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

A good pawn shop knows how to spot the fakes.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:28 AM on June 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

If you definitely want to be sure, ask to have it serviced directly by Longines.
posted by evoque at 8:16 AM on June 30, 2014