How to tell if its fake or real?

How do I tell if one of the iwc watches are fake? Found one yesterday in a storage building and no clue on how to tell if its a phony or not.

Hi

Fake and counterfeit watches are now part of a big industry and with support they receive from their buyers (by buying their goods!) they get richer and become more and more sophisticated and it gets harder to find out if a watch is fake or genuine.

Of course there are several grades for these watches from cheap Chinese movements for a few bucks to those using lower the range ETA movement for several hundred dollars. Sometimes it is even difficult for experts to tell the difference between the two. But there are a few signs that can help a layman to check genuinity of a watch.

• You can check the complication of the watch. Most cheap fake watches have their complications as a decoration only and not working. For example check if a watch with chronograph has a working chronograph.

• The serial number on the case back or movement might be missing or engraved poorly.

• Decorations on the movement are poorly done or missing altogether, like Cotes de Geneve which is not easy to make.

• Another sing is how smooth the second movement is moving. Smoother the movement is more possible to be a real watch.

The above list is not extensive and there are so many things you can check depending on the brand, model, complication etc...

If you put some pictures of the watch you found in storage!, we might be able to give you some idea.

Kind regards

At least you have to know the IWC watches very well, then you may pick out the obvious fakes. But sometimes fakes may even fool some experts, then IWC itself may be the only one to say for sure. A very low price is a give away: if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. I would stay away from these kind of offerings unless the seller is very trustworthy and you are sure you can give it back with a refund if there are problems with authenticity. The same when you don't know quite a bit about these watches.

Kind regards,
Paul