This seems to be a good example of a vintage A-11 military watch (it's listed as such). It looks correct. It's got pictures of the movement, which seems to be correct. The seller has almost perfect feedback. So no problem right?
It is 100% fake (or at least, a frankenwatch made from old and new parts). And this is for a watch worth, perhaps, $200.
The real problem with watches is that fakes are so difficult to recognize that buyer feedback means much less, since a buyer is unlikely to recognize the fake. And often a seller is unaware he's selling a fake, so deception can't be detected in the description or the title. For the watch above, I think the seller knows what he has, and has very carefully described it to imply that it is an original, while not technically lying (he only claims the CASE is original).
Could the watch manufacturer print a UUID on each of its parts that you consider irreplaceable if it had to be fixed? The watch could then be verified using the serial number and some online database?
This seems to be a good example of a vintage A-11 military watch (it's listed as such). It looks correct. It's got pictures of the movement, which seems to be correct. The seller has almost perfect feedback. So no problem right?
It is 100% fake (or at least, a frankenwatch made from old and new parts). And this is for a watch worth, perhaps, $200.
The real problem with watches is that fakes are so difficult to recognize that buyer feedback means much less, since a buyer is unlikely to recognize the fake. And often a seller is unaware he's selling a fake, so deception can't be detected in the description or the title. For the watch above, I think the seller knows what he has, and has very carefully described it to imply that it is an original, while not technically lying (he only claims the CASE is original).
It's a very, very difficult problem to solve.