First off, let’s address the elephant in the room: that “MSRP $799” thing they slap on their stuff. Seriously? Nobody in their right mind is paying that for a *Stuhrling*. It’s like claiming your rusty old Corolla is worth a million bucks just because you slapped a Ferrari sticker on it. Deceptive marketing, much? That’s what those WUS (WatchUSeek) guys are saying, and, well, they seem to know their stuff.
Then you got these replica Stührling’s floating around. I mean, the *original* Stuhrling’s aren’t exactly setting the horological world on fire, are they? So, why would anyone bother faking ’em? It’s like counterfeiting Monopoly money. But hey, people counterfeit anything these days, I guess. Maybe they’re trying to trick people who think they’re getting a *real* deal on that “luxury” timepiece.
And about that “luxury” thing… Stührling tries really hard to project this image of elegance and refinement, all “craftsmanship” and “attention to detail.” But let’s be real, a lot of watch snobs (and me, sometimes, tbh) kinda roll their eyes. They’re often seen as a step above your department store Skagen, Bulova, or whatever, but not by much. Like, are they *bad* watches? Maybe not objectively. But are they gonna impress your watch-obsessed uncle? Prolly not.
There’s even this whole conspiracy theory about Max Stuhrling, this supposed legendary Swiss watchmaker from the 1800s. Nobody seems to actually *know* about him. It’s like they invented him to give the brand some historical cred. Shady, right?
Now, about telling a fake Stuhrling from a real Stuhrling… This is where it gets tricky. If the *real* one is already trying to look like something it’s not (i.e., a high-end Swiss watch), how do you tell the difference from a *fake* one? I’m not even sure, honestly. Maybe the fake one has even *worse* finishing? Maybe the movement sounds like a dying cat? I dunno.
One thing, though, I saw something about a Stührling Tourbillon. Like, a *Tourbillon*? At an “affordable price?” That’s probably a red flag right there. Tourbillons are supposed to be super complicated and expensive. If you see one for the price of a used lawnmower, it’s almost guaranteed to be either fake or… well, let’s just say “not a *real* tourbillon.”
