First off, forget about just looking at pics online. Seriously. As one source said (and I kinda agree), those pictures you see? Not detailed enough! You need to get up close and personal, or at least have ridiculously high-res shots. A grainy pic ain’t gonna cut it. You gotta see the tiny details.
Now, there’s this whole thing about the *band*. Apparently, if you’re looking at a Corum Gold Coin watch, and the band *isn’t* original? Red flag, my friend. Big red flag. One guy said the band on the watch he was looking at wasn’t original. Which makes you wonder, right? What else isn’t original? It’s like, if you’re buying a vintage car and it’s got a totally different engine… somethings up, ya know?
And speaking of Gold Coin watches… there’s something else. You know, about these watches which are like, made out of actual gold coins? Well, I saw someone asking about whether a specific one was real or not, and all the listing said was “it’s old.” Like, seriously? That’s all? That’s like saying “this car is a vehicle.” Helpful, dude. Very helpful. You need more info than that! Ask questions! Pester the seller! (But like, politely. Mostly.)
Okay, so let’s say you’re looking at an Admiral’s Cup. Those are pretty cool, with the nautical flags and all. And I read somewhere that you can apply general rules on how to spot fake luxury watches to these. Which is nice, I guess. But what are those general rules? Sigh. I wish they’d just *tell* me. I think what they’re getting at is to look for flaws, things that just don’t look right. Like, does the finishing look cheap? Is the printing fuzzy? Does the movement sound like a rusty garbage disposal? Things like that.
And then there’s the “obscure model” thing. Apparently, if it’s a more obscure Corum, it’s *less* likely to be faked. That’s kinda counterintuitive, isn’t it? You’d think the super popular ones would be the ones getting ripped off. But maybe the fakers are lazy and just go for the easy targets. Who knows? I’m just spitballing here.
Finally, and this is probably the most important thing: go to a qualified Corum dealer! Seriously. They know their stuff. They can tell you if it’s real. They can authenticate it for you. I mean, that’s what one of those articles was saying.
