txcollector Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Safe? I hear they are very strict with it. I'm thinking about bringing a couple (including a PAM) but I'm not sure given the horror stories I've heard. Does anybody have experience bringing gen watches thru Rome airport customs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 why would it be a problem if it is a super franken, how would they know it is not real? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Reps are total contraband in Italy (even possession) so given that, personally speaking, I don't think it's worth the risk of a spoiled vacation if a special piece was to get confiscated either at customs, or by the polizia... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 IMHO, don't worry about it. If you are wearing it on your wrist you will have no problem. Now if it is a super crappy rep..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 IMHO, don't worry about it. If you are wearing it on your wrist you will have no problem. Now if it is a super crappy rep..... Same here. I asked myself those questions years ago and in the meantime I became a frequent traveller and never ever was questionned about such things. I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing from the Luxury Industry to make believe that customs are strict with replicated items. They have no time to check for such things as their core business is now to capture as many luxury perfume or beauty creams bottles over 100 ml as possible so they can share them among the staff and sell them on the sunday market! In most of the EU, security controls aren't even performed by customs anyway but by private companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 I just would not want to bring in too much, not more than three total. One on the wrist, two (worn) ones in the suitcase. Here in The Netherlands, they allow a maximum of three replica items (dvd/cd/glasses/watches) etc to be imported when you go through customs at the Airport. Even if it is still illegal. They allow max. 3. Don't know about Italy, but if they were expensive frankens, I would not take too much risk by bringing 3 frankens. Just my 2 cents... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielv2000 Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Are you guys serious? I always bring 2 on vacation and never considered confiscation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Are you guys serious? I always bring 2 on vacation and never considered confiscation! In Italy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Same here. I asked myself those questions years ago and in the meantime I became a frequent traveller and never ever was questionned about such things. I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing from the Luxury Industry to make believe that customs are strict with replicated items. They have no time to check for such things as their core business is now to capture as many luxury perfume or beauty creams bottles over 100 ml as possible so they can share them among the staff and sell them on the sunday market! In most of the EU, security controls aren't even performed by customs anyway but by private companies. +1. I also believe its a marketing ploy by the luxury brand makers, loosely enforced by the customs officers. Like someone mentioned, if its a super obvious tacky looking rep, saying "LOREX" on the dial, avoid wearing. Else, whether you are wearing a gen or rep becomes entirely a moot point during any unlikely confrontation by the customs officers, unless they start employing a dedicated horologist stationed 24hrs at the airport with a loupe to scrutinize every watch on every wrist? What is the likelihood of that happening? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerthat Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) 1 on the wrist no worry at all Worn a rep watch into Italy twice and Switzerland once from the usa in the past 2 years ; never even questioned or looked at Always travel when flying with just watch on my wrist no backups Having more in your bags is taking some risk (once was Rome airport, FCO) Edited September 9, 2012 by rogerthat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Pretty amazing that Italy has such a tough stance on Replicas, considering there are peddlers hawking knock off handbags on almost every corner in Venice!. my wife and I were there a few years ago, and the sellers became quite obnoxious. They wouldn't take no for and answer, following you down the street trying to sell you a handbag. I usually travel with a maximum of three and usually two watches. One problem, is pilferage in hotels. If the hotel where I am staying doesn't have an electronic safe with occupant settable passcodes, i don't like to leave anything in the room when I'm away. i figure some of the hotel employees probably have a master code to open the safes, but hopefully it isn't the woman who cleans the room! I have traveled out of the USA a lot, and I have never had a customs agent give my watches a second glance. I worry about them being lost or stolen in other places a lot more than I worry about customs seizure. I would say that if you are indeed worried about losing a watch while on vacation, either to a thief or customs, then I would solve that problem by wearing an inexpensive genuine. Buy a cheap Seiko, a Cashio, Invicta, etc. and have fun!! After all that's what vacations are for,right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrandazzo Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Bring one on your wrist. STOP. The real problem in Italy is not the replica item...is that especially in Rome airports the luggage handling dude steals items. There have been some cases during last years. So, if you wanna be sure, bring just one watch on your wrist. I would feel safer in Milano Malpensa, but it can happen there too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txcollector Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 thanks for all the input. I've been thru FCO a few times too and never thought about it. I'm just wondering if I bring say my franken Pam005 (which is indistinguishable from a gen) if I'd get any grief since it's a PAM. As for bag handlers, I'd never check a watch. All expensive items always travel with my carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 thanks for all the input. I've been thru FCO a few times too and never thought about it. I'm just wondering if I bring say my franken Pam005 (which is indistinguishable from a gen) if I'd get any grief since it's a PAM. As for bag handlers, I'd never check a watch. All expensive items always travel with my carry on. so how would they know it is not a gen, and why would wearing what is in essence not a very expencive watch be an issue, would a gen owner worry about going to rome wearing a gen???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 so how would they know it is not a gen, and why would wearing what is in essence not a very expencive watch be an issue, would a gen owner worry about going to rome wearing a gen???? Of course not, because it's gen, and thus not eligible to be seized by customs. Any rep in Italy, on the other hand, good or bad, is theoretically seizeable, which is why personally, I wouldn't take the risk at all... Anywhere else, yes, I wouldn't be worried, but if it ever comes to me visiting Italy, I'll be wearing either a cheap gen, or if I had the time and the funds before hand, I'd build myself a sterile homage which would be totally safe. I wouldn't want to risk starting the vacation on a bad note by being detained by customs to lose a lesser quality rep, and I definitely wouldn't want to doubly spoil it (and all the time after) by being down a high-quality or meaningful rep Equally, as another member pointed out in another thread, more than one is just ego, and for the hassle, I'll only ever travel with the one watch again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 If it is as he says a franken and which is indistinguishable from a gen where is the problem If the customs at any airport have people that can spot a super rep on a wrist as 1000s of people pass for their eyes ever hour i would be very supprised, i travel a lot all over europe and switzerland and plenty of the rest of the world and i have never seen or been pulled over for the watch i am wearing. Has any one here been pulled for the watch that they are wearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 If it is as he says a franken and where is the problem If the customs at any airport have people that can spot a super rep on a wrist as 1000s of people pass for their eyes ever hour i would be very supprised, i travel a lot all over europe and switzerland and plenty of the rest of the world and i have never seen or been pulled over for the watch i am wearing. Has any one here been pulled for the watch that they are wearing? I quite agree, a franken or super rep is highly unlikely to get identified as such even if seen, I just wouldn't want to run the risk of losing such a piece in the event that it was Such pieces tend to be grail watches, and by that I don't just mean someone's flavor of the month watch, but a watch which may have been an extended build, possibly with hard to find or gifted parts, and in my mind, that makes them emotionally irreplaceable, even if physically, they could be recreated, so I feel they deserve a better fate than at the hands of a customs monkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 So how are they going to ID it as a rep TJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfree Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 It is into illegal to wear a fake accessory in Italy as well as in many other countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 So how are they going to ID it as a rep TJ Who knows... Someone posted a while back that an airport in, I believe, Germany, had an 'examination room' with gens for comparison... Maybe this is how things are going to become in the United States of Europe... Italy is said to be very strict (at the border) on rep items, so all it would take would be one thing for the customs inspector to be suspicious of 'something' about the traveler, and then everything fakeable, CDs, sunglasses, watch etc would get scrutinized, and that could potentially lead to a confiscation... I remember reading a few years back that a kid from some private school on a trip to Italy got busted for wearing a fake Rolex when the Polizia did a raid on a market known for selling replica merch As above, I personally wouldn't want to take that risk with a watch with as much invested in it as a grail super franken. I wouldn't even risk it with my quartz sub, because although the item would be easily re-createable, the ear-bashing I would get from Wife.Gov for causing a delay at customs simply wouldn't be worth it Any other country, I would run the gauntlet and take the chance, but not Italy, given it's reputation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Well i will be in shitinarand next week and i will send you some photos 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 I have to agree with Andy, I have never ever heard of a Customs agent even giving a wristwatch a second glance. Now if you are carrying a case full of watches, they might get pretty interested. I would bet the incident in Germany involved someone with several watches. First off, how would any country afford to stock every port of entry with a complete set of watches? How many thousands of models have been produced in the past 25 years? So, if what you are wearing, doesn't happen to be one of the models that the Customs "watch department" has in stock, what do they do then? Then, how many trained horologists are there, who could tell if a watch is real or rep? Suppose i show up with my DRSD 1665, everything is genuine except the case? Do you really think that the watch policeman, unless he is 75 yers old, and trained and worked on Rolex vintage watches for years could tell if mine is real or memorex? I don't think so, besides, I have a receipt (sales invoice) dating back to 1983 showing I bought the DRSD used for 850.00 USD!! Easy way to solve the problem. Don't wear one of your treasured "Super Franken" watches on vacation. Wear a genuine. Get a Seiko or something comperable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Well i will be in shitinarand next week and i will send you some photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 I have to agree with Andy, I have never ever heard of a Customs agent even giving a wristwatch a second glance. Now if you are carrying a case full of watches, they might get pretty interested. I would bet the incident in Germany involved someone with several watches. First off, how would any country afford to stock every port of entry with a complete set of watches? How many thousands of models have been produced in the past 25 years? So, if what you are wearing, doesn't happen to be one of the models that the Customs "watch department" has in stock, what do they do then? Then, how many trained horologists are there, who could tell if a watch is real or rep? Suppose i show up with my DRSD 1665, everything is genuine except the case? Do you really think that the watch policeman, unless he is 75 yers old, and trained and worked on Rolex vintage watches for years could tell if mine is real or memorex? I don't think so, besides, I have a receipt (sales invoice) dating back to 1983 showing I bought the DRSD used for 850.00 USD!! Easy way to solve the problem. Don't wear one of your treasured "Super Franken" watches on vacation. Wear a genuine. Get a Seiko or something comperable. Likewise, I also agree, it is highly unlikely that customs would spot anything (especially in other places) I just think that given Italy's customs reputation, it's really not worth the risk of taking something which is outright illegal in said country and having a holiday delayed or spoiled by getting it swiped by the federales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielv2000 Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Next time I go to Italy, I'm wearing a cheap 21j! You guys have scared me senseless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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