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Fake Swiss ETA?


HaydenM

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Hi all,

I just bought a watch from a TD here and ordered the asian ETA movement. Since I have gotten the watch I decided to take the back off to check and unlike asian ETAs I've gotten in the past this one has ETA stamping. Do asian ETAs exist with the gen stamping and if so is it common for them to be in TD's watches or by some fluke have I gotten a swiss?

Thanks all,


HaydenM

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Chinese "Eta" do have the stamping.

 

From what I noticed, but hey we're not in the perfect world where everything can be 100% true, the genuine Eta (Swiss) have their Eta logo stamped slightly more under the wheel.

 

See the pictures here under.

I'm pretty confident about the fact that there are no rules because I have a Tissot with a 2836-2 and the stamp seems different from other Etas....

 

I personally prefer to consider my reps have all fake Etas so I'm not disappointed ;-)
I also do not buy genuine Etas from our TD...the Chinese ones work perfectly well.

 

For eagle eye experts, and I'm not, the probable way to spot a fake from a real is the finish of the wheels which seem to have smoother edges than the CN ones.

It seem obvious on my Deep Sea (first and last picture).

post-4865-0-37668900-1435034138_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-63314900-1435034142_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-59076600-1435034152_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-35948200-1435034287_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-48630000-1435034304_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-21897600-1435034319_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-80933100-1435034753_thumb.jp

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In my opinion yes as I'm not able to spot anything else but some are more qualified than me.

If you take a look at the Tissot & Explo (roll your mouse over the photos to see the file names) they look smooth where the DeepSea is not ...

 

But then, if you (I) do not have both handy you might not able to tell.

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Just like watches themselves, movements are also replicated to look like ETA movements, the replica stampings are of poorer quality, and have nowhere near the clarity of the genuine Swiss stampings.  Plus, there are other subtle differences/tells too.

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I did not take new photos but tried to show the differences.

- The two first one are from a Tissot, no question of course, this is the original factory 2836-2 custom made for that brand, Tissot.
 

- The third one is from a rep with a genuine Eta as long as I know. It's a OEM sold by the ETA factory for brands not belonging to the "Swatch Group".

 

- The fourth one is from a rep with a clone...This has nothing to do with the ETA factory obviously.

 

I tried to highlight the fact that the wheels are the most obvious tell.
Of course, if we want to compare the stamps I should take the exact same pictures from the same distance and angle of all the movements.
But it wouldn't be very helping as much as the wheels though...

 

NOTE: just realized that the third movement was NOT carrying any markings on the left of the 2836-2 engraving...

post-4865-0-15357900-1435159698_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-94384700-1435159711_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-29090400-1435159829_thumb.jp

post-4865-0-00048900-1435159842_thumb.jp

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Easiest tell with the exception of a few super clones that are out there is the balance jewel retainer housing. The housing on the ETA has 3 relief cut outs to insert/remove the balance jewel cap retainer. The clone only has one. In 99% of cases this can be used to identify quickly if it is gen or not.

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Easiest tell with the exception of a few super clones that are out there is the balance jewel retainer housing. The housing on the ETA has 3 relief cut outs to insert/remove the balance jewel cap retainer. The clone only has one. In 99% of cases this can be used to identify quickly if it is gen or not.

 

Thanks for that.

If you have time one of these days, maybe you could post a photo of it for those, like me, who have less experience in movements ?

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Easiest tell with the exception of a few super clones that are out there is the balance jewel retainer housing. The housing on the ETA has 3 relief cut outs to insert/remove the balance jewel cap retainer. The clone only has one. In 99% of cases this can be used to identify quickly if it is gen or not.

 

That is how I learned to tell the difference.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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