Dealing with Forever Watches

[richard591]

Hi everyone. I’ve decided to write this post specifically on the company “Forever Watches” who are sellers of a range of fakes, including a wide range of Rolex models. I’m doing so because I have recently read a number of posts from people who are clearly not happy with what they got, or the service they received.

 

Firstly let me introduce myself. I’m a long term wearer/owner of genuine Rolex Submariners (about 40 years so far) and am currently on my second, purchased in 2003. My spare is a genuine Omega Speedmaster Pro Moon watch from the exact series which was landing on the moon. Before this year I have never knowingly purchased or owned anything fake in my entire life.

 

It all started with a problem on the Rolex bracelet clasp; it needed replacing, but Rolex wanted to charge me about £650 just for the clasp (whole bracelet only about £850) and wouldn’t send me one where I live in the south of France. So, much annoyed, I started to research possible alternatives. Eventually, I bought a replacement whole bracelet from “Yukiwatch” for $78, fully expecting to be disappointed. When it arrived I was absolutely stunned.

 

The bracelet they supplied could not be distinguished from the original, fitted perfectly with all the parts interchangeable, including the screws. I simply took the clasp with diver’s extension off the new one and fitted it on the original. It’s on my wrist as I write this post; so far so good.

 

My Submariner now needs its second service and I will have to part with it for several weeks and usually I use the Omega while it’s away. However, because I’m so used to the Rolex perpetual movement now I keep forgetting to wind it up and it’s not waterproof for me to wear in the pool either. I therefore looked around for a fake to at least save me from winding the watch up every 24 hours. So that’s where I started to research fake Rolex’s.

 

After some time and many blogs on the subject, I dived in and bought a Rolex Submariner (green bezel and face) from Forever Watches which cost me about £200 with its (supposed) ETA Swiss movement and (again) fully expected to be disappointed. When it arrived I couldn’t believe the initial appearance. After unwrapping copious amounts of protection I gave it to my wife with my genuine and, holding the two side by side, she just said “how the bloody hell do they do that?”

 

Everything about the watch was as you would expect from a genuine in appearance from the quality of the polishing of the case, to the bracelet and all the functions of the movement. The only give away so far is that the bezel is 100 clicks, not the genuine 120, so, now for the testing.

 

Firstly, it was going when I got it and kept time with my genuine (running slightly fast) for the first two weeks of permanently wearing it. Then I took it off to test the power reserve – it lasted for about 40 hours before stopping. I put it back on and it started right up again and hasn’t stopped. The movement has a slightly higher frequency hum to it compared to the genuine, which makes me think it is actually beating at the stated 28,000+ bph. I’m now hooked, so gave this one to my son, who nearly had a stroke when I gave it to him, because he thought it was real until I explain it to him, but he’s still delighted.

Having tested the market I now (some may say rather stupidly) decided to buy another for myself as the spare. This time I bought a Sea Dweller Deepsea – black dial. It cost me a little more at about £235 with shipping. Now, could I be lucky a second time?

 

When the watch turned up, need I say it again, it looked to all intents and purposes genuine, but with the usual 100 click bezel being the only external give away. It weighed 220grams, as it should and everything is again interchangeable with a genuine bracelet. The quality of the bracelet is excellent, including the diver’s extension and functioning, with the case as well finished as the other – mirror smooth polishing and everything fitting to a high degree of accuracy. I can only assume that I hit a “lucky day” during the QC testing, or whatever passes off for QC where these things are made; so, now for the second round of testing.

 

Firstly let me comment on the externals. As I said the case and bracelet are excellent. All the hack functions work perfectly, the date changes perfectly, whether manually or automatically and the watch keeps very good time, although this one is running slightly slow. The overall quality of fit for the dial, bezel, hands etc is faultless and the bezel always returns to exactly 12 o’clock when rotated with no excess play. The engraving on the rehaut bezel is clear and can be read clearly from 2 feet away. The engraving on the back is deep and nicely blacked in. The power reserve is measured at, again, 40 hours to stop and then starts up as soon as picked up and worn again. So far it’s keeping very good time. The back is two piece, but I’m sure not made of Titanium as on the genuine. However, it’s very well finished and a good fit.

 

I have not opened up the back on the basis that I’m a firm believer in “if it’s not broke, don’t muck about with it”. However, I’m fairly sure that what’s inside is probably not a genuine Swiss ETA 2836 movement, but an Asian copy – who knows. Nevertheless, it might be a genuine Swiss ETA (if I’m lucky), but until it gets opened up I won’t know. Despite this, if the movement is not genuine and ultimately packs up I would not think twice about sending it off and having a proper one fitted in for about £300+. According to a watchmaker in the UK I spoke to recently he does this from time to time. The reason is that, although I would have spent about £500 by that time, the quality of the case and bracelet is such that it would warrant it. And a new genuine one is currently 11,050 euros. So, for a fraction of the cost I would have at least a good working example which will last. OK, so it won’t go down to 3900 metres. When was the last time you did that, or even the 300 metres for a standard Submariner? If it will cope with the shower or the pool, that's ok for most people.

 

The other thing is that the genuine Rolex (new style) glidelock bracelet with divers extension and central micro adjuster, to the correct dimension of 21mm costs about £2000 and I would not hesitate to put this bracelet on a real Deepsea, if I had one.

 

Now on to the matter of payment/delivery and the transaction. I paid via Mastercard and got a confirmation within 24 hours. About 4 days later I received the confirmation of despatch and a tracking number. This was checked daily and within 4 days it was in France and through French customs. It was delivered the next day, so overall about 10 days from order. This is not bad at all, as I order a lot of stuff from overseas with about the same process time. Because the watches were described as “bracelets” with a customs value well below minimum to incur charges, I didn’t have to pay the courier anything else on arrival.

In conclusion, I’m aware that many people don’t have what has been, for me, a surprisingly good experience/result having read some of their blogs. I can only assume this is more down to poor QC in the batch they bought from, because I’m sure most of these watches (regardless of who they come from) are probably made in masses on CNC machines and supplied to and assembled in small sweat shops. This is the only sense I can make of just how the case and bracelet (ignoring the movement for now) can be produced to this quality for the price.

 

So, if you’re buying from anyone else, other than the known reputable few who produce well engineered copies of consistent quality, but twice the price, it strikes me that at this level and cost you may or may not be lucky. Then there are the obvious scammers, such as “Bestreplica” and others to identify and avoid.

 

Well, that’s my recent experience and I do hope this has all been useful to someone. Please forgive me if it’s just repeating everything that’s been said before – I’m new to all this.

 

 

 

[GenTLe]

Well, welcome to this world. Now try some of our trusted dealers: they have updated models and send you QC pics that you can check before to ship you the watch. Other than Rollies, Panerai are done incredibly well. And now there is out an amazing Tudor black bay in real Bronze oyster case.

[richard591]

Thanks for that. Funny as it may seem, I now fancy getting my hands on a Sea Dweller Deepsea - Deep Blue (blue dial fading to black) as well. I could be becoming adicted to this. Any suggestions on a reliable good quality supplier for one of those?

[GenTLe]

Thanks for that. Funny as it may seem, I now fancy getting my hands on a Sea Dweller Deepsea - Deep Blue (blue dial fading to black) as well. I could be becoming adicted to this. Any suggestions on a reliable good quality supplier for one of those?

Just look in the trusted dealer list. Currently the best one to get for such model is produced by Noob factory and is version v6s with the a2836 movement (avoid the 3135 one).

Nearly any seller (trusted dealer) can get it for you.

Buy really check out for other brands too as they are great (Panerai, IWC, Tudor, etc).

This forum is in large part composed by Rolex and Ap aficionados that also sometimes spend little fortunes to mod or "franken" their watches, but still the daily pics can give you an idea of what there is around

[richard591]

Thanks GenTLe, very helpful, so will have a look.