automatico Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 It looks like it. http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=484054 Pretty good read. Edit 7-15...now it has spread to VRF: http://www.network54.com/Forum/207593/thread/1468508903/last-1468584086/View+All Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbane883 Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 yeah.. sadly he was caught a bit too late as he's sold quite a few watches. I'm sure he will find a way to continue his nefarious business practices elsewhere or under another eBay name. I just hope he's not a member here. Looks like he's using MQ 5512 cases and then shaping the pointed crown guards.. he's doing a poor job as well..the top profile is all wrong Also.. look at the Comex Sub photos he uses on the home page of his website: https://watchgroupcorp.net/ lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themannier Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 This COMEX is shocking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Buyer beware, especially with Rolex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyldare Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Wow... great catch. I'm always amazed at the knowledge on forums (especially this one). Makes me so wary to buy another high-value vintage Rolex and makes the modding community so much more enticing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 It's very disconcerting to see the lengths people will go to deceive. The whole vintage Rolex market has gotten so filled with dodgy watches, sellers that are misrepresenting watches and higher and higher prices that it has become very risky to buy unless you are very knowledgable or have access to someone who is. We all know that sales sites like EBay are the "Wild,Wild West, but when folks that are selling themselves as reputable dealers turn out to be crooks, it really is discouraging. AFA this Watchgroupcorp, if one went to their website, it becomes quite easy to see that they are in the business of enhancing and altering watches. I would never in a million years buy a vintage watch from a company that Is in the business of CAD/CAM, laser welding and reshaping cases, and obviously building watches from parts, obviously not all of which are genuine. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Who else here thinks that COMEX on his site is straight from MBK? Even the pearl looks the part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droptopman Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I followed that thread on TRF. The sad thing is that most of the "traditionalist" or whatever you want to cal it tend to view all builds in this category as some kind of scam and we know that is not the case. Guys like this that profit on being dishonest paint a bad picture of the "build" hobby. Just a bad deal for anyone that enjoys the hobby. There was another thread today of a guy who got scammed on a red 1680 from the same seller. Only gen part I think was the movement and he paid 7.5k for it. I just hope it is not someone we/I know.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagnesky Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Thanks to these low grade scammers we cant sell our frankens on the Bay anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sogeha Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 1 hour ago, champagne-communist said: Thanks to these low grade scammers we cant sell our frankens on the Bay anymore It's worse than that. Thanks to these scumbags our whole community are seen as villains. This despite the fact that the vast majority of members are scrupulously honest in their descriptions, probably more so than sellers of genuine watches which are not original, and would under value a sale rather than scam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champagnesky Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 It's worse than that. Thanks to these scumbags our whole community are seen as villains. This despite the fact that the vast majority of members are scrupulously honest in their descriptions, probably more so than sellers of genuine watches which are not original, and would under value a sale rather than scam. Replicas have been around for ages, even the big auction houses like Christies and Philips sell repainted dials, custom cases and whatevs. And i dont mean only rolexes. I think the problem with vintage watch collecting is that people are too naive and think this hobby is something you can buy yourself into. Thats not the way it works. Those people are going to be scammed sooner or later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sogeha Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Very true and in the long term I think well built, properly declared frankens and then replicas will become more accepted. Many a country house sold a valuable painting to pay death duty or finance new roof, then hung copies. As the price of early ferraris shot up to many tens of millions it became perfectly acceptable to own and race a replica, which are essentially frankens. The historic racing organisations changed their rules to accept replicas, because nobody is going to risk a 30-40 million car in racing. Bugattis are very muddy waters indeed. Is there and original car? I know of a couple that were rebodied in period and both versions now exist. A totally new one can be bought in Argentina. Some cars exist three or more times. All genuine of course. More and more manufacturers are reproducing their own past models. Factory fake? So as the price of more and more vintage watches reach the point where they live in bank vaults, I think slowly wearing a copy will be more acceptable. Certainly dispite fine words and sworn positions, all the high end watch dealers and auction houses are talking up watches they wouldn't have touched ten years ago. They are businesses, so are they really going to sit drumming their fingers and telling people all the good watches are gone or will they sell what is available and make it sound good? There is a world of diffence between selling a declared reproduction as an affordable way of experiencing ownership and selling a fake as genuine, ask Lord Brockett. Maybe in time Rolex will issue limited runs of "continuation" models. Stranger things have happened. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendota Explorer Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Very true and in the long term I think well built, properly declared frankens and then replicas will become more accepted. Many a country house sold a valuable painting to pay death duty or finance new roof, then hung copies. As the price of early ferraris shot up to many tens of millions it became perfectly acceptable to own and race a replica, which are essentially frankens. The historic racing organisations changed their rules to accept replicas, because nobody is going to risk a 30-40 million car in racing. Bugattis are very muddy waters indeed. Is there and original car? I know of a couple that were rebodied in period and both versions now exist. A totally new one can be bought in Argentina. Some cars exist three or more times. All genuine of course. More and more manufacturers are reproducing their own past models. Factory fake? So as the price of more and more vintage watches reach the point where they live in bank vaults, I think slowly wearing a copy will be more acceptable. Certainly dispite fine words and sworn positions, all the high end watch dealers and auction houses are talking up watches they wouldn't have touched ten years ago. They are businesses, so are they really going to sit drumming their fingers and telling people all the good watches are gone or will they sell what is available and make it sound good? There is a world of diffence between selling a declared reproduction as an affordable way of experiencing ownership and selling a fake as genuine, ask Lord Brockett. Maybe in time Rolex will issue limited runs of "continuation" models. Stranger things have happened. Agreed. I attended a bachelor party 20 years ago with the son of the personal and corporate lawyer for a famous billionaire corporate raider. He went to high school with my friend, and we picked him up at his dad's house for the party. In the garage were 3 Shelby Cobras. One was fully original and worth tons of $$, and the other two were kit cars that his mechanic built for him. When we asked about the kit cars, he said why on Earth would you risk driving the real one when the kits are equally as fun to drive and look identical? He said his dad only shows the real one and drives it on special occasions, but the kits he can take out whenever he feels like it. This is from a guy who could easily buy as many real ones as he wanted and drive THOSE as disposable cars. LOL Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 13 hours ago, Nanuq said: Who else here thinks that COMEX on his site is straight from MBK? Even the pearl looks the part. Certainly the crown guards are all wrong, don't know what's up with the hands- look like they came off a 6694 or and Air King- can't tell by the pic if it's an opaque MBW pearl. But why would anyone use a replica on their website? I love the fact that this Tim Strong character goes into a legal spiel about not dealing in replicas on his website- trying to scare others with smoke and mirrors! But at least he's now been outed on the Rolex forum. I guess if you're trying to buy a vintage Rolex, you need to stick to guys like Jacek and Andrew Shear who know their stuff or run it by the VRF before you buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dlf Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Wow, crazy. Lemons everywhere...not even good lemons. i can reccomend as my top five . tenpastten lunaroyster hqmilton hodinkee sheartime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick1972 Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 Oops sorry, I caught him and at first I didn't know he was a member at TRF. The thing is when I see, I am a member of the NAWCC, IWJG, AWCI............... For most people it's the same as, OK that's a good guy and they know what there doing. Tim Strong is/was a scammer and need to be caught. Don't think people from the regular Rolex fora will point a finger to the rep forums. Many members from the regular Forums are members here or to another rep forum. It's the only way to know or to discover the new techniques on the aftermarket scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendota Explorer Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I could be totally offbase, but this is honestly why I'm feeling like it is better to buy modern gen Rolex, but build frankens or at minimum work with one of those impeccable dealers for any vintage pieces. The chances are good that vintage pieces out in the wild contain aftermarket parts and are some degree of franken, anyway, so at least if I control the build process it is transparent and I am 100% aware of every part that went into it. If it is going to be a franken, anyway, then by golly I want to be the guy who made it happen. It is a heck of a lot cheaper that way, too. Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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