jfreeman420 Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I went to the West Palm Beach antique and watch/jewelry show this weekend. Stopped by a booth with a really nice older gentelman who had a good selection of vintage Rolex and other brands. i came close to buying a solid gold 1950's Doxa with fancy lugs but thought the $575 price tag was a bit high (anyone correct me if I'm wrong and made a big mistake leaving it there). While I was droolin, er browsing the cases a man walked up with a vintage Omega Seamaster with a silver pie pan dial he was looking to sell. I overheard the conversation and the dealer called someone to verify authenticity. The dealer passed and said something wasn'r right. I looked at the watch and it looked good to me. the finishing was that of a genuine watch. The dealer proceeded to tell me that the caseback had the Seamaster dragon logo inserted in gold. When the logo on the back was gold the indices sould have been gold as well, but on this one they were silver along wityh the dial. The dealer then proceeded to tell me that there were a lot of high end vintage Seamaster fakes coming out of South America. I mentioned to him that i thought all reps came out of Asia. He said "no only the rolexes come from china. South america is a huge manufacturer". Now I think to myself this guy has no idea what he is talking about, but also that it is his business to know. Is he just misinformed or are there actually high end reps coming from South America? Are we missing something? If that Omega was a rep, I would buy one in a second. has anyone else seen a 1:1 replica of a 1950's Seamaster pie pan dial? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 No clue on Seamaster reps, but I do know Asia is not the only source of reps, merely the largest - fairly common knowledge that some stunning vintage Heuer reps have been flowing out of Eastern Europe in the last few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Quite possible that it was a 'fake' in the sense that frankensteins are considered fakes. Obtaining the parts to make that watch would not be too difficult; I've seen quite a few vintage case sets with dials, hands etc. for sale- All one would need is to drop in the correct period movement for a nice frankenstein made from genuine parts. Not really fake, per se, but also doesn't have the claim to genuine in terms of provenance, etc. either. Maybe more appropriately a grey market watch in the truest sense, and still avoided by dealers and collectors due to their origin and lack of pedigree... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005SUBMARINER Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 (edited) was down in colombia south america not so long ago , & traveled thru out the country & did not see any sign of reps of any kind .. the police are very hard on counterfieters .. ill be on the look out anyways however the emeralds are awsome ! Edited June 4, 2007 by 2005SUBMARINER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Not a lot of reps made in S.America.......but there is onbe guy who is infamous throughout the trade for putting 'frankens' on the market...mostly older desirable pieces such as the 'pie pan' Omegas.......I've seen several articles on TZ and elsewhere about......I can't recall his name.......I think it was Juan Jose Fernando Manuelito Rodriguez.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offshore Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I have followed this seller on the 'bay for some years.... always wondered about some of his pieces... never purchased from him, although he has had some nice stuff cheap. I have wondered whether he was building some Frankenwatches... maybe some of our experts could look at a few of his "offerings " and comment. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vintage-Rare-Omega-...1QQcmdZViewItem Offshore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Please excuse me if I have not mentioned this before (I thought I had). Beware my fellow friends: There are tons of fake Omegas coming out of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay. I have seen them myself! Most are simply recased with redials. Also, there are quite a few extraordinary Dr. Frankensteins (who seem to have a penchant for vintage Omega) emanating out of India as well. We're talking about Rancheros, Seamasters and military examples for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadog13 Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 if you browse e-bay you'll find a lot of vintage high brand watches from Argentina...I alwaysw asked myself if they were gens...now I got an answer regarding them...seems that S.America is full of this franken/rep watches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005SUBMARINER Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 thats a gen movement for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 thats a gen movement for sure! It's also a damn convincing watch over all. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAMman Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I have been aware of a few Ebay dealers in South America offering fakes or frankens, mostly Omegas or vintage IWCs, from Argentina and Columbia. Also there are lots of redialled and recased Omegas from India - these are often presented as SS cased, black dialled Seamasters that use genuine movements from less fashionable variations. Eprey catches the unwary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfreeman420 Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 What I don't understand is that these aren't very expensive genuine models to begin with. You can have one of the vintages in nice condition for $500 to $1,500 am I wrong? Why go through all the trouble and expense to pass off a $1,000 watch as genuine when you have $850 in parts to make it? Is there a higher end price for these vintage models? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornerstone Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Some Swiss brands used to manufacture watches in South America (and for that matter the US). That may be the source of some of the vintage watches on ebay - they have the brand pedigree, and are genuine, but they never saw the Alps. Girard-Perregaux is such a brand (Argentina). These kinds of watches could possibly be the sources for vintage franken parts too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emuozz Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I live in south america and been on several countries near by, and I cant tell you that generally the rep that you will find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) Not a lot of reps made in S.America.......but there is onbe guy who is infamous throughout the trade for putting 'frankens' on the market...mostly older desirable pieces such as the 'pie pan' Omegas.......I've seen several articles on TZ and elsewhere about......I can't recall his name.......I think it was Juan Jose Fernando Manuelito Rodriguez.... Your information is dated. Juan saw the light, quit dealing with the filthy reps, sold all his old Barry Manilow dvds (or beastiality videos... not sure which it was... ), moved to Utah and joined the Mormon Church. It's actually Linda Gonzales Mendoza de Gorgonzola that handles the traffic these days. Edited June 5, 2007 by By-Tor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Your information is dated. Juan saw the light, quit dealing with the filthy reps, sold all his old Barry Manilow dvds (or beastiality videos... not sure which it was... ), moved to Utah and joined the Mormon Church. It's actually Linda Gonzales Mendoza de Gorgonzola that handles the traffic these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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