Month: October 2019

The fake watch industry is always changing, always evolving, always reacting to the world. But some things seem to keep going. One brand, founded in 1905, has gone through ups and downs and seems unaffected by the weakness. Innovative history and textbooks have made the Rolex watch one of the most well-known products in the world, with a recognizable brand name.
To build a reputation like Rolex’s, you have to do things differently. You also have to be ahead of the curve. Rolex has done this with aplomb in the past, carefully controlling the supply of steel watches and pushing the brand in a slightly different direction by launching some eye-catching products at this year’s Baselworld. The fake Rolex is continuing to chart its own destiny.
It didn’t start with the renaissance of Tudor, but that event in 2007 now looks in retrospect to be the beginning of a transformation that elevated Rolex from a brand to some kind of looming deity. Simply put, Tudor is the new Rolex, and Rolex is a new item.
For instance, I once asked a retailer if I could commandeer thirty centimeters of unused counter space in his store. His face screwed up immediately as if suddenly overtaken by a crippling bout of indigestion.
But crazier than the current retail prices is the current availability. In 2007, you could go to a store and buy a green dial, green bezel Rolex Submariner “Hulk” out of the cabinet. You could get the watch if you had enough money. Waiting lists enforced scarcity, and secondary market prices double the ticket just didn’t exist like they do today. Now, getting a retailer that has a professional model in stock is more difficult than finding a hen with teeth.
However, Tudor has remained very fairly priced. With all the benefits of Rolex’s know-how and freedom to reinvent the brand, Tudor has carved its own niche with its own audience. It is actually the Rolex of its generation.
But since the Rolex replica watch has become an industry superpower and shed the usual focus of watch companies, it needs a new champion, a poster boy for a new era, a darling of Rolex’s past and future…
This brand is a trump card. It may not have the best tail, the most incredibly complex, or the same price tag as a mansion or private jet, but Rolex has a tradition, a personality, and a reputation that can’t be usurped. As the fake yacht master 42 has carved out a hard-to-reach niche, the brand, where anyone else would sit next to it, continues to stride in this new direction, further and further away from the group.

Recognized and loved by almost all watch lovers, this Rolex submarine is one of the most popular watches in the world, not to mention Rolex. As a matter of fact, if you want to try and win a brand new submarine, you will have to wait anywhere between one and four years, depending on the type. Fortunately, many options on the secondary market make it easier and faster to get one of these iconic dive watches.
But once you start sifting through all the references, materials, and designs, it’s easy to start wondering why such huge price disparities come into play. So, I’m going to analyze two very different ends of the Rolex Submariner spectrum – a reasonable and still damn-good-looking $10k Submariner and an older model that is worth more than $100k.
Besides being one of the most popular Rolex models, submarines have a long and rich history. The watch was first released in 1953 as a reference to the Rolex 6204 and has undergone many design changes over the past 60 years, making it one of the most aesthetically diverse replica watches in the Rolex line.
So when we look at the $10k reference 16613, which is from the serial year 2006-2007, we know it is a newer generation model. The famous stainless and gold two-tone Submariner was only first launched in 1984, so the modern 16613 presented here doesn’t have any real generational provenance that would add to its value.
However, compared to older Submariner 16613 watches, this one being made closer to the end of the reference’s production does hold a little more value. Since reference 16613 has yet to reach vintage status, newer versions like this one here, are actually more valuable.
The Submariner 6538 was in production for only a handful of years during the late 1950s, and as a result of its short production run, a relatively small number of reference 6538 watches were made. On top of that, many refs. 6538 Submariner watches were treated roughly, which further decreases the number that is still in existence today. There is Submariner that was worn by Sean Connery in the original James Bond films on top of everything else, which helps make the 6538 one of the most desirable Submariner references in history.
This is where the origins and the little details really get interesting. The latest version of the fake Rolex submarine was first introduced about 20 years ago, and almost every model produced since then has been the same. Compare that to reference 6538, which despite being created for only some short years was fitted with both chronometer-certified and non-chronometer-certified movements, along with a wide range of dial variations.
Small production numbers and the inherent variation that exists among surviving examples create huge excitement for collectors. Besides, the way that individual watches age over time – like the dial on this ref. 6538 which is fading to a rich “Tropical” brown color – makes further variation among a single reference to the point where no two watches are so close to the real models.
Beyond the physical properties of the watch itself, who owned it can make a big difference when it comes to the vintage Rolex collection. As mentioned earlier, the submarine was regarded as a precision diving tool in the late 1950s, and a significant number of submarines ended up in the hands of serving soldiers. Older Rolex watches with a history of military use are often more valuable as a result.
Even without the famous past owner, the above fake watch is the same submarine reference worn in the early James Bond films that made it more popular with collectors. And if the submarine 6538 that Sean Connery wore in the movie does turn up for auction, its provenance alone could guarantee a seven-figure price.