For a long time as I have travelled through Heathrow each month, I have popped into the LV store and admired the LV watch case, but at over £4K it was always a product I was never going to be able to justify.
There has been various reps of this watch case since it was launched in 2013/2014 some very poor whilst others were actually pretty good but very expensive, as it was never going to be a huge seller as LV rep fans are far more into bags then a watch case.
LV call it a watch case, so it is mostly meant for the “I got money then sense” people of this world to take your watches on vacation with you. For most other people, it’s a nice display box where the lid stays open, which is good, as if you got big watches, once the lid closes you have a real chance of damaging the inside cloth material in the lid as there is not much space between the top of your watch and the lid.
LV explained on launch - Crafted like a trunk, the 8 Watch Case by Louis Vuitton is “watch you seek and watch you get.” Crafted in classic Monogram canvas, the case is perfect way to display and store your watches better than the drawer of a nightstand or in a cardboard box particularly while travelling. Price $6,200
I have never been a fan of the Monogram design, so when they launched the Damier Graphite canvas version in 2017 at $6,300 I started to keep a look out for a replica.
Soon on AliExpress and DHgate a few started to appear around the $300 mark, WeChat sellers were quick to say this is the crap version, and there’s another for $600 which is better. Over time it became clear that there are certainly two factories who make this box, plus one vendor who will custom make certain colour combinations using the monogram design, I will include pictures lower down.
I spoke to a few of our TD’s here and non were able to source, or just did not want to, as its out of their comfort zone, and heavy to ship so customs risk is higher, so I started searching through the WeChat handbag dealers, and came across 3 that said they could get it.
I chose one that had good feedback, and at first, she offered me the standard version that seems to be far more common, but I asked her to try to find, what I considered to be the better version.
All the WeChat use the same studio pictures that they send to customers. None have stock, they send the pictures out, and once you have paid, they source, QC and send.
If you take a look at this image from LV, there are a few things to look out for. First the number of rivets, notably on the front and sides. On the website you count 2 on the lower section, and on the sides
Now look at the factory shots from the less expensive model
3 right ��
Also, and I am not by any means an expert on LV (my only previous purchase being rep sunglasses whist enjoying the Turkish sunshine) but the brands are very protective of their logo’s and one thing you never do when crafting a box like this is cut into your logo.
You can see in this picture that the logo appears twice, and once not the full logo.
On another rep it is shown once
Also where the logo appears it should follow the same line on the side and front. In other words, you should be able to follow the same strip top to bottom and to the side and the logo is on the same line. They should all meet.
Now look at this one found online, apparently sold at £3K!, not only does it have logo’s that are cut in half, but also if you follow the logo from the front upwards, they are not even in the same line, this must be a bad fake.
Another rep example, this time, different colour insert.
Now using Finerlabels as an example shows images of the more expensive version, he displays pictures that had the two rivets as I mentioned earlier and also the logo’s all matched up, but at $768, this too much for me.
Here is another factory shot
One of the Wechat sellers came back and said they could source, the price, around £310 delivered, but the inside is more grey then black, bummer but nothings perfect!
Now, my memory is not as good as it used to be, but I am still convinced the original only has 2 rivets, so I decided to go with this version, which was about £50 more than the one with 3 rivets that most sellers had, and of course the split or wrongly placed LV logos – which may be just a QC issue.
To add to the confusion, the other pictures found online claiming to be real all have 3 rivets, of course another explanation is LV are having fun with the fakers, knowing they would copy from photos from the website –. Below all claim to be real pics.
Or a simpler explanation is that it could simply be a running change during manufacture.
So, after sending paypal to a person in china that I will never meet or spoken to before, the fun and games begin, and boy, did this take a journey!
Packaging could have been much better, upon opening I found that no external shielding (bubble wrap) was used, so the corners all showed signs of being squashed.
The reveal!
Stamped serial code, nice touch.
With regard to dimensions, this does appear to be 1:1.
Further thoughts
Boy did this case stink when I unboxed it.
It is a little rough around the edges, few glue issues upon close inspection.
The lock position despite being central to the width, is not central to the canvas positioning, this again could be a QC issue. BTW, the lock is piss poor. I already have an issue that the dealer is helping me with.
Is the printing on the canvas good, I would say average, a quick rub, it goes a little shiny.
Are the pillows going to stand the test of time, I doubt it, in fact I thought from the pictures, the lower priced one had a better tray and pillows.
Is the inside grey colour the same as the original, I am not sure, but black inside was not available, or the purple which is another option also could not be found.
Also the material on the underside of the lid is a little loose for my liking, I will have to check on the original next time I’m traveling to see if the original is like this.
Is it worth the money? – Meh… £300ish for a box, probably not, but cmon guys it looks kinda cool ��
I hope you enjoyed. Oh, and for those who plan to PM me and ask which seller, comon guys research yourself thats half the fun of this hobby :lol:
As promised some other examples, apparently around $700-900USD
There has been various reps of this watch case since it was launched in 2013/2014 some very poor whilst others were actually pretty good but very expensive, as it was never going to be a huge seller as LV rep fans are far more into bags then a watch case.
LV call it a watch case, so it is mostly meant for the “I got money then sense” people of this world to take your watches on vacation with you. For most other people, it’s a nice display box where the lid stays open, which is good, as if you got big watches, once the lid closes you have a real chance of damaging the inside cloth material in the lid as there is not much space between the top of your watch and the lid.
LV explained on launch - Crafted like a trunk, the 8 Watch Case by Louis Vuitton is “watch you seek and watch you get.” Crafted in classic Monogram canvas, the case is perfect way to display and store your watches better than the drawer of a nightstand or in a cardboard box particularly while travelling. Price $6,200
I have never been a fan of the Monogram design, so when they launched the Damier Graphite canvas version in 2017 at $6,300 I started to keep a look out for a replica.
Soon on AliExpress and DHgate a few started to appear around the $300 mark, WeChat sellers were quick to say this is the crap version, and there’s another for $600 which is better. Over time it became clear that there are certainly two factories who make this box, plus one vendor who will custom make certain colour combinations using the monogram design, I will include pictures lower down.
I spoke to a few of our TD’s here and non were able to source, or just did not want to, as its out of their comfort zone, and heavy to ship so customs risk is higher, so I started searching through the WeChat handbag dealers, and came across 3 that said they could get it.
I chose one that had good feedback, and at first, she offered me the standard version that seems to be far more common, but I asked her to try to find, what I considered to be the better version.
All the WeChat use the same studio pictures that they send to customers. None have stock, they send the pictures out, and once you have paid, they source, QC and send.
If you take a look at this image from LV, there are a few things to look out for. First the number of rivets, notably on the front and sides. On the website you count 2 on the lower section, and on the sides
Now look at the factory shots from the less expensive model
3 right ��
Also, and I am not by any means an expert on LV (my only previous purchase being rep sunglasses whist enjoying the Turkish sunshine) but the brands are very protective of their logo’s and one thing you never do when crafting a box like this is cut into your logo.
You can see in this picture that the logo appears twice, and once not the full logo.
On another rep it is shown once
Also where the logo appears it should follow the same line on the side and front. In other words, you should be able to follow the same strip top to bottom and to the side and the logo is on the same line. They should all meet.
Now look at this one found online, apparently sold at £3K!, not only does it have logo’s that are cut in half, but also if you follow the logo from the front upwards, they are not even in the same line, this must be a bad fake.
Another rep example, this time, different colour insert.
Now using Finerlabels as an example shows images of the more expensive version, he displays pictures that had the two rivets as I mentioned earlier and also the logo’s all matched up, but at $768, this too much for me.
Here is another factory shot
One of the Wechat sellers came back and said they could source, the price, around £310 delivered, but the inside is more grey then black, bummer but nothings perfect!
Now, my memory is not as good as it used to be, but I am still convinced the original only has 2 rivets, so I decided to go with this version, which was about £50 more than the one with 3 rivets that most sellers had, and of course the split or wrongly placed LV logos – which may be just a QC issue.
To add to the confusion, the other pictures found online claiming to be real all have 3 rivets, of course another explanation is LV are having fun with the fakers, knowing they would copy from photos from the website –. Below all claim to be real pics.
Or a simpler explanation is that it could simply be a running change during manufacture.
So, after sending paypal to a person in china that I will never meet or spoken to before, the fun and games begin, and boy, did this take a journey!
Packaging could have been much better, upon opening I found that no external shielding (bubble wrap) was used, so the corners all showed signs of being squashed.
The reveal!
Stamped serial code, nice touch.
With regard to dimensions, this does appear to be 1:1.
Further thoughts
Boy did this case stink when I unboxed it.
It is a little rough around the edges, few glue issues upon close inspection.
The lock position despite being central to the width, is not central to the canvas positioning, this again could be a QC issue. BTW, the lock is piss poor. I already have an issue that the dealer is helping me with.
Is the printing on the canvas good, I would say average, a quick rub, it goes a little shiny.
Are the pillows going to stand the test of time, I doubt it, in fact I thought from the pictures, the lower priced one had a better tray and pillows.
Is the inside grey colour the same as the original, I am not sure, but black inside was not available, or the purple which is another option also could not be found.
Also the material on the underside of the lid is a little loose for my liking, I will have to check on the original next time I’m traveling to see if the original is like this.
Is it worth the money? – Meh… £300ish for a box, probably not, but cmon guys it looks kinda cool ��
I hope you enjoyed. Oh, and for those who plan to PM me and ask which seller, comon guys research yourself thats half the fun of this hobby :lol:
As promised some other examples, apparently around $700-900USD
