Spotting A Fake TAG Heuer

[joshtammi]

[FONT=&quot]So I normally find a lot of people can have difficulty when trying to spot a fake TAG Heuer watch, and this is mostly because they are repped so well, but hopefully this thread will shed some light on the more common models and how to spot the fakes.
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[FONT=&quot]These are based on mine and others' own observations, images used are taken from Google, for anyone trying to sue me for copyright when using your 'replica' watch photos..well I'm not too sure that will work in your favour in court.

To begin, I'm going to talk about the biggest spots that are common among most TAGs that will help you identify if it's a gen or not. these include:[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Blue Screws in movement[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Plain movement[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Recessed / wrong colour date wheel[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Misaligned markers[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Incorrect Sub dial size[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Bad TAG Heuer Logo[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Incorrect Geneva striping [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Incorrect model numbers[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Common serial numbers[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Incorrect movement number[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Bad Strap/Bracelet[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Boxes and Manuals
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[FONT=&quot]Alright - Lets Get Started! Firstly, what the hell is up with those blue screws...:facepalm:[/FONT]


[BLINK]Blue Screws and Plain Movements[/BLINK]

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[FONT=&quot]Most of TAG's chronograph movements utilize a re badged Valjoux 7750 movement. This movement comes in a few different grades, from a basic automatic, up to COSC standards. The difference aesthetically is easy to tell, the lowest grade movements are plain, and not very pretty to look at, and the highest grade movements, are very detailed, polished, and most importantly, have blue screws!
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[FONT=&quot]Here are three different grades, from lowest to highest (sorry no valjoux expert so not sure how many grades there actually are)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Lowest - plain rotor, plain parts unpolished[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Next - the middle of the road (and the main TAG movement) notice the swirly polished parts that are absent from the previous movement!
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[FONT=&quot]And Finally, the Top Grade - COSC Standard 7750. obvious difference - blue screws![/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]So whats this got to do with TAG Heuer and reps? well apparently the Asian 7750 manufacturers like to rip off the best quality, so indeed they started using blue screws to give the appearance of a COSC certified movement. The only problem, TAG Heuer dont have many COSC Watches...[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Originally the first TAG reps that came out featured the correct silver screws, but somewhere along the lines it changed to blue. Some dealers still offer the movements without the blue screws of course.
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[FONT=&quot]genuine TAG movements will not have blue screws unless COSC certified, and the rotor will always be polished like the middle picture, TAG does not use the lowest grade unpolished movement.
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[BLINK]Dial/Bezel faults[/BLINK]
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[FONT=&quot]Commonly, no dial will be correct 100%, so here are a few common faults with fake TAG dials:[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Recessed or wrong colour date wheel - i.e the date is not flush with the dial.
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[FONT=&quot]Gen: black date wheel
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[FONT=&quot] Fake: white date wheel[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Fake: sunken date wheel: (notice the shadow caused by the sinking)
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[FONT=&quot]Bad TAG Heuer logo[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This one is an easy tell - the Logo on the dial will probably be the most quality controlled thing on a gen watch considering its their brand. A real logo is crisp, and sharp, not botchy, or fuzzy, some fakes will actually have a different logo. Make a point of looking for glue showing through anywhere or whether there are any rough edges as an authentic Tag Heuer will be perfect and smooth.[FONT=&quot] it should look like this:[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]See the arrows on the 'G'. Some lower quality fakes will not have these. and it will just be a plain G. make sure it has the arrows.
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[FONT=&quot]Next, misaligned markers - always check the dial over from the same watch on the TAG Heuer website. for example, look at the numbers on the hour markers:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Gen: (numbers dont align to markers)
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[FONT=&quot]Fake: (numbers align) (please take note this is because im fair sure the original model TAG released had aligned numbers, but they changed it, however the reps continued making them with aligned numbers. the current model of this on the gen website has misaligned numbers)
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[FONT=&quot]Lume - A suggestion is to examine the luminosity of the printing on the watch face. You should easily be able to read the time in the dark since Tag Heuer uses LumiNova on the numbers as well as the hands of the watch. cheap reps do not use this type of lume and it usually loses it's power quickly.
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[FONT=&quot]Bezels - some bezels will have incorrect or missing numbers, for example, the rep calibre 36 caliper:

[/FONT]Fake:

Notice - missing 200 on the tachy. Ive seen a few better fakes of these, but they are mostly missing the 200. Another tell on some of the better fakes is that I have seen some with the red arrow not centered on the 12 o'clock marker and repositioning of the 0 - 10 scale:

Fake:

Notice this one has the 200. A problem with this model is that i've noticed some websites that sell it as a AD, actually use incorrect replica photos... so people who go looking for a pic of the gen might get screwed around. To that point: Make sure you only compare with pictures on the TAG Heuer website.


[BLINK]Geneva Striping[/BLINK]

I've covered on this before so i'm just going to repost that here:

The rotor is always a huge tell on all Asian autos. look at the strips running down the rotor, its called Geneva striping

It will always have an odd number and centrally placed stripe on 99% of gen tags (Bar the Calibre 5, which has the even number). No Asian autos have been made to date with correct striping on Most TAG reps because they based the design off the Calibre 5 rotor, not the rotors for each individual Calibre, i.e 16, 4, 7, 36, 17. (AFAIK)

Gen: (see the central stripe in the rotor)

Fake: (no central stripe, instead has the line)

To understand what i mean by 99%, here is a Genuine Calibre 5, this is what the Asian striping was based off for the TAG rotor, but this is the only Calibre I know which has the central line not stripe.
Real on calibre 5:

You will also notice, there are three different rotor designs there, i did this deliberately, because in fact, TAG uses more than one design, which gets quite confusing, osme are triangular, some are rounded like above, some have gold striping, some have black striping. The different rotor is not a good way of spotting a fake tag unless you know your stuff... Im not too good on fake rotors vs gen rotors apart from the Striping. but if you really must, I have noticed that the fakes will have the movement name printed on a plain background, whilst the gens seem to have the movement name printed over the geneva striping.


[BLINK]Model numbers and serial numbers[/BLINK]

model numbers and serials are usually always the same across the board for all reps, TAG reps have a habit of using CV2014 and LY3487. just to let you know, this is what the CV2014 should look like:

The tachy version with red hands, comes in both s/s strap, and plastic strap.
All other carrera models might be identical in terms of the overall design, apart from the colour. Some other carrera models are as follows:

• CV2010 - black dial silver subdial rings, black bezel
• CV2011 - silver dial, black subdial rings, black bezel
• CV2012 - brown dial, silver subdial rings, brown bezel
• CV2014 - as above
• CV2017 - silver dial, black subdial rings, polished steel bezel

[BLINK]Incorrect movements[/BLINK]

There was a post in the forum about a watch with this problem, quite a funny mistake actually - the dial said calibre 17, the movement on the same watch said calibre 16 - lol.

anyways here's what i mean: (Thanks Dustin)

If you cant read the movement, it says calibre 16, however, this watch, the Grand Carrera which utilizes a few movements, but a calibre 16 is not one of them, the Grand Carrera utilizes a calibre 36, 17, 8 or 6.

[BLINK]A bad strap or bracelet[/BLINK]

I've felt the difference between a gen steel bracelet, and a rep. the links are smooth, they flow, the polish is brilliant, and they are very sturdy. ofcourse you cant really feel the bracelet until after you have bought it, but most importantly, TAG heuer bracelets are not cheap to replace - you are looking at $400 on ebay for a Carrera steel bracelet.

The genuine bracelet is actually made up of ore pieces than it looks like, for example the Carrera bracelet, with the two thin polished links - see pics above. It is actually made with 5 different pieces per link, and the link bracelet is also more than one piece.

reps will usually cut corners by using one piece with a groove in it to simulate two separate pieces, and the two polished pieces on a Carrera bracelet are part of the outer pieces on cheap reps.

Fake: (notice he groove to simulate two pieces per link)

Also, make sure the bracelet has a number on the last link that joins onto the lug pin.
Real:

Notice the 3101, and the Y.

[BLINK]Boxes and accessories[/BLINK]

This is always quite hard to pick for a noob, but it is the most common fault I find with ebay fakes - the wrong box, manual or warranty card.

From my personal experience, ill just list some differences with my rep box and gen box (however i have seen gen boxes that look like my rep, they were just a little older)

The Gen box/manual compared with the Rep:

• Gen has 'swiss avant-garde since 1860' under every TAG Heuer logo in fine print, re does not.
• Gen stitching, especially on outer box and booklet holder is much finer, and well stiched.
• Rep box wood border is not as dark as the Gen
• booklet holder on Rep only has large TAG Heuer logo, Gen has Logo, TAG Heuer and swiss avant... written
• The manual - VERY IMPORTANT! dont expect to buy a calibre 36 with a calibre 16 manual. make sure the manual matches the movement. The fake manual is usually always for calibre 3, 5 and 7. and If you are buying a new one that happens to be any of those, see if it says calibre 3, 4, 5 and 7 (they added a new one)
• The actual box for the model - Im fairly sure TAG has different grade boxes for different watches, especially the grand carrera's, which come in a solid wood box with white leather. not the usual black box.

Gen:

Fake:

Warranty card - I've seen two - one was plastic like a credit card, the other is cardboard. the plastic one came with my rep, the cardboard with my gen. AFAIK, they do not use the plastic one anymore for gens, so you can find them on older models. I have also never received a cardboard one from a rep. If it is stamped, see if you can read the serial number, and who sold it, and if you really need confirmation, contact the jewelery store and they can tell you pretty quick if they sold it over the phone.

Well, I hope that gave you guys a better way to spot a fake from a gen, especially for the noobs who are looking to buy their first Gen TAG and are concerned

PM me any queries and I'll do my best to help!

 

[phillycheez]

thank you josh! a very informative write up that I've never come across. Very well though out.

repped!

 

[jrodshibuya]

Very impressive! Can you tell me why there aren't any decent non-quartz Monaco reps?

 

[joshtammi]

I think the Monaco series are quite poorly repped because they are relatively unpopular in contrast with Carrera/Link/Aquaracer models, there is a smaller market for these sorts of reps, which means the factories spend less effort in getting them right, and they are definitely bad...saw one rep that was supposed to be a Cal. 17 with a Cal. 36 on it, wrong dials, wrong date window...

another reason could be parts - a lot of reps use similar parts, eg cases, the monaco is quite unique and so parts need to be specially made for this model.

hope that helps, but might not be the real reason. best bet is to ask a dealer, there is a good chance they can source a good quality rep

 

[PolonusTM]

about dial flaws:

i.e. all rep Carrera Day/Date have minutes/hours subdials cut into dial surface while GEN has something like additional 'dishes' applied so they stick out. Like this:

 

[dustin]

Nice post josh. I'm really glad you took the time to work this up. Rep points added.

One thing to point out, although it doesn't apply directly to the identification of fake tags. All of the different quality versions of the 7750 movement are available in different decorations. You can get the Elabore (normal grade) with blue screws or steel colored and either undecorated or decorated. You can get the Top Grade in different decorations, and the Chronometre grade as well. The top and chronometre grade have glucydur balances and incabloc shock absorber, whereas the elabore is generally (unless ordered with an upgrade) a nickel balance and a etachoch shock absorber.



Also, it can be added that, in the following picture, the rep movement has an incorrect rotor bearing (even though it has the correctly colored screws):

 

[joshtammi]

indeed, i dont imagine any of the A7750 rotor bearings are even close to looking like a gen, shame i could make some killer frankens if A7750 pieces were fully compatible with valjoux

thanks for adding!

 

[dustin]

The rotor and bearing should be compatible. You can also unpress and repress a rotor bearing if you need too (or have a watch smith do it).

The rotor bearing on the some of the rep Cal 16s is correct. It seems like most of the rep movements with steel colored screws have the wrong bearing, but the ones with blue colored screws have the right bearing.

 

[Bomba]

This thread needs a sticky.

Amazing info here. Thanks for sharing!

 

[joshtammi]

The rotor bearing on the some of the rep Cal 16s is correct. It seems like most of the rep movements with steel colored screws have the wrong bearing, but the ones with blue colored screws have the right bearing.

i didnt know that thanks! correct bearing and correct colored screws could make a great combo!, I wonder if i can specifically ask a dealer for it?

 

[automatics]

josh. fantastic writeup.
i completely concur with points raised.

 

[Dillynotsilly]

Can someone tell me if this is fake. If it has cv2014 ly3487??

I can't tell if real or not. Plz help

 

[barth]

I can't tell if real or not. Plz help

This is not enough bud.

 

[SSTEEL]

A better, clearer photo of the same area would help.

Check out my Gen vs Rep Carrera Bracelet thread..

http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/tag-heuer-carrera-140991

 

[stonesix]

thank you thank you...very informative.