Hi Everyone,
Around 4 years ago I have bought myself a gold-plated blue dial submariner from a trusted dealer here. I was very happy and was wearing it with pride, and in my eyes there was absolutely nothing wrong with the watch. It passed a 100m water pressure test, it was running only +2/day, SEL were - after purchasing the original Rolex fat-springbars with 1.2mm end lugs - absolutely stunning, and I loved that watch. It was only when I walked into a private bank, that I was called out on my fake; and these people have only seen the watch from a distance of 5 meters. It ended up being in the drawer ever since.
Fast forward, 4 years later a lot has changed in my career and I finally found myself in the position to purchase a 18k gold daytona - a dream has come true. After my new watch finally arrived from Chrono24, I began to understand why people called me out on my fake Rolex before. The gold color is simply off - big time!
While the Daytona has a nice whitish gold, the gold-plated sub has a dark-yellowish gold. Unfortunately, the Daytona is in for a service right now but I still have two spare solid gold links that I can compare to the gold plated ones.
You will see, that the real gold links are just way brighter. While it may not be as obvious when you compare two links only, it is a major tell when comparing two watches.
I think I should let some photos speak for themselves.
In no particular order ... here some shots in different lightings on different backgrounds. If you can tell which one is the real and which one's the fake, other people will too.
I will document the fix here on RWI soon. I will remove the current gold plating, and go for a 14k plating in the hope that it's gonna be brighter than the Noob 18k one. Just need to wait for the galvanising equipment
Once the color issues are fixed, I will be happy to wear this beautiful thing as my daily beater again.
Around 4 years ago I have bought myself a gold-plated blue dial submariner from a trusted dealer here. I was very happy and was wearing it with pride, and in my eyes there was absolutely nothing wrong with the watch. It passed a 100m water pressure test, it was running only +2/day, SEL were - after purchasing the original Rolex fat-springbars with 1.2mm end lugs - absolutely stunning, and I loved that watch. It was only when I walked into a private bank, that I was called out on my fake; and these people have only seen the watch from a distance of 5 meters. It ended up being in the drawer ever since.
Fast forward, 4 years later a lot has changed in my career and I finally found myself in the position to purchase a 18k gold daytona - a dream has come true. After my new watch finally arrived from Chrono24, I began to understand why people called me out on my fake Rolex before. The gold color is simply off - big time!
While the Daytona has a nice whitish gold, the gold-plated sub has a dark-yellowish gold. Unfortunately, the Daytona is in for a service right now but I still have two spare solid gold links that I can compare to the gold plated ones.
You will see, that the real gold links are just way brighter. While it may not be as obvious when you compare two links only, it is a major tell when comparing two watches.
I think I should let some photos speak for themselves.
In no particular order ... here some shots in different lightings on different backgrounds. If you can tell which one is the real and which one's the fake, other people will too.
I will document the fix here on RWI soon. I will remove the current gold plating, and go for a 14k plating in the hope that it's gonna be brighter than the Noob 18k one. Just need to wait for the galvanising equipment
Once the color issues are fixed, I will be happy to wear this beautiful thing as my daily beater again.
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