Vacheron Constantin - Help identify?

ArphaRima

A friend has been gifted this watch in Asia. He's asking me if its real. To be honest I cant tell from these photos and I cant find the watch online anywhere? So I'm crowdsourcing this question!

Firstly I'm trying to identify it, and secondly get a value.

-First The strap looks like a decent quality one. Usually that's a giveaway.
-Next the white face has a relatively intricate sailing ship etched onto it.
-It's a quartz.
-the Vacheron Constantin branding is off centre. Thats unusual from what I can see.

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Wibbs

Do VC even make a quartz in men's watches? Don't quote me on it, but I don't think they do, only in the ladies models.

CarltonBrowne

I've just googled Vacheron Constantin ship dial and this came back up fairly high on the list:
http://www.perfectwatches.cn/vacheron-constantin-traditionnelle-white-ship-dial-stainless-steel-case-black-leather-strap-623031

This proves not very much but does show that these are faked which is a bit of a warning sign. Traditionally gold watches have gold casebacks and gold-plated ones have steel casebacks - VC making a gold-plated watch sounds somewhat counter-intuitive to me. Also the caseback on the fake in the link has a much better-worked caseback than the one in your photo - this also doesn't look good.



Finally, the best piece of advice I would offer is to look at it under a loupe. I'd expect the finish on a VC to be fairly noticeable with 10x magnification. I once thought I'd come across a bargain JLC dress watch in Kingston market and I asked for a loupe and compared the finish to whatever watch I had on at the time - the JLC was rough and that was that. I then put the serial number into Google and that pretty much confirmed the conclusion I had already arrived at. Does your friend's watch even have a serial number?

ArphaRima

Lads I think you have nailed it. Fake!

The caseback was very suspect and this link now confirms it for me. No, no serial number is evident AFAIK. After looking at quite a number of VC watches it doesnt seem in keeping with their normal aesthetic.

I couldnt find it anywhere online so couldn't compare. I think it might be an original design, but knock-off branded watch.

TLDR; FAKE

893bet

Very few people get gifted these types of watches. If you need to ask.

See the breitling on adverts that was gifted and out of order. Selling for 500. Lol chances of it being real non to none.

ArphaRima

Well... In Asia it's not that simple. With corruption working the way it does over here people often get gifted expensive items.

I had a local policeman landlord 10 years ago. He owned a few villas and a fleet of cars. Sorry, I mean his family did..

A cardinal rule in a region plagued by fakes is that you never gift them. Veracity and pedigree matter most. That's one reason why the Chinese etc flood Europe to buy expensive brands.
So the guy who gifted this probably thought it a reasonably priced luxury watch, not a low priced knock-off of a premium brand.
He's going to lose some serious face.