FEATURE: Please Read This Before Buying Pre-Owned TAG Heuers on Ebay!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/05/spotlight-on-suspicious-number-of.html

A while back I wrote a post concerning an implausible number of red and blue dial 1000 Series TAG Heuers being sold on eBay, these were pretty easy to spot because the dials didn't look right when compared to the original. These caught my eye again the other day when someone posted a photo of one of the red 1000 Series on the Calibre 11 Forum the other day asking if we thought it was genuine.

If you wish to read the thread on the Calibre11 Forum, it starts half way down this page:
https://forums.calibre11.com/threads/is-my-tag-heuer-authentic-all-questions-here-please.33008/page-93

Now I appreciate not everyone wants to read pages of watch nerds bickering over what is and isn't fake, but I feel I must share with you details of this case to try and help protect my readers from getting burned elsewhere. Because while these sellers seem to have been shut down for now (although at least one of them has started selling again this morning), this a large scale fraud and this is not just going to go away. It's clear that these guys are pretty smart and no doubt they will open up new eBay accounts and trickle the same watches back into the system (and doubtless use other avenues to sell their watches).

As it stands it would be wrong of me to say 100% these watches are fake, at the moment we are awaiting the results of two watches that have been sent back to TAG Heuer for assessment. From what I'm told by the buyers, these are excellent 'fakes', that require more than simply taking the back off to check... but the 'circumstantial' evidence (lets say) is huge and damning.

The watches are being sold as 'pre-owned' with 'light marks' but no boxes and no papers. This was probably a conscious decision to give the sales an air of plausibility, especially to anyone who didn't dig further than the seller's front page. Indeed, browsing the sellers 'items for sale' pages didn't really flag up too much, in fact if it wasn't for the 1000 Series that looked a bit off, I don't know if I would have even thought too much about it, it's only when you observe their previous feedback that you start to notice that something is wrong.

The first seller that I came across was called 'Tradenvint' their eBay page is here...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/tradenvint

Trade-n Vint Steingasse
7 Vienna, 1030 Vienna CA
Austria

Checking back through their feedback I noticed at least twenty 1000 Series divers sold in the last six months, which is completely ridiculous. If you find two or three red dial 1000 Series on eBay in a year you are doing well, and the watches go for a premium price (£800+), they certainly don't start at 99p. This had 'red flag' written all over it. Furthermore I started to notice that their other feedback was starting to paint a rather worrying picture as well as the same model numbers were coming up again and again and again.

Then it was pointed out that this was already being discussed in the TAG Heuer section of the 'Watch U Seek' forum, and about the same time a guy who had been posting there (James Biz) turned up on the Calibre 11 Forum. James has also purchased one of the watches and had taken it apart to confirm it's authenticity, he claims it is a fake, albeit a very, very good one. He has also sent his watch back to be tested by TAG Heuer.

James also pointed out two more eBay sellers that were peddling the exactly the same watches, even though they claim not to be connected. One of the two was much smaller, with far fewer watches sold, but still the similarity was striking enough to conclude that even if these sellers weren't connected they must be buying from the same source.

These sellers were:

'Watchcompany-1'

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/watchcompany-1

Ancient Balance Limited
Watch Company
14 Hoe Street
Walthamstow
London
E17 4PH


and 'Fastbeat0'

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/fastbeat0

Fast O Beat
Kunkegasse 8
1230 Wien
Austria


Anyway, feel free to read the thread if you want to know more of the ins and outs of our... 'debates' over this, but the important thing now to know is which models are affected and what you can do if you have bought from these companies and might have a fake watch on your hands.

These are the model numbers affected, the numbers in brackets are the numbers sold in the last year across the three sellers we know about. These figures alone are enough to know that there's something obviously amiss here... especially when concentrated between very similar looking watches that would only need different coloured dials

CAC1110.BA0850 (32)

CAC1111.BA0850 (27)

CAC1112 (34)

WAF1110.BA0800 (9)

WAF1111.BA0801 (16)

WAF1112.BA0801 (11)

WAF1113.BA0801 (12)

WAH1110.BA0850 (22)

WAH1111.BA0850 (29)

WAH1112.BA0850 (39)

WAJ1110.BA0870 (2)

WAJ1111.BA0870 (4)

WJ1110.BA0570 (9)

WJ1111.BA0570 (10)

WJ1112.BA0570 (14)

WJ1113.BA0575 (11)

WJ1114.BA0575 (12)

980.020B 1000 Series Two Tone (3*)

980.113B 1000 Series Lume dial (10*)

980.913N 1000 Series Red Dial (8*)

980.013B 1000 Series Black Dial (2*)

980.613N 1000 Series Blue Dial (2*)

*These figures are only for 'watchcompany-1' as Tradenvint did not specify individual watches in the description so it doesn't show in their feedback, but overall Tradevint sold '27' 1000 Series watches in the last year (making a ridiculous total of 52!)

Clearly this is a massive fraud, which has turned over hundreds of thousands of pounds, and that's just the TAG Heuers, these people were also selling Seikos, Omega quartz and Longines Hydro Conquests as well. Lots of them...

For me, the most worrying thing is that once these watches are sold and then re-sold via eBay by unsuspecting customers, they are going to be impossible to spot... (the red and blue 1000 Series excepted as they are clearly 'off), I mean I've always thought that one day I would pick up a late 00s Formula 1 off eBay for a few hundred quid just for the hell of it, but now I don't think that's a smart move.

But if you have bought one of these watches from one of these sellers in the last year or so, and/or possibly other auction sites or a third party seller on Amazon (because Amazon sure as hell wouldn't know a fake TAG Heuer if it smacked them in the face), then I would urge you to take steps to verify your watches authenticity. The only way to do this is to return the watch to TAG Heuer via your nearest Authorised Distributor. Don't take it to 'your guy' or your local jeweller, these 'fakes' are too sophisticated for that, they have the correct ETA movements so that won't even tell you anything. If your watch turns out to be fake then you should be able to return it to the supplier for a refund, or claim compensation from eBay or Amazon.

Huh, you know what I am calling these watches fakes... because if by some miracle TAG actually said the watches tested were genuine that would be even more unbelievable!

TAG Heuer's value retention is already weak due to overproduction (Jean Claude Biver said as much in the interview I posted recently) and saturation of the market through grey market sellers offering discounts, this is not going to help matters and we already know there are some extremely good 'new' Aquaracer fakes doing the rounds.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/08/feature-tag-heuer-fakes-on-ebay-are-now.html

The problem is, how do you protect yourself against this? These fakes are too good for us regular punters to spot, and I suspect even companies like Watchfinder wouldn't investigate far enough beyond the movement and general appearance to make sure, and once you get these watches being 'approved' by 'those who should know' then we are all on an extremely sticky wicket!

A while back there was much talk about watch companies getting in on their own pre-owned markets, buying back stock and selling pre-owned in their own boutiques. I think if things keep going the way they are this may be the only way you can 100% guarantee that you are getting the real thing....

In the meantime if you are bidding on or thinking about bidding on one of the items that Tradevint are selling today, I strongly urge you to reconsider your position.