Just Say NO To Fakes!

In the latest BITCH SLAP campaign, I mean in the latest Ad Campaign by the same people who put on SIHH watch salon in Geneva every year, Finally a message heard loud and bloody clear as day! To raise awareness and stop the spread of fake Swiss Watches being produced, an ad campaign entitled “Fake Watches Are For Fake People” on the top of the ad, the background is all white, in the middle is a hand with a fake ladies Rolex watch, and on the bottom a message saying” Be Authentic, Buy Real”. I almost feel like this ad was put together by the same people who bring you those bold to the point IWC ad’s which are quite ingenious. To be fare, there is a real issue with fake watches in the world today. They keep getting better and better, and though imitation is the highest form of flattery, it somehow always manage to cheapen the image of a brand when the fakes are available. Just to give you some insight with some staggering figures, a reliable source estimates that nearly 40 million fakes watches are produced per year, the shocking thing is that in 2007 only 20 million genuine Swiss Watches were made for export.

This kind of bullshit is part of the reason why some watch brands are not able to focus on the new watches being produced because they are fighting for intellectual property with these glorified tracers who make the watch companies look bad. Even for a laugh, anytime I have bought something fake obviously non watch related, I feel like a dirty whore. It’s almost feels like wearing a frigging toupee. The profits estimated on Fakes are about one billion dollars. If you need to buy a fake, that’s really sad. Save up and by the real thing you will feel better and won’t feel like such a Wally! The watch companies collectively who are being targeted by the counterfeiters should share that billion dollars and invest it into, R&D, Marketing, Watchmaking Schools and Facilities and charities.

I am so against the making and buying of replicas or fakes that I would rather wear a TIMEX. Not only does it cost watch companies million of dollars to fight, but the money being generated by these counterfeits help fund terrorist groups and other criminal organizations in propagating child labor. So I urge all of you to grow a pair and Just Say No To Fakes!