The New Fakes  by delgado

Seems like no longer the fakers are restricted to the old technology of the dials. Maybe with the explosion of the internet and websites like this one, increasing prices or just smarter crooks.  But, there is a new waves of fake dials and cases hitting the market. The dials are getting much better and harder to spot. It has become a matter of knowing what they dials looked like before more than does it contain all the right stuff.

Let me show you what I mean.

Above: These are the older fakes. The "L" does not line up to the coronet, the typical drunken X appearance. The print is not consistent.

Above: The newer style fake dials.. This one is much closer. The L lines up, the print almost looks correct. The markers almost look ok but not quite..

Above: Finally, A correct mark IV dial for comparison.

Submariners

Submariners have also been targeted by crooks and here are some examples.

Above: The print is close but not correct.

The latest version includes this version which is very close but the coronet is not correct and neither are the markers.

The story of the last dials of the red sub and the mark III for the SD

Lastly, the latest version which I don not have a copy are similar to the ones above. These dials involve the "close 6s" dials.  The "close 6s" are the later dials for the red sub and were made in the early 70s, around 3mil.  What is interesting is that they have the same characteristics of the mark III dials for the Double Red Sea Dweller. By that I mean the coronets have the same shape AND the printing of red in applied DIRECTLY to the dial. This is a change from the previous Subs dials which had a coat of white paint and coat of red paint over it.

Above: A correct "close 6s" dial. First note the shape of the coronet and compare it to Mark III DRSD dial below. Its the same. Also note the print of the word "Submariner" DIRECTLY on the dial, just like the DRSD mark III. Lastly, the close 6s for the depth ratings..

The newer fake dials, also have "close 6's" and the only way to tell is from the shape of the coronet. The spikes of the coronet in the fake dials are much longer than the ones in the dial above.

Above: A correct Mark III DRSD dial by Aston for comparison.

In conclusion.

1. There is a direct link between the correct "close 6s" dial and the mark III DRSD dials. They were both produced by the same company at about the early 70's and cases in the 3 million.

2. There is a new batch is higher quality fakes for both the DRSD and Red Subs. They require a higher skill to tell them apart. Hopefully this article will help.

3. There is a new batch of fake "close 6's" Red Sub dials and very close to the real dials except that the coronet is slightly off.