Don't Buy Omega Constellation Gold Cap Model 168.010 from Replica Websites

Copyright infringement occurs in China with the full support of its government and judicial system. When international copyright owners seek to defend their intellectual property, a system of 'protection' clicks in, and even the most audacious intellectual property thieves are shielded by the corrupt and decaying Chinese system. 

Take the action in the Chinese courts by BMW (one of countless examples) against the Chinese car manufacturer China Automobile  for producing a fake BMW X5 and calling it the “Shuanghuan CEO”.  Even Blind Freddy would discern that it was a replica of the X5, but an institution in China, which could only laughingly be called a court, ruled that the car looked nothing like a BMW X5.  So, what hope do you think Omega would have with the wholesale counterfeiting of its current range, let alone watches where the intellectual property rights may have lapsed. 

Why the rant about the institutional dishonesty inherent in stealing other people's ideas and profiting from them?  Well, fake watches, and particularly fake vintage watches, contaminate and pervert the market, apart from all the heartbreak that may be caused in buying a fake at premium prices.  The most galling, albeit instructional window into the Chinese authorities' psyche, is that watch faking continues with the wholesale support of the Chinese system in manufacturing plants that produce watch components for 'legitimate' brands by day and fakes by night.  The Chinese authorities know of the damage to brand, people and markets caused, and indeed the linkages between organised crime and the distribution of their fake products, but through their morally and politically bankrupt coke-bottle lenses, who cares?

UPDATE

From the pictures on two separate websites uncovered, one would think that the latest vintage Omega Constellation to be faked is the 168.010, however the criminals running the sites have not stolen the design.......only the photograph! Claiming to have replicas of the watch in the above photograph, the sellers encourage people to click through and pay their money.

Watchmaker, Tim Mackrain, was so curious about the construction of a fake 168.010 that he made a purchase so as to be able to pull it apart, photograph it and disseminate the information widely as a service to the watch collecting community. The watch duly arrived looking nothing like a vintage or indeed a contemporary Omega Constellation, and through an email exchange the sellers provided enough evidence for Tim to be able to reverse the transaction with his credit card company. So, fortunately, no harm done to Tim.

A timely reminder, though, that all sorts of cockroaches populate internet commerce, supported as mentioned above by other cockroaches who turn, or whom are paid to turn, a blind eye.