After saving some Dimes up and also attending a meeting for a unrelated business I was in a position to venture the streets of New York. There are no expensive high end imitations of watches here. I skimmed round the streets and haven’t ever been asked if I was a police officer so much in my life! Even with the streets lined with police the sellers had their goods ready for sale on a mild sunny Thursday. This single shot is inside a corner store showing me their “Swiss copies“, which was truly japanese models. Even a trained eye couldn’t distinguish an item. But just read on for what I found.
The infamous Canal Street in the Big Apple is where you can find the greatest number of imitations of high end watches. Most of the bigger dealers and web sites are based out of New York, whether they are bad sites.
Most of the imitations are being displayed on wooden carts and some sellers do sit on their briefcases up on a fire hydrant. As shown in the picture a male is showing his things at a junction. At times I am said to the street is nearly dead as lorries swoop down on the dealers to get their fake wares.
I came to understand that Asian merchants reign over the place. The Arabs have in stock low end quartz watches and fragrance. Yes, even fake scents filled up the streets. Then I wear Old Spice so I couldn’t notice a difference in the aromas. I sort of imagine that 5 $ for a container of MK isn’t bad after all.
So back focusing on my new found Asian friends I started looking for the fable Swiss reproduction Rolex watches. As soon as I mentioned these models the dealers blew me off. I was sufficiently lucky to find younger merchants who were avid to show me the watches. The Swiss imitations shown to me lacked countless details. Most noticeably was the lack of true gold or the non-screw bands. The quartz models at $20 each that was shown to me were terribly plain and were light in weight.
This stand above was the most ready to show me everything. I went up the stairs that was concealed from a partition of many leather belts. I told him I used to be a dealer hoping to get some samples. I took his name, likely fake, and his confirmed phone number. He permitted me to take many footage and go over the things in his bag. I noted that most items were in bad forms with enormous quantity of damage. And the merchant answered “they appear real today”.
What I’m trying to point out is that the streets of Canal aren’t what they appear to be. Canal Street is more like a huge flea market for replicas. Quality Swiss imitations haven’t been sold there. If you’re searching for quality reproductions check out www.timetraditions.com.
