Watch buy is a timely reminder about fakes
YORKEYS Knob auction hunter Anthony Davis had a sharp reminder of buyer beware when he sunk $4500 into would be Rolex watch that turned out to be a clever fake.
Mr Davis said the watch was “basically worthless.”
“I don’t want anyone else to succumb to this sort of thing, it’s a bit appalling.”
The beaches resident realised he had invested his hard earned into an imitation when he removed the back of the watch to compare it to his authentic example he already owned.
“It looks genuine, it has the 18 carat hallmark,” Mr Davis said.
“But when I took the back off I saw it did not have the Rolex movement.
“That was a cheap movement, it was like a slap in the face.”
He said a second Rolex sold at auction on the same day was in the community.
“I don’t know if that was a fake, but it was sold for $5000,” Mr Davis said.
“It would be a lot of money to spend on a fake.”
Stacey Quaid, director of
Quaid Auctioneers, said the watch was part of a shipment of unclaimed goods from the Queensland Police Service.
He said punters had a number of opportunities to inspect the items. “People use their own judgment,” Mr Quaid said. “It is up to buyers to inspect the item to ensure they know what they are bidding on.
“It was one of those cases of trash or treasure, you have to make your own investigations.”
Mr Quaid said that when the item was being called bidders were warned that the watch had not been verified.
“It is regrettable that something was bid on that turned out to be something else, but all the warnings were there.”
He said auctions had continued to perform strongly despite the pandemic.
“We went online and streamed auctions live,” Mr Quaid said.
“We have had a pretty good reaction from customers and had a good clearance rate.
“The system is working well and the business is running smoothly.
“It's a good way to buy second hand at an auction price.”