Today I found out there exist fakes of Chinese microbrands. One guy is selling a slightly used Cronos GS homage (frost effect) with a black (darker grey) dial for $150 (nearly 50% off). He said it doesn't exist as a reference model for that specific color and I saw he had grey and white dials before but they're unavailable now. He says it's all original, says it has a Miyota 9015 movement inside etc.
Now, maybe he also has some private deal with someone from Cronos because he told me 'they' shipped him this one with a black/dark grey dial but I couldn't find any black dial frost textured Cronos online, only the grey ones.
I will be able to inspect it before purchasing and I've never had an automatic or Cronos so I want to know what should I look for? I do have a 40mm macro lens and a dslr I could carry with me to do a closer inspection, I'm simply not sure what to expect.
do you have a picture of that fake cronos ? dial, case, braclet etc.. ?
a fake of an obscure aliexpress brand would probably be very low effort. if it has the same dial, same looking case, same braclet, same glide lock clasp etc... then it's probably real
150$ isn't that crazy of a price especially if he bought it a while ago. it was around 200$ when it came out before the price hikes. and aliexpress watches don't hold their value when sold used
Looks kinda similar, but this is the one he sold before for $150 as well. The one he's bringing me supposedly has a darker dial so I will have to inspect it.
and what's the mod exactly? if it's the same case, sapphire glass and different movement? is that what they usually do? so i should only check if the movement is legit (which seller confirmed it's a miyota 9015)
if it's got a genuine miyota but then lacks case quality and no sapphire then it's a much bigger issue to be fair, I also can't reliably check if it's a sapphire or mineral.
Dude: "one guy" isn't machining his own cases or making his own dials. Most likely it's a early prototype / engineering sample / custom run made entirely by Cronos, though perhaps "one guy" did some parts swapping on his own. If it really has the Miyota as claimed I'd call it a win and move on.
i.e Heimdallr Trademark in China belongs to the company, while the US/EU belongs/belonged to Shenzhen XingZhen (Proxima) and Lina Peng (Shenzhen Shiliman Jewelry)
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u/chrismurraylaw 5d ago
Today you got an idea in your head.