The $3.4 million Frankenmaster

[dhknola]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...edmaster-faked

The hammer of this watch was wonky even if it was unmolested...

[INC]

More than interesting story! I would like to know more about the follow ups...

[Juhuatai]

Jose perezstroika already wrote a thing about this a couple months ago. Glad it's come to light.

https://perezcope.com/2023/04/09/tro...a-at-phillips/

[TuRo]

Thanks - These high end auction pieces are a nightmare - Any potential bidders should Google like of perezscope and one or two others of his ilk, before they bid....but they won't, as they are wealthy, but lazy peacock's, guided by the utter guff the auction houses (who'll have earnt really big time, so are biased) and their vicarious flunkies (who are tasked to target key buyers and schmooze them).....a fool, and his/her money :-/

On this particular Jose concludes something else at the end.... beyond wealthy daftness, fraud, naivety, money laundering....god only knows what makes people use Phillips et al !?

[swish77]

Originally Posted by Juhuatai

Jose perezstroika already wrote a thing about this a couple months ago. Glad it's come to light.

https://perezcope.com/2023/04/09/tro...a-at-phillips/

Yes, I remember chuckling at his word for the watch: "The Cheatmaster."

[rootbeer7]

Originally Posted by TuRo

Thanks - These high end auction pieces are a nightmare - Any potential bidders should Google like of perezscope and one or two others of his ilk, before they bid....but they won't, as they are wealthy, but lazy peacock's, guided by the utter guff the auction houses (who'll have earnt really big time, so are biased) and their vicarious flunkies (who are tasked to target key buyers and schmooze them).....a fool, and his/her money :-/

On this particular Jose concludes something else at the end.... beyond wealthy daftness, fraud, naivety, money laundering....god only knows what makes people use Phillips et al !?

Money laundering without a doubt looking at some of the prices.

[Snowballs]

That's an incredible story. Great read

[Auric Goldfinger]

Philips is currently trying to get his Instagram taken down along with sending him Cease and Desist letters for bringing to light their doctored photos of the Daytona last month.

Jose tends to get a lot of flak from the Panerai crowd but I find his work to be quite eye opening.

[AEC]

Ugh. According to Robb Report, Omega fell for it, and it was an inside job...

https://robbreport.com/style/watch-c...er-1234852416/

[alwayshere]

Originally Posted by Auric Goldfinger

Philips is currently trying to get his Instagram taken down along with sending him Cease and Desist letters for bringing to light their doctored photos of the Daytona last month.

Jose tends to get a lot of flak from the Panerai crowd but I find his work to be quite eye opening.

I don't get how they can issue him C&D letters when all he is doing is taking public information and analysing it?

I must be missing something.

[gordon86]

Big hit to the reputation of phillips and omega no doubt but especially Phillips.

[Chewbacca]

I had nothing to do with this.

https://fortune.com/2023/06/07/omega...cord-sale/amp/

[dhknola]

Jose is amazing and the actions Phillips is pursuing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Phillips should hire him to sniff out bad watches/actors and instead look like crooks with power trying to silence him.

[HMHM]

Bloomberg, Fortune are all reporting it…. But Hoe-Dick-Kee is silent as usual… but guess who was the first who reported the record breaking auction results? Shameless…

[SvenNikolai]

it happens

[RolexBHR]

Originally Posted by gordon86

Big hit to the reputation of phillips and omega no doubt but especially Phillips.

If you follow Perezscope, tons of franken watches are going on auction and in particular Rolex. I think it was both brave and shows the transparency of Omega to come out in the open about it.


Perezscopes analysis is so detailed that he got a legal threat to stop posting from philips and they are taking legal action on him, this wouldn't happen if his analysis didn't cause a shit storm at philips with the buyers.

I hope Perezscope wins with case as he is the only one putting these auction houses in check.

[HMHM]

Originally Posted by RolexBHR

If you follow Perezscope, tons of franken watches are going on auction and in particular Rolex. I think it was both brave and shows the transparency of Omega to come out in the open about it.


Perezscopes analysis is so detailed that he got a legal threat to stop posting from philips and they are taking legal action on him, this wouldn't happen if his analysis didn't cause a shit storm at philips with the buyers.

I hope Perezscope wins with case as he is the only one putting these auction houses in check.

Perezscope is a legend! And Omega deserves respect for coming clean! But Philips and HDK are a massive scam which needs to be called out at every opportunity!

[rolexandlange]

Originally Posted by HMHM

Bloomberg, Fortune are all reporting it…. But Hoe-Dick-Kee is silent as usual… but guess who was the first who reported the record breaking auction results? Shameless…

They are an Omega dealer, and they also publicized the auction and result. They likely speak to Omega regularly and may have even had discussions with the brand about this watch. If so they aren't exactly arms length from all these goings on and probably want to protect themselves as much as possible from being somehow roped into the investigation. Even if they have nothing to hide it will be hugely inconvenient for Hodinkee and the staff to become involved in the investigation. Not to mention expensive lawyering up! This is assuming that is not already happening. This is all my speculation.

[HMHM]

Originally Posted by rolexandlange

They are an Omega dealer, and they also publicized the auction and result. They likely speak to Omega regularly and may have even had discussions with the brand about this watch. If so they aren't exactly arms length from all these goings on and probably want to protect themselves as much as possible from being somehow roped into the investigation. Even if they have nothing to hide it will be hugely inconvenient for Hodinkee and the staff to become involved in the investigation. Not to mention expensive lawyering up! This is assuming that is not already happening. This is all my speculation.

The thing is that HDK can’t have the cake and eat it too. HDK is considered the gold standard in horological reporting (at least previously), but now to curry favour with big manufacturers/auction houses, they are letting journalistic standards slide down the drain. HDK is first and foremost a media company (at least that’s what B.C intended when he established HDK), but they can’t only publish positive stories about a watch, and conveniently stay silent about the negative side of it. Clearly HDK is no longer an objective horology media anymore as they are afraid of being cut off from big watch companies and there goes their exclusive access. If a single man team like Perezscope can find out the hanky panky stuff done, I sincerely doubt that people at HDK, John G and the rest don’t know the truth….

[Watchcollectables]

Whats interesting is the Omega museum are saying their staff were responsible for selling the watch ........

[Saoirse32]

Props to Omega for exposing themselves here.
Panerai, are you listening?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RHJ]

HDK shows that journalistic work isn't compatible with own sales activities in the subject.
Seen a million times.
Do this or that, please!

[MikeHoncho]

Originally Posted by HMHM

The thing is that HDK can’t have the cake and eat it too. HDK is considered the gold standard in horological reporting (at least previously), but now to curry favour with big manufacturers/auction houses, they are letting journalistic standards slide down the drain. HDK is first and foremost a media company (at least that’s what B.C intended when he established HDK), but they can’t only publish positive stories about a watch, and conveniently stay silent about the negative side of it. Clearly HDK is no longer an objective horology media anymore as they are afraid of being cut off from big watch companies and there goes their exclusive access. If a single man team like Perezscope can find out the hanky panky stuff done, I sincerely doubt that people at HDK, John G and the rest don’t know the truth….

I believe they are now first and foremost an e-commerce company.. It's just a turnoff when everything they publish now has something to do with their shop... especially all the pre-owned stuff. Or something related to their business daddy, LVMH.

[wb55]

Perez yet again coming up as the victor in another legal saga. Anyone against Perez at this point should have a think.

Omega have shareholders and that amount of money for a fake isn’t shareholder value. I would expect them to start legal action against the auction house and the sellers.

Hodinkee and the rest of the advertorial crowd should be ashamed of themselves.

[INC]

Originally Posted by SvenNikolai

it happens

(SH)...

[Garycar51]

Jose posted about it in April...now somehow...wow, Bloomberg posted so it is legitimate...as usual the naysayers complained...but, the dude is spot on as far as I am concerned, he works his butt off getting to the bottom of things...took the rest of the watch world just about 2 months to catch up...and while I like older Panerai, and some here don’t like it, he’s right about those issues, too.

[gordon86]

100% agree that kudos to Omega for coming out and speaking about it. But maybe coming out public gives them the power to file for a refund from Phillips too.

Also agree the big disappointment here is big watch media outlets like Hodinkee who kept quiet. Its horrible. Fratello article I felt is more of a mouthpiece for Omega.

Shame on Phillips and the huge winner here is Perezscope. He does an incredible job and Goldberger should just keep quiet

[Bosscheto]

There is no such a thing as a watch journalist who is independent. They are other form of influencer - you have the following categories - youtuber who deals new watches or is invited to places and events to create content - it is obvious who is linked to whom by the way they report on brands. Tudor is huge in that game. This can be from a small youtuber being invited in a boutique to shoot a video or a big channel with hundred of thousands of subscribers. The print journalist are the same - the old dogs go to events for years - the chief editors just deal directly with CEO/Presidents, and are bought with allocations, unique pieces, five star hotels etc. But it is always a tit for tat. Then you have the platforms who often sell new watches - no journalism there at all, just a different type of marketing. Finally, you have the gray dealers/second hand on youtube - they carve a niche and they resell, so there content is to push their inventory but sometimes no link with watch brands, so you can actually hear an honest opinion. The big auction houses embraced social media, rode the wave of the Covid mass money printing, and gain credibility through this - but they are a big player linked directly with the watch brands. Simple recommendation - do you own market research and buy what you like, there is enough data online ...

[fmc000]

Originally Posted by Watchcollectables

Whats interesting is the Omega museum are saying their staff were responsible for selling the watch ........

Actually it looks that the Museum head assembled the watch with real and fake parts and then bought it at the auction representing Omega. Fratello released a very thorough post on this.

[1William]

The only article I have seen is on Fratello in the watch world. I understand that any company or entity can have bad players but this is significant news and I would think it should be reported in the watch media outlets. Hodinkee has lost any objectivity and is nothing more than a sales outlet and media influencer site in my opinion. This incident and the reporting or lack there of, goes to the core of the rotten apple that is the watch world at the moment.