It’s kinda wild, right? You’d think fakers would go after the big names like Rolex or whatever. But no, they’re hitting Fortis. Maybe because they think folks won’t know the difference as easily? I dunno. Whatever their reasoning, it’s annoying.
And the thing is, some of these fakes are getting… *good*. Not “amazing” good, mind you, but good enough to fool someone who isn’t paying super close attention. I saw one thread where a guy was worried he’d sold a fake, and you know, you can see the panic. Nobody wants to accidentally rip someone off.
From what I’ve gathered, eBay and Chrono24 seem to be hotspots for these fakes. It’s a total buyer-beware situation. You really gotta do your homework. Oh, and speaking of homework, apparently some sellers are being sneaky and calling them “re-editions” or something similar to try and cover their butts. Clever, but still… shady AF.
One thing that seems to be a common giveaway (if you have the watch in your hand, that is) is the quality of the cross-hatching on the crowns, especially on those Marinemaster Super Compressors. Apparently, the fakes often have a grainy, matte look to the cross-hatching. Real ones should be cleaner, sharper.
Also, the casebacks. The quality just isn’t there on the fakes. I remember seeing pictures of some fake Fortis parts, and the caseback just looked… off. Cheap. Like it was made in someone’s garage, which, you know, it probably was.
Now, I saw one post where a dude was asking about a black Fortis Flieger. He couldn’t find a black coated version when he searched for the reference number. This is where things get tricky, because sometimes Fortis does limited editions or special versions that aren’t widely documented. So, that doesn’t *automatically* mean it’s fake, but it should raise a red flag. You’d need to dig deeper, contact Fortis directly, maybe even post on a watch forum and get some expert opinions.
