In the world of high-end vintage watches, where every second hand ticks with the weight of millions, the battle between authenticity and imitation is a never-ending game of cat and mouse. This is the story of Jose Perez, a man who has dedicated his life to uncovering the fakes and forgeries that plague this exclusive market. As an expert in vintage watch authentication, Perez is on a mission to make the watch world safer for collectors, but his pursuit of truth has made him a controversial figure. In this article, we delve into the world of counterfeit watches, explore the intricacies of restoration, and examine the obsession with originality that drives the market. We also take a closer look at Perez's work and the impact it has on the watch world. Finally, we reflect on the broader implications of this issue and the future of the vintage watch market.
The Problem of Counterfeit Watches
Counterfeit watches have been around since the 1700s, when Swiss watches were altered to be passed off as English-made ones. The grift has remained basically the same ever since: Dress up a cheaper watch to look like a more expensive one, sell it to an unsuspecting rube, and pocket the profits. As vintage watch collecting grows in popularity, and the number of high-value pieces changing hands via auctions and private sales increases, so too does the potential payoff for high-end fakes. According to Counterfeiting, Piracy and the Swiss Economy 2025, a report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, $1.88 billion worth of counterfeit Swiss-branded watches was sold in 2021 alone. At Bezel, which authenticates all of the watches sold on its platform, 34% of the watches examined in 2025 were rejected, up from 29% the previous year.
The Rise of Superfakes
While many forgers focus on mass-producing contemporary watches from major brands, the $5.5 million fake Perez discovered isn’t the only one of its kind. That watch, Perez believes, originated at a workshop that specializes in high-end restoration—one of very few places that have both the access to rare and valuable watches and the expertise to copy them in such extraordinary detail. “The level of craftsmanship is remarkable,” he says. “When I first saw the serial number engravings, I would have called the watch real. That's the level we're dealing with now.”
The Issue of Restoration
Perez believes restoration is an unavoidable reality for most vintage watches, and the bias against restoration disproportionately benefits auction houses and sellers. “A 50- or 60-year-old watch in perfect condition has almost certainly been restored—that’s just physics. Materials age. Patina develops,” he says. “The people doing this restoration work are genuinely skilled artisans—in some cases, artists. But they work in secret because the moment a restoration is known, the watch loses value. I want to change that.”
The Obsession with Originality
The heart of the issue is the collecting world’s obsession with originality. Because there are so many fakes floating around, an untouched watch is treated as self-validating evidence: An oxidized "tropical" dial, the thinking goes, is harder to fake than a pristine one. If a watch shows evidence of being worn and exposed to air and humidity over decades, it’s not only less likely to have been tampered with, it’s also aesthetically unique, another factor that drives up the price. As a result, genuinely untouched vintage watches are rarer, and inherently more valuable. In the art world—where pieces can be centuries old, and restoration can be a necessity—restorers are credited for their work. Why, Perez and his acolytes ask, should the watch world be any different?
Perez's Work and the Impact on the Watch World
Perez believes in the greater good of his work. “My goal is really to make the market better and safer for collectors,” he says. “Vintage watches have become something totally anachronistic—nobody needs them to tell time anymore—they've become an art form. But the market has always been plagued by fear of fakes and over-restored pieces, and that hesitation holds back values and confidence.”
One way Perez is advancing his agenda is by offering his services to buyers and sellers who want to verify the provenance of their watches. “When someone has a watch they’re unsure about, I do a detailed report,” he says. Clients can choose from several tiers of authentication, ranging from a basic assessment of the movement, case back stamps, and engravings to a "passport" complete with high-res photographs of the disassembled watch and detailed descriptions of each part. "If the owner wants to sell, they can include it with the watch so the buyer has certainty."
The response to his work has been mixed, to say the least, but according to Perez, the needle is starting to move. "I think auction houses have generally become more careful," he says. "They research the watches better than before, and in some cases, they just reach out to me if they are not sure. But there are also some collectors who think I’m a bad guy, that I'm just trying to destroy the market."
The Future of the Vintage Watch Market
As the prices of vintage watches continue to rise, the most valuable pieces increasingly resemble blue-chip artworks rather than wearable timepieces, and the stakes for buyers, sellers, and counterfeiters alike have never been higher. "Today I checked a Rolex Daytona Paul Newman dial for a famous dealer," Perez says. "The dial is fake, identified by the tiniest graphical errors in the original, which the counterfeiters haven’t figured out yet. The print quality is insane, though."
In conclusion, the world of high-end vintage watches is a complex and fascinating one, filled with both beauty and deception. As Perez continues to fight the good fight, the future of the vintage watch market remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the battle between authenticity and imitation is far from over.
