Craig:

That's an interesting and worthwhile idea, and let me give you a few reactions.

• In terms of the legal right to use the photos of the fakes, I believe that you are on safe ground under the copyright laws, under the "fair use" doctrine. In short, you are probably OK snagging a photo, to use for educational purposes, especially if you are not doing it for your own profit.

• while it may be legal to operate this sort of website and use other people's photos, you can expect to receive some nasty e-mail messages, every once in a while. you will not make any friends among the guys making or selling the fakes.

• some people suggest that if you provide too many details about the differences between the real ones and the fakes, you are providing a recipe book, for the fakers to make better fakes. I have never subscribed to this theory, in terms of the Heuers. Maybe it is different in the world of $100K Rolexes, where the fakers can afford to invest in the best equipment, materials, etc. For better or worse, most of the Heuer guys are not in this league!!

• You will also face the challenge of not getting sick of the fakes. You could literally spend 10 hours per day patrolling this topic. Increasingly, I am losing the stomach for cataloging the fakes . . . the real ones are so much more interetsing!!

• Bottom Line: You would be doing a real public service with this sort of website. I get lots of mail, thanking me for the Gallery of Fakes and describing the money saved, by avoiding the fakes. I also receive lots of messages, asking me to authenticate or comment on a watch under consideration.