Before I start on the subject on reporting fakes let me say that I am a Tag Heuer Owner. I bought a 2000 series chronometer. That way people that participate in this forum dont become outraged on the subjects I might bring up for discussions.

In the spirit of full disclosure you've also said that you've been "Very happy with fake Kirium" and have purchased a number of what you call "quality replicas" in the past.

I am an official owner.

TAG-Heuer might choose to call you an accessory after the fact.

Chuck recently wrote about reporting fakes being sold on ebay to ebay and having them removed. Is this really what these forums are for?

This forum, yes. That's one of the things we do here.

To inform people on how they can be tattle tails?

Personally I hate to hear/see people get taken by these crooks.

You apparently have a different attitude.

What benefit is for anyone to go and report this to ebay.

What harm is it "for anyone to go and report this to ebay."? None except for the people acting unlawfully.

Is it to keep Tag Heuer from going out of business? I doubt it.

You'd be right, that's not the reason, care to guess again?

TH is a major company with millions of dollars so I am sure they can be their own police, they do not need any help from you or me.

You are entitled to your opinion. Fraud bothers me. It should bother anyone who purchases the products of a firm that has to spend their money defending it's copyright, patents, and rights policing people trying to defraud people with counterfeit products. Which drives prices up on their new watches, parts, service, serves to increase the values of vintage watches (because the street price of a new Autavia will have an effect on vintage values). It also increases the chance that some other scam artist will cram an inexpensive tri-compax 7750 movement sans rotor into a vintage Monaco and get $3,000 for a put-together piece of home engineering.

And I would be willing to bet they are not paying you or giving you a complimentary watch for doing so. So why bother.

Because the costs of investigation of counterfeits, the prosecution of people making, wholesaling, retailing costs money. Money that socks the consumer in higher prices at retail, which drives the price of vintage and second hand examples higher as well.

I am sure that ebay can police their site as well without any help either.

You'd have a hard time convincing any serious watch collector or hobbyist that eBay can police their site effectively on their own, or these counterfeit's wouldn't be on eBay very long. Fact is the eBay efforts are pitiful at best. One could likely train a not too bright Gorilla to do a better job

If it is to protect the people who might buy a watch there then here is something to think about. If you are going to buy a watch from someone on ebay then that is the chance you take.

Ah, so we should kill the fakes page, pull all of the pictures and let people fend for themselves. I mean why bother, it's not our concerned if people buy a watch that is listed fraudulently?

I see no difference between pointing out a fake to eBay, and pointing a washed out bridge to the police... It's a common courtesy among civilized peoples.

just because someone puts a picture on their sell site it does not mean you will get that watch.

And this means... what exactly???

If you want to get a real Heuer then you should buy from a repitable outlet. Ben Bridge, Roman times, Bailey Banks Biddle, Costco Wholesale.........

Considering the ability of some of these fakes to mimic the real thing, it's a real good idea to purchase from an Authorized Dealer if you want to get a new watch that is of certain provenance.

Or go to a watch show with dealers so you can see the watch you are purchasing. The majority of people that buy replicas online know what they are buying and if you are not sure then dont get it.

If people wish to purchase a fake Rolex or TAG-Heuer from some guy's trench coat on the seedy side of Times Square that's there prerogative.

While I can see the attraction... People can pay maybe 10¢ on the dollar for what one could find a genuine model from grays or even an authorized dealer, and think they getting a great deal and fool a lot of people who don't know diddles about watches. A lot of people are happy to play the role of poser.

It seems that many of the people in this forum that get upset about fakes are the ones that paid a lot of money and now see extremely close looking replicas for a fraction of the price.

It's interesting that you say this when this has been your rant all day here.

You seem to take personal affront when I posted a link to a page where people can report fakes. The same link was posted in multiple forums over at TZ and no one has gotten upset, told people to get a life, posted insults and knitted a flag for fakes.

And the strange thing is that most of these replicas now are actually quality watches which hurts even more in the pocket book.

You have figures to back up these assertions? What figures do you have on replicas? How do you define “quality”, how do you test it?

Basically if you are happy with your tag heuer then be and leave ebay fakes alone.

Basically if you're happy with your counterfeit TAG-Heuers, bully for you, but do not tell others what to think or do. It's not your place to tell anyone else how to life their life or that they should lower their ethical, moral or legal standards to match yours.

If you don't wish to have that kind of integrity that's your decision, leave our integrity to us, thank you.

Let the TH police do their own work..

... by all means, lets sit on our hands, let people be defrauded, let TAG-Heuer pay more money to defend their name, and rights, and pay more for new watches, parts for all ones, and service...

For what it's worth, I can think of one good reason to buy a fake watch... If you're interested in seeing what makes a watch work and want to try to take one apart (and hopefully) and put it back together again, that's a decent reason to buy a fake watch, if you succeed you will have a watch you can be proud about (hey I was able to take this apart and put it back together again and it works!) and you aren't risking much money.

Aside from that, if buying counterfeits and furthering their cause what floats your boat that is your decision, don't expect me to agree with it. I'm not expecting you to like my viewpoints, you'll simply have to tolerate the dickens out of them.

-- Chuck