Saturday, February 25, 2017

My Chopard Geneve Watch


Earlier this past week I put all of my swap meet watches into a ziplock bag and took them to work. I left the bag in our break room with a note saying that if anybody wanted a watch to let me know and I'd install a battery and they could have it. The giveaway was pretty successful . . . eleven watches found homes . . . or should I say found wrists.

After retrieving the bag, I pulled one of the watches out. I could see the words "Chopard Geneve" on it so I thought I'd look it up. 

I checked eBay here and my jaw dropped. It looked like the watch could be worth $$thousands$$. Whaaaaat??!! Really??!! Holy crap.

I kept looking online for the exact model, but I just couldn't find it. 

I inspected the watch more carefully, and I began noticing things that made me wonder if it was authentic. The first thing I noticed was that the roman numerals XII and III had come unglued, and the number VI was upside down. The band too seemed suspect. Even though it might've been a replacement for the original band it seemed to be a pretty mediocre replacement for such a supposedly high-end watch. 

I began researching on how to authenticate a Chopard watch. One of the clues was that there should be a serial number marked on the back of the watch case. Not only was there no serial number on the case, the Chopard signature was upside down.

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And so it was without much hesitation that I pried the watch case open to see what the inside looked like.  Any worries about possibly scratching or damaging the case were tossed aside. 

Sure enough, the insides were mostly encased in plastic. The word "Singapore" was embossed on one of the metal pieces. An authentic Chopard watch has Swiss movements, not Chinese.

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So, no SCORE this time, but if I ever come across another "Chopard" watch . . .  I'll know what to be looking for!

If you have 9 more minutes to spare, here's a video for you to watch.

9 comments:

Honolulu Aunty said...

What an exciting almost-score!

Susan said...

Hey, you decluttered! Good to know about the Chopard Geneve watch.

jalna said...

For sure was exciting for awhile, Aunty!

Hahaha, thanks, Susan!

K and S said...

at least now you know what to look for!

jalna said...

Yup, Kat. Wonder if I'll ever come across another one.

Mark Shelby said...

Fun story Jalna.

Back in about 1999 I was in a small Mexican town on the Pacific south of Tijuana. I street seller came walking by. We began to bargain. I ended up with a woven Mexican blanket and a Fake Rolex watch for $35 bucks total! The watch was for my Dad's birthday and the blanket for my house and camping.

You could not tell the Rolex was fake. It was a divers style watch with fancy metal wristband.

You would love the bargains in TJ!

kobi said...

What are you going to do now that the Kam swap meet pau?

jalna said...

Mark, Tijuana sounds like fun.

Hopefully, they'll go over to Aloha. Only thing . . . da food . . . don't think it's allowed at Aloha.

Mark Shelby said...

Oh NO! No more Kam Swap meet? And before it turned into a swap meet I used to watch all of da Bruce Lee Kung Fu movies there! I used to sell things there when I was a teen in the 1970's. Da whole island no stay da same! Makes me really sad actually!

Watch dis when you miss our good 'ole Hawaii dayz! That's what I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7NRf7LRLc4