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The Rolex watch is a status symbol. It’s the Rolls Royce of all Watches. If you have a Rolex, you probably have money and it tells others that you have it. This is why it’s the most copied watch in the world today. There is no better looking watch than a Rolex. The Rolex Submariner is trendy and sharp, while the Rolex Oyster is classic. One of the most copied is the Rolex Mens datejust. Probably one of the best looking watches ever made. Many will argue and claim the Rolex Daytona as the best looking mens watch, I guess its personal choice.
If you buy direct from a dealer or watch store you will pay full price and get a genuine watch. However it is possible to get a genuine Rolex watch from newspaper advertisements or better still on E-Bay. The best deals on a Rolex watch can be found on ebay. The GMT and Submariers can be found at 50% of retail.
Lots of the counterfeiters now use mechanical movements that lets the sweep second hand glide around the dial chapters, something common to all Genuine Rolex. Others use a quartz movement where the sweep second hand ticks every second as it steps around the dial, an obvious fake. However Rolex did make a few models that used quartz movements. This was in the 1980’s. They soon dropped the idea so don’t expect to see this. However a very few Rolex watches again with the quartz where made in 2003, These are the Air King models, rare and quite ugly, dont expect to see one. If it has a second hand that ticks, it’s probably a fake. The latest model is the Geneve Cellini, these are classic watches and although produced by Rolex in 2007 the mens versions are Hand-Wound the ladies version has a quartz movement. You can take your watch to a qualified watchmaker and let him/her determine if your watch is genuine Rolex. Or you can remove the watchband. Check between the lugs at the 12 position and see if it has an engraved "Registered Design" number. If you see no number, it is fake. Now check between the lugs at the 6 position. Here you should see a serial number of the case. If there is no number, again it is fake.
Small engraved Rolex crown at 6 o'clock on the crystal Most fake Rolex’s now have this feature, but use a much cruder and larger crown than Rolex uses. Rolexes crown is difficult to spot with the naked eye. Most replicas have a crown so large you can spot it easily while it's on your wrist.
On gold colored watches, look for signs of wear on the lug ends and on the case backs. Fake Rolex watches will often display area where the gold color has worn off, exposing the cheap white colored base metal of the case below. Check the watch bands and look at the clasp. The Rolex clasp is nicely engraved with the old original Rolex emblem. This appears on both gold and stainless clasps on watchbands.
Another thing to look for is the weight of the watch. Gold Rolex watches are very very heavy as compared to the fakes, which are Very light for their apparent mass. This is because the weight of gold is much greater than the weight of a base metal. Stainless steel Rolex watches also has more weight to them because stainless is also much thicker and heavier than the base metal used in cheap fake watches.
Engraving on band end-links, Some new Rolex models have added model number engravings on the end of the watch end-link. This engraving includes the band model as well as two small Rolex crowns. This however has started to be copied by fake producers. | 
