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Horological Meandering

Counter-point...

 

Bill Yao makes excellent "copies" of the classic Benrus navigator-style watches.  He's in the process of bringing out a "copy" of the classic Blancpain 50 Fathoms, he did another series heavily derived from the classic British military type 48 etc.  Shouldn't we all be protesting about this design theft as well?  (Please don't until I've had a chance to order my Blackwater).

A pleasant stroll though any shopping district will reveal Ventura look-alikes, innumerable sub copies etc etc etc.

Nomos took Bauhaus design principals and copied pre-WWII German watches.  Stowa either applied the same design principles or copied Nomos.  I don't reall the protests.  Stowa also "shamelessly" used design elements from old German chronometers, as did Dornbleuth.

You can't get Lemania 5001 movements anymore, so Sinn have shamelessly added under-dial gubbins to convert a 7750 to give a 5001 dial configuration.  Remind me about the protest marches - I must have missed the news.

I've got a meeting to go to, so the list ends here.   Someone please tell me how the GO example is different to these, as I genuinely don't get it

nick

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18 Comments view entire thread 

Shameless design theft ...

 
By: Marcus Hanke : June 25th, 2007-06:08
The copy of designs, logos and so on is an old issue within the watch industry. Generally known is the ongoing battle between watch manufacturers and counterfeitors with products of mostly Chinese origin. What seems to be a rather recent trend, however, i...  

I find the 'fake movement laundering' especially shocking...

 
By: Jos. : June 25th, 2007-18:55
... it's one thing to see counterfeit criminals making dirty money in the margins of society. But when the Armanis of this world start legitimising the Underworld's products, things become infinitely worse! Shame, shame on you, Armani! From now on I will ... 

Slow down...

 
By: nickd : June 25th, 2007-22:40
I don't think it's a fake movement (that is, a movement that tries to look like, or pretends to be, a Lange movement), it's just a movement that positions the hors/mins/date etc is certain places. Perhaps I'm wrong on this point, but I don't remember any ... 

Sorry Nick, but you're wrong. Look at this fake GO ...

 
By: Marcus Hanke : June 26th, 2007-00:21
Already the very first Google hit brought up this watch: It needs no expert to realize that it uses the same movement as the Armani watch: And it is also clear that it was designed on purpose to imitate the well-known GO PanoGraph movement. I think the te...  

Movement not watch

 
By: nickd : June 26th, 2007-00:53
Hi Marcus, I was just saying that I don't think the movement is a copy of the GO movement or that it pretends to be a GO movment. The movements I've seen in fake watches make no pretence at looking like the original, they just position the hands etc appro... 

Sorry again; I still think you are wrong ...

 
By: Marcus Hanke : June 26th, 2007-06:47
I think we agree that there are different categories of fakes, each targetting different groups of customers. The people buying a $ 199 copy of a GO PanoGraph normally do not know anything about mechanical watch movements, let alone about GO movements. Th... 

I agree, this is very disturbing IMHO

 
By: ei8htohms : June 26th, 2007-17:33
Hi Guys, I don't have anything much to add except to say that I don't think one can separate "the movement" from the "fancy under-dial gubbins to position the hands". I understand the point on some level (the movement is not pretending to be a GO movement... 

Counter-point...

 
By: nickd : June 27th, 2007-00:46
Bill Yao makes excellent "copies" of the classic Benrus navigator-style watches. He's in the process of bringing out a "copy" of the classic Blancpain 50 Fathoms, he did another series heavily derived from the classic British military type 48 etc. Shouldn...