Rolex

Rolex Vintage Brochure - Skin Diver handbook.

 

I thought I would do another exposé on spotting the non genuine examples as I am seeing more showing up for sale.  In pictures online it is very hard to spot the fake.  As in my last report pixels from reproduction copier/photo copy can only really be seen with a loop or solid close up pictures.  The magnification / shrinkage is a little easier to spot when looking at a photo of these brochures show up on the big auction site.  So this will help you spot the real vs the fake Rolex Skin Diver Brochures.

Looking closely you can see that on the real brochure the tank is clearly visible and on the reproduction copy/fake the tank is cut off.  In addition the reproduction is actually slightly smaller.  Due to the copier compressing the image to keep the resolution the resulting image is slightly smaller and when cut the result is as below.  This can be see from picture if large enough.  This is a way to try and analyse the document if you don't have clear close-up images that are a dead give away that a photo copy the pixels that are blurred.

Above the process used in ink printing results in clean edges.  Below the photocopy is made of pixels rather than on a printing press you have a completely different result.

Below the ink is slightly worn but there is no doubt this is from a printing press done in ink but has aged.  The edges are still far more defined that a copy

Below you can see the two images side by side and the copy/fake is obvious.

As I had previously said.  To faithfully reproduce these brochures it is a costly effort using a printing press and ll the tools necessary to reproduce original looking.  You would have to set a press run of thousands and these would not be economical as the market is that big for these documents.  However a photocopy is super cheap and easy to dupe the unsuspecting collector.

I hope this help you avoid these small mistakes.  It is obviously no a big deal as the old brochures are nice item to enjoy in a complete set. 

Final note.  There is also a guaranteed way to know if the Vintage brochure is real without seeing.  Now you are wondering how the hell.....

Smell it.  The original always has a musty old paper smell.  It is the chemical breakdown of compounds within paper that leads to the production of 'old book smell'.  Never fails but means you need the paper in your hand but by then you can do the visual inspection.

Bill

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