There are lots of stories told by Internet store customers who discover they didn’t receive quite they were expecting. Below are some of the features the distinguish a superior replica:

Features that distinguish a Genuine Rolex
(or a superior copy) from a Bad Replica

• Ticking second hand on fakes, real thing and better copies with more jewels have a smooth sweeping second hand.
• Second hand stops moving when winding stem is pulled out on the real thing.
• Second hand tip should reach the ticks on the face.
• Yacht Mast models have a fatter minute hand, some copies have a standard width hand.
• Hands and hour marks on the face should be luminescent on most non jeweled models.
• The rotatable outer bezel ring on the real thing should go around in 60 clicks, it’s marks should closely align with the second marks.
• See-through back cover: Only Japanese copies have back windows, No Rolex models do.
• Rolex back cover should have no engraving, some have the green authentication holograph. The cover should have  144 ticks to fit the Rolex opening tool.
• Band attached with press in pins: Real Rolex bands are attached with small screws, look for screw heads on the pins.
• No logo on the band signifies a fake.
• Serial numbers and case ID numbers (at 6 & 12 ends respectively) are sharply engraved under the band attach points. Serial number should match the paper work, some serial numbers, like R863698 is reused on numerous copies.
  
• Crown logo on the winder is separate attachment, looks for seams or leaked glue. Real crown logo has a row of  3 dots below it.
• Magnifier on all but best copies give x1.5 mag. Not the 2.5 Magnification of a real Rolex. The date should be well centered in the cutout.
• Triplock crown models, including. Submariner, Sea-Dweller and Dayton have a visible rubber seal on the winding stem, visible when the stem is fully out.
• A real Rolex comes in a nice wood or leather bound box, with paper in a wallet, and the Rolex seal. Hang onto this box to preserve the resale value of the watch.

Here are the going market prices for the various Rolex replica qualities

Replica – Quartz (Battery powered)                                   $50 and less.
Replica – Asians    8 or 17 jewels                                         $80 to $110
Japanese high end with Japanese movement 21 jewel  $210 to $230
Italian Models – Swiss Case 27 -31 jewel                           $275 to $329
Swiss high end with Swiss 27 -31 jewel ETA                    $525 to $650

(The real things lists for $4000 to $75,350)

Lower advertised prices should be viewed with suspicion, they are likely delivering a quality less than advertised.

Here’s a dealer’s video tour of a replica’s details

BlueFakes.com advertising the latest versions, uniquely have videos showing off some models, adding credibility to their site.  They have one unexplained entry in a scam report site, bear in mind some dealers sabotage the competition with bogus reports.  I have identified that this site has paid incoming links used to boost it’s search engine ranking (an offence only in Google’s eyes)

It seems quite acceptable for royalty and celebrities to wear replica jewelry, providing the have the originals back home in their vault.  Why shouldn’t we too be fashionable without risking loss of money, life and limb.

Diamonds are the ultimate prestige gem, in part due to it’s beauty and in part for it’s rarity and cost.

Before the purest complain about the synthetic’s dilution of the diamond value. They should consider that the popularity and rarity of diamonds are in themselves  man made products of the De Beers propaganda campaigns and monopolistic control of the mining and distribution of diamonds.

The Rise and Fall of Diamonds is out of print, but may be read online.

Several man made Diamond substitutes have been engineered with various degrees of success, including the ultimate, true laboratory grown diamonds.

Two popular man made alternatives to the Diamond may be found in the market place. The broadly sourced Cubic Zirconium and the relatively new, single sourced Moissanite. Both are said to indistinguishable from Diamonds by typical the naked eyed observer.

Cubic Zirconium, a crystal structure similar to Diamonds were originally produced in Russia, they are now also mass produced in Asia, their cost is almost negligible, compared to Diamonds. CZs don’t quite sparkle like a Diamond, but their lack of color and flaws are only matched by the best grade Diamonds.

Moissanite were not known to exist before minute crystals were discovered by Nobel Prize winning French scientist Dr. Henri Moissan,  in 1893 in the Canyon Diablo meteor crater in Arizona. No gem sized Moissanites have been found to occur naturally, a patented process to synthesize Moissanites was developed. A Moissanite’s crystal structure is different than a Diamonds it sparkle more, with twice the rainbow color “Fire”. Some object to the Moissanites color which can be greenish-gray under some lighting conditions.

Note the higher Fire for Moissanite and CZ compared to Diamond.

Compared to the Diamond, Moissanite in particular has higher Brilliance, Luster and particularly Fire, making Moissanite (sometimes rerfered to as having a disco ball look) the ultimate bling bling gem.

Detecting a Diamond substitute: As I was writing this, an episode of NCIS came on TV, in which they detected a Cubic Zirconium engagement ring with the breath condensation test. Diamonds have a high thermal conductivity (higher than copper) condensation will disappear from a Diamond muck more quickly than from a CZ.  a more precise thermal conductivity meter has been a standard tool used by jewelers to detect Cubic Zirconiums. Jewelers were at first baffled by Moissanites, with a brightness they were not accustomed to seeing in Diamonds, the Jeweler’s conductivity meter would show it to be a Diamond.  These days a more finely tuned instrument can properly identify Moissanites, as well as visual inspection under x10 magnification, rod shaped inclusions can be seen, as well as moissanite’s double reflection.   The weight to diameter ratio of a loose stone will identify a CZ which is much heavier than Diamonds. As the above chart indicates, Cubic Zirconium can be scratched by the harder Sapphire while a Moissanite won’t scratch. The softer Cubic Zirconium can exhibit rounder facet edges.

Another synthetic worth mentioning, which is a favorite of many is the hybrid Cubic Zirconium with a grown on diamond coating, one brand the Asha has, like the Moissanite, optical properties superior to a diamond (according to the emex Brilliancescope system test) but without the Moissanite sometimes greenish tint. The best Asha prices are direct from the manufacturer.

Real Made Made Diamonds

Several companies are now manufacturing genuine diamonds the are indistinguishable from natural ones, except by elaborate laboratory equipment. The process used by all but one company don’t easily produce colorless diamonds, colors that exist rarely in diamonds are routinely produced by these companies. The selling price for these “Cultured Diamonds” is 30% to 85% of the price for a natural counterpart.

One manufacturer,  Apollo Diamonds uses a different process chemical-vapor-deposition that allows them to consistently produce colorless or near colorless        diamonds, the first of which were shipped in 2006, you can see that their their direct sales offerings are small, quality diamonds up to .31 carets.

According to the Gemesis process, Superman would need to apply 50,000 atmospheres at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Smithsonian Magazine article on the science of synthetic diamonds, with a visit to Apollo Diamonds.

Apollo-Diamond near colorless

You can also read a Detailed Wired Magazine article on the Gemesis co. origins and their encounter with De Beer.

Some basic precautions

• There’s virtually no circumstance that justifies paying by Western Union.  If you dealing with a trusted business you have a history ou might be able to swing a 2% discount.  There are “replica” dealers who’s activities make it difficult for them to maintain credit card processing capabilities, I have seen such stores dealing in shady products offer a 15% discount for paying by Western Union.
• Never email credit card numbers, SS#s or other personal information, emails are not very secure and may be retained on internet computers for years.
• When making an eStore payment be sure the address in your web browser starts with https: (not http:) this indicates a secure page using data encryption that inhibits 3rd parties, like your neighbor at the web cafe from intercepting your information.  Likewise look for a padlock image on the checkout page, the lock should be closed. These safety measures are a good sign but not a guarantee that the store is above board.

Some fly by night operations have sophisticated looking web sites, but these may completely copied from a legitimate store. If you care to investigate the online store a bit further, here are some steps you can take.

• Go to Better Business Bureau Online, it’s where you can double check that the BBB seal a site displays is earned, there are more than 56,000 web site businesses registered at the BBB.
• You can also just enter the store name, or even their phone number into the google search engine, if there are many dissatisfied former customers, you will find some of thir complaints on forums, etc.
  
• Check their contact us area for an address and phone number, if your spending a significant amount of money, it’s worth calling them and see if someone answers and you get the sense they are what they say.
• Many small internet businesses use PO Box that may be labeled as a suit or building number. This may not be a problem but is does suggest their small time working from home, or have reason to be untouchable.
• Larger established businesses tend make their contact info available in the web site registry, to look up a site, go to a WHOIS lookup service, Ideally you will find an address and phone number that coincide with store’s contact page.  Some operators have legitimate reason to employ a “private registration” which conceals their information, they may simply not want their home address available for millions to scrutinize.
• You can enter the store’s given address into google and get a reasonable close look at the neighborhood from a satellite, start wondering if you see a vacant lot where a “Massive warehouse” is supposed to be.

Millions of of people shop on the internet without any complication, just remain aware of what some remote, faceless, anonymous players are capable of.