Fakery and Homage, Pt. 2

There are a great many "homages" of iconic timepieces, watches that replicate their style but not carrying their name. Some homages, in fact, look virtually identical to the originals, lacking the name only. A few watches—especially Rolexes—are so commonly imitated that stylistic borrowing has passed from homage to horological commonplace. Conversely, a couple of styles are still so distinctive and fresh that even modest imitation constitutes homage. For example, almost any dive watch with an orange bezel references an Omega Planet Ocean, and it seems you cannot reference the Panerai style at all without creating an homage (a PanHom).


Panerai homage by paulorbvalley. I own one, but no pix yet.

Fakes violate trademark laws are cannot be sold, for example, on eBay. Homages do not violate trademark law, since however much they imitate a style, they lack any infringing branding. Since they may only differ in the name on case and dial, fakes and homages are often made in the same Chinese factories on the same lines. The fakes go to street stalls and replica shops, while the homages go to legit vendors and eBay. This practice is of course not unique to wristwatches.

A curious byproduct of their common manufacture is that sometimes the infringing branding of fakes finds it way, carelessly or accidentally, into replicas. This can be as overt as a branded case back being put on an off-brand homage.



Longines in an entry-level luxury brand of the Swatch Group. The face of this watch is branded Fuyate ("Swiss Made," of course) and looks very little like a Longines. Maybe this case back found its way onto the watch from a run of fakes on the same line. It's a 15$ watch. I'm tempted to buy one just to see if it really comes as depicted, but possibly it doesn't. The item description contradicts: "See through back case."



This is a rough homage of a Breitling Navitimer. Without doubt this homage came off of a fake watch line, with only the face and back changed. The giveaway is the second hand. The counter end (circled in red here) bears the anchor and stylized "B" of the Navitimer. This is every bit as infringing as the Longines case back, even if less obvious.