Following my recent exposé on a qualified Frankenstein Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 with Paul Newman ‘Lemon’ dial sold at Monaco Legend Group in April 2024, my Instagram account was attacked by unknown actors, first with fake likes and later also with tens of thousands of fake followers. Why? Because Instagram disables accounts with suspicious activity. Luckily, I noticed within three hours of the offensive and was able to stop the influx by going private. However, an ever growing herd of soulless bot accounts was amassing at the gates, with the clear objective to take down my account. It took me more than a week to clean up the mess. In the meantime it had transpired that a second Frankenstein watch, an Omega Seamaster ‘Pakistan Air Force”, had been sold in addition to a Patek Phillipe lady’s bracelet wristwatch that is reportedly stolen. After taking a closer look at all the lots again, I was flabbergasted to find the probably most embarrassing piece of all, a Rolex Daytona 6265 with a dial made in the Vietnamese alps. Possibly completely fake, it boggles the mind how such a travesty of a watch could end up in the catalogue of an auction house whose self-professed “aim is to leverage our unrivaled expertise”, led by a top dealer boasting with 38 years of experience.

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Lot 41 – Rolex, Absolutely Rare and Incredibly Well Preserved, Daytona, “Big Red”, Ref. 6265, 9323852

Advertised as “absolutely rare and incredibly well preserved”, featuring a “vibrant silver color” dial nothing short of “a masterpiece in itself”, the present watch appears stunning at first glance but as so often, the devil is in the details.

Auction: Lot 41 – Rolex, absolutely rare and incredibly well preserved, Daytona, ‘Big Red’, Ref. 6265, 9323852 (monacolegendauctions.com)

To the trained eye the dial of this watch shows a number of very concerning inconsistencies. The numbers in the subdials, for instance, are not only too thin but also printed with a different typeface than usual. What we are dealing with here is probably a counterfeit dial made in Vietnam.

The next comparison between the dial in question and a Vietnam dial presented in one of the replica forums leaves no doubt. They have the very same graphics in the subdials. The ‘Big Red’ Daytona print is slightly different as the one on the right-hand side is probably a more recent version.

Then there are the missing serifs in the ‘Big Red’ Daytona print above the 6 o’clock subdial. The serifs are not only missing here but in other details as well. Serifs are small lines at the end of a larger stroke in a letter, used to make printed letters look sharper.

What we have here is without a shadow of a doubt an older fake dial made in Vietnam. Why Vietnam? Because there are a number of quite skilled watchmakers making dials, case sets, movement conversions and of course complete watches. Rumour has it some of them worked for Rolex before going rogue. More recent Vietnam dials are slightly better but still immediately identifiable as fake dials, especially the cheap ones like the one we have here. In light of this, the lot description is truly hilarious:

“The dial of this Rolex Daytona 6265 is a masterpiece in itself. The vibrant silver color, adorned with applied baton numerals, luminous dots, and a black subsidiary dial, forms a perfect composition. The “Big Red” Daytona inscription in the middle of the dial adds a distinctive touch. The exceptional conservation and unique features make examples like this highly sought after in the market, especially when accompanied by the original box and papers.”

Yup, this dial is definitely a highly sought-after masterpiece in itself.

It certainly appears that someone must have looked at this dial before writing the lot essay. What about the rest of the watch? Difficult to say based solely on pictures from the outside but from a logical point of view, I find it unlikely that someone would install a fake dial in a real watch. These dials usually come in fake Vietnam cases with converted Valjoux 72 calibers from other brands. There are indications that the case is likely fake but was probably modified to mimik the real cases found in this case number range.

What about the papers mentioned in the colourful essay? See the punched number 909 in the picture below? That is the country code where the watch was sold. Only problem is, the country code 909 cannot be found in any of the known lists.

After top watch dealer Davide Parmegiani partnered up with Monaco Legend Group in early 2019, the Monegasque auction house became exemplary with respect to the presentation of their lots. Most items, especially vintage Rolex Daytonas, were showcased in great detail, with high resolution pictures of the engravings between the lugs, the inside of the casebacks and the movements. This changed abruptly after I discovered a fake Daytona ‘Fuerza Aerea del Peru’ in their October 2020 catalogue and discreetly reached out to alert them.

The watch was immediately withdrawn but from that moment onwards, Monaco Legend Group ceased publishing detail pictures altogether, thus only showing the watches from the outside. Parmegiani’s excuse for this blunder was that the Daytona had been consigned by a friend and therefore did not undergo the usual scrutiny. What I found particularly odd about this lot, however, were the missing pictures of the inside of the caseback and movement, both of which made ultimately clear that the watch was a complete fake. My initial suspicion was based solely on the engravings between the lugs. They were without a shadow of a doubt fake but that does not necessarily mean the whole watch is fake. Watches are occasionally reengraved with a different case number either to disguise them as something more valuable, e.g. a relatively rare ‘Fuenza Aerea del Peru’ piece, or if they are stolen goods.

After I insisted to see the inside of the caseback and the movement, Parmegiani sent me pictures of the details. As expected, the caseback was fake. Being a counterfeit of a later 6263, it was missing the ‘Patented’ stamp and the repeated case number was engraved with a wrong typeface.

The movement was a converted unit from a different brand. The train gear bridge (1) had a wrong shape in addition to bearing fake engravings. The large barrel bridge was not cut to Rolex standards (2). The Y-shaped chronograph bridge was missing the bevels in the holes for jewels and screw (3, 4) which is always an indication that the bridge was shaved down to remove engravings from another brand. Of course the engravings on this bridge are fake as well. Overall, the finish is not to Rolex standards.

It must also be mentioned that a watch with the very same case number 3986340 was sold at Sotheby’s in 2011 and then again at Antiquorum in 2012. In both instances the watch looked identical, featuring a silver ‘Sigma’ Mk3 dial, a Mk3 bezel. and Mk2 screw-down pushers. Since there was no mention of ‘Fuerza Aerea del Peru’ in both essays, it can be assumed that was the original watch bearing this case number.

Auction: Lot 201 – Rolex Ref. 6263 Oyster Cosmograph, 3986340 (antiquorum.swiss)

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Thoughts

Selling Frankenstein watches is one thing, peddling counterfeits another. While both are fakes as they do not originate from the original factory, at least Frankenstein watches consist of original parts. It is inconceivable how low quality counterfeits from Vietnam can enter the collectors market through an auction house that boasts with unrivaled expertise. Monaco Legend Group had a good run since Davide Parmegiani took over the reins but success seems to make people arrogant and blind. You know what they say, the higher you climb, the harder you fall. Now, given that the auction house is deliberatly omitting the details of their watches as to avoid public scrutiny, we do not know for sure whether the watch is fake in its entirety. It would be good if Monaco Legend Group could show the rest of the watch in order to shed further light on this unpleasant story.

For the sake of completion, please find below the information regarding the aforementioned Frankenstein Omega Seamaster ‘Pakistan Air Force’. Knowledge is useless if it is not shared.

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Lot 26 – Omega Seamaster ‘Pakistan Air Force’, Ref. 135.004-63, 2047945

This watch turned out to be a Frankenstein watch as well. Dial and hands are from an earlier Seamaster Ref. 2914-5. In addition, the caseback which is usually engraved with the movement number is mismatched.

Auction: Omega Seamaster ‘Pakistan Air Force’, 135.00-63, 2047945 (monacolegendgroup.com)

The comparison below between the Frankenstein watch sold in Monaco (left) and an original 103.004-63 featuring a period-correct dial and hands sold by the very same auction house in April 2021 tells the story. Monaco Legend Group cannot claim they do not know what these esoteric watches look like.

The caseback bearing the movement number 20476993 is from a different watch. The movement number of the present watch is 20476945.

Thank you for your interest.

Related article: When Monaco gives you lemons, make lemonade – Frankenstein Paul Newman ‘Lemon’ and other beauties

Perezcope featured in the Financial Times

Link: Devil in the details – How Jose Perez turned a hobby into a deep dive on watch authenticity (ft.com)