As a staff member of the only authorised Singaporean online watch dealer, I felt obligated to step in between two friends who were disputing whether the chronograph watch one of them had recently purchased from a China-based website was the real deal or a knockoff. From a distance, I thought it had to be genuine, as even the packaging looked premium with a nice matte finish. But upon closer inspection, I discovered that the stainless steel bezel had not been polished properly, with two minor scratches on an item that was purportedly brand new.
What was more unforgivable, however, was the fact that the movement was a basic quartz movement, instead of the advertised two-hand with date Japanese movement. To the layman, think of it this way: you buy a new Porsche for $200,000, but when you drive it the performance is more like a Proton, despite how some parties may claim it to have all the trappings of a deluxe BMW sedan (in our humble opinion, these cars could not be more different).
I proceeded to gather all my scholarly seriousness to enlighten my dear friend about the perils of buying watches from non-authorised watch dealers, such as the common lack of warranty and reduced durability due to inferior components being used. With equal seriousness, I then explained (or as some would say, shamelessly plugged) how NFW sells only original timepieces with warranty, to preserve the creative integrity of the original designers. For good measure, I threw in a quote about how watches reflect your personality, and wearing fake ones tell others you’re a fraud.
Sufficiently embarrassed, my friend said he would definitely consider getting the real deal the next time around, rather than suffer the possibility of being labelled a fake wannabe. Naturally, I could not let this golden opportunity pass to tease him, so as all friends do, I proceeded to question if his designer belt and shirt were knock-offs as well, before throwing in a sweet something: $20 off any NFW timepiece at our online watch shop with minimum purchase of $200. Since I’m feeling rather generous, you could enjoy this offer too by flashing this blog post. After all, that’s what friends are for, right?
