I went to a kids party yesterday and I couldn't get 2 seconds to see what brand was on the hands of any of the adults. Being a watch enthusiast myself, I didn't care to peep into another person's wrist or anything. I noticed colors and designs but brand? Just didn't even get close enough to see anything. Do people actually care what's on another person's wrist when out and about?
Superclones are getting scary good. Serials get copied off, cards and nfc tags can be faked or moved, and frankenwatches can slip through a lot of peoples guard. Most checks are on the paperwork, not the watch itself, and even when some preowned dealer opens the case-back, modern super clones are genuinely getting so good.
I'm 19, doing mathematics/CS at University of Sydney, and ive been working on a different approach. Under a microscope every watch has tiny random marks, like the edges of the rehaut engraving, dial printing, randomness in Geneva striping, other parts of the movement etc. Two identical refs look the same but at that level theyre as different as fingerprints, and a cloner cant copy marks on a watch theyve never seen. I have tested this on three Rolex datejusts, 3235 movement references.
How it works: a small microscope camera photographs a few fixed spots through the crystal, nothing opened or via opening the case back and taking key images there, and software saves them against the serial. When the watch is resold or serviced, someone photographs the same spots and the AI algorithm confirms it's the exact same watch.
I got the software working, testing on a few datejusts now as stated. Not selling anything.
What am i missing, and what would make you not trust it? Would this be beneficial enough for a pre-owned dealer because at the current rate, super clones are going to continue to improve, so maybe we should not rely on human authentication as much. Any advice would be awesome!
I have the opportunity to buy an iwc watch for a good price. IWC Pilot's Watch Spitfire Mark XV(IW325313) is the exact model of it. For anyone who knows their stuff about these watches, what would a good price be to sell this watch for to a pawnbroker for example? Is it more worth to try and sell independently on ebay, gumtree etc.? No box or papers and the leather strap is pretty worn out. Dial itself may have a few scratches on the steel but in fair condition I'd say. Any advice would be much appreciated.
What do you all think as a bulk sale of these?