Replica or Rubbish?

The watch world is full of so-called "replicas", some of which are pretty good imitations of the real thing.
Many, however, present a face that is nothing but complete and utter rubbish.
See that watch over there - that's a genuine Omega "Moon-to-Mars" model #3577.50 - there's nothing shonky about that watch and there wouldn't want to be - the current price is approx. AUS$4,000.
You may be able to get it at a cheaper price, by a couple of hundred dollars, by searching around. (I haven't tried because I can't afford one, anyway).

Now have a look at the two images below (click on them - and any image in this blog by-the-way - to get a full-size version).


(Sony DSC-F717)
This watch is not the genuine article.
It is not even deserving of the dubious term "replica" and I would be hard pushed to grant it the title "facsimile". It may just be approaching "fake", but in my opinion, if you are looking for a good facsimile of the genuine article, look elsewhere. This one is just plain rubbish.

Look at the dial and compare it with the Omega-made item.
The most glaring difference is with the wording between the two blobs representing the Moon and Mars. How stupid are the people who throw this sort of garbage together?
"From Time Moon To Mars"!!!
For crying out loud.....talk about dumb and dumber! "Time"? What happened to "The"?

The next items of rubbish to look at are the three circular blobs of colour.
The one on the left is supposed to be the Earth, that in the centre, the Moon and the one at right, Mars.
About the only things that they actually look like are multi-coloured blobs of Plasticine found in a child-care centre.

Hard to see in the photo is the fact that the hand at the 3 o'clock position is slightly off-centre.
If you look closely at the second pic you might be able to see that its hole is elongated and the centre of the hand is actually to the left of that hole. Built to close tolerances, this machine.

That the case has been punched out or die-stamped is clear from the fact that the underside edges are almost sharp enough to shave with. They are sharp! I had to use a jeweller's file to smooth them off so as not to slash my wrist.

Inside the case is an automatic movement that surprise, surprise, hand-winds and hacks, and via a screw-down (signed!) crown.
Another surprise is that it also keeps very good time.
I have not taken the case-back off, fearing that the guts may spill out all over the desk, so cannot advise what type of movement may be lurking inside.

The silly thing about this bit of fluff is that nobody could ever, ever, mistake this for the real McCoy.
Perhaps the wording on the dial is deliberate (although I doubt it) but even if it said "The" instead of "Time", the rest of the face gives the game away immediately. It's like a low-rez photo-copy!
You'd have to be Blind Freddy to accept this as a genuine Omega.

But I didn't buy it mistaking it for the real thing; I bought it for what it is - a piece of inconsequential stuff that, if and when I wanted, I could wear whilst doing manual labour without worrying about damaging a decent watch.

Or, if I wanted, I could wear it to an important business meeting and compare it to that of the Managing Director and say "Yes, JB, very impressive.....but mine says 'From Time Moon To Mars', so there!"