# How to identify a FAKE Caliber 16 movement



## bmwfreak (Jun 7, 2008)

Hey Guys,

With all the fake watches violating ebay policy, I thought this information might help someone out in the future.

The Chinese have become very proficient copying the Valjoux 7750, so much that the movements are nearly impossible to distinguish by simply looking at a picture. They have copied both old and new Calibre 16 rotors, eliminated the use of "blue" screws and now have microadjustment levers that look just like the real thing.

After researching many Carreras, the most reliable way to distinguish authentic from fake (at least for now) is to inspect the geneve striping decoration of the rotor. I've found a common trend of the fakes....even # of stripes without a centrally placed stripe down the middle of the rotor. All authentic Calibre 16 rotors that I've seen have an odd number of stripes with a centrally located stripe right through the "Tag Heuer" signature and rotor screw. If you don't see a centrally located stripe down the middle of the rotor, then it is most likely a FAKE.

See attached pictures.

Hope this helps.

If anyone knows differently please advise.


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## AbsoluteMustard (Jun 22, 2009)

Wow, never noticed that!

They are probably copying the Calibre 5 that has the strip seams in the middle


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## Gacek (Mar 23, 2011)

Great thread!
really helped me!


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## Wisconsin Proud (Jun 22, 2007)

Great info......

Eeeb or other mods, maybe we can start a subforum where all these "requests" can be put.

Let's try to keep the regular forum separate as it seems it is now littered wth fake threads.

Most of the other brand forums have these subfora.


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## carrera16 (Apr 5, 2011)

Hey im sorry, can someone explain to me what the geneve stripe being centered means or the odd number of stripes, i dont seem to be following. Thanks


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## Watchyman (Mar 4, 2010)

The centered Geneva Stripe means that the watch is authentic, the other one is a big a** fake, meant to scam people or to be purchased by lame a** posers.


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## Wisconsin Proud (Jun 22, 2007)

carrera16 said:


> Hey im sorry, can someone explain to me what the geneve stripe being centered means or the odd number of stripes, i dont seem to be following. Thanks


On the rotor, the stripes run from the center where the screw is to the edge of the rotor. There should be a stripe that is in the middle vs having the edge of the stripe inthe middle. See where he's put the arrows.


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## Gacek (Mar 23, 2011)

the verification thread is great idea, 
in the net there ale alot of ppl like me that really need some help.
And with knowledge of members from this forum it would help not getting some fake crap..


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## bmwfreak (Jun 7, 2008)

Well, I'm now seeing counterfeit watches with the correct geneve stripping on the asian 7750. The example below is from a replica website. It's a Grand Carrera Calibre 36 using an asian 7750 badged as a Calibre 36. It does have "odd" number of stripes on the rotor with a centered geneve stripe. There has been a number of these on ebay recently. One particular seller named "tag.heuer.outlet" has one currently listed.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices


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## Cowboy Bebop (Jan 9, 2011)

It makes me sad.... I feel sorry for the people bidding...



bmwfreak said:


> Well, I'm now seeing counterfeit watches with the correct geneve stripping on the asian 7750. The example below is from a replica website. It's a Grand Carrera Calibre 36 using an asian 7750 badged as a Calibre 36. It does have "odd" number of stripes on the rotor with a centered geneve stripe. There has been a number of these on ebay recently. One particular seller named "tag.heuer.outlet" has one currently listed.
> 
> eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
> 
> View attachment 579158


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## galifardo (Apr 7, 2012)

Hello i bought thru ebay to a very good reputation seller a carrera calibre 16, it comes with everithing like new, but the codes in are

CV2014-1
FF9972

i think the fist line its OK, but the second line i cant find why are FF, most of the tomes i sow FT, and also i am having some problems to change the date, but with this forum i found that i cant change between 23 to 3 am, so i am going to try it if in other hours i can change the dat, algo the crown is to pull not to screw. can you help me, many thanks


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## bmwfreak (Jun 7, 2008)

Crown is push/pull on Carrera, not screw down.


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## galifardo (Apr 7, 2012)

and what about the serial number, here some pics, many thanks


bmwfreak said:


> Crown is push/pull on Carrera, not screw down.


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## bmwfreak (Jun 7, 2008)

watch looks legit. i wouldn't worry about serial number unless you get multiple hits when doing a google search. that may indicate a fake model that uses a consistent serial number.


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## galifardo (Apr 7, 2012)

i havent found that serial number ever when google, thanks for the info, many thanks


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## krown (May 25, 2012)

I'm guessing this one is fake? There isn't even any striping down the rotor


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## bmwfreak (Jun 7, 2008)

^ hard to say for sure. It could just be the photos don't show the geneva striping. If it's truly missing the geneva striping on the rotor, then fake for sure.


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## vidizzle (May 12, 2012)

looks like a fake based on the other pics.. no sign of the striping.. and i don't seem to notice any jewels in the mechanism either


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## cfw (Jun 20, 2012)

bmwfreak said:


> watch looks legit. i wouldn't worry about serial number unless you get multiple hits when doing a google search. that may indicate a fake model that uses a consistent serial number.


Hi so each serial no on a tag is unique? I bought an F1 online series 3, when I enter the model no I get obvious hits but when I add the serial no I dont get any hits, I take it thats a good thing then


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## Perseus (Mar 25, 2010)

Cowboy Bebop said:


> It makes me sad.... I feel sorry for the people bidding...


Me too. Some of these fakes are scary good.


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## cpjay2003 (Sep 30, 2014)

Great info here...thanks for the heads up!


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## Richerson (Jun 18, 2006)

Great info, but we do have a fake busters thread in here already which many new comers don't use. 

Copies are being good in the last few years,


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## ajtaurus2011 (May 30, 2018)

great post, super helpful. hopefully the bad guys dont find this post


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## Ard (Jul 21, 2014)

I think this is reaching the point where unless you know the origin point of the watch you will be well served to buy from AD's. I'd rather pay 2400.00 for real than 1650.00 for fake goods.


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