So I was wearing my A168wa today
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And I needed to adjust the bracelet. I noticed that the screws were Philips rather than philips/straight screws found in Casios. I already own one A168 fake in Steel and chromed resin and on closer inspection this gold A168wa bought about 8 months ago is also fake.
I checked my F-91W.. that's genuine.. here it is on a French style elastic Nato.
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That means that in the last 3 years half of the cheap casio digitals I bought.. the Steel A168 from ebay and the Gold one from Amazon are fake. I see that Ali sells Gold A168s for $3 a single unit. In bulk.. much cheaper. So retailing them at £30 is worth it to some sellers. Both these sellers are large ebay and Amazon sellers with thousands of goods. They probably don't even know that the watches are fakes.
It's extraordinary isn't it that fraud exists at the most lowly level of the hobby as it does at the high end. Both these watches came in Casio type boxes with tags. It was only under the loup and disassembling them when the fakes were confirmed.
There are some big give aways. For example etched rather than stamped Casio logo on the clasp, cross head rather than universal (cross and straight) screws, claiming 'Japan and 'Stainless' when modern versions of these watches are China or Malaysia made and the cheap bracelet is certainly not stainless.
I very quickly identified the Steel one as fake when I recieved it. It just didn't have that Casio quality. Especially the feel of the bracelet which seems to be some sort of die cast alloy. It reminds me of a ridiculously cheap watch I bought as a boy in Filey in the mid 80s which played 100 tunes.. the bracelet on that was seriously nasty... it felt so cheap.
I would recommend not buying these from ebay or Amazon even if claimed to be genuine. Normies are unlikely to spot the fakes and its a real shame because it undermines Casio's quality reputation.
In future I'll buy these from Casio dealers and pay full list price. That's rhe thing.. these weren't even all that cheap .I think rhe A168 was near enough the $50 list price.
Caveat emptor
And I needed to adjust the bracelet. I noticed that the screws were Philips rather than philips/straight screws found in Casios. I already own one A168 fake in Steel and chromed resin and on closer inspection this gold A168wa bought about 8 months ago is also fake.
I checked my F-91W.. that's genuine.. here it is on a French style elastic Nato.
That means that in the last 3 years half of the cheap casio digitals I bought.. the Steel A168 from ebay and the Gold one from Amazon are fake. I see that Ali sells Gold A168s for $3 a single unit. In bulk.. much cheaper. So retailing them at £30 is worth it to some sellers. Both these sellers are large ebay and Amazon sellers with thousands of goods. They probably don't even know that the watches are fakes.
It's extraordinary isn't it that fraud exists at the most lowly level of the hobby as it does at the high end. Both these watches came in Casio type boxes with tags. It was only under the loup and disassembling them when the fakes were confirmed.
There are some big give aways. For example etched rather than stamped Casio logo on the clasp, cross head rather than universal (cross and straight) screws, claiming 'Japan and 'Stainless' when modern versions of these watches are China or Malaysia made and the cheap bracelet is certainly not stainless.
I very quickly identified the Steel one as fake when I recieved it. It just didn't have that Casio quality. Especially the feel of the bracelet which seems to be some sort of die cast alloy. It reminds me of a ridiculously cheap watch I bought as a boy in Filey in the mid 80s which played 100 tunes.. the bracelet on that was seriously nasty... it felt so cheap.
I would recommend not buying these from ebay or Amazon even if claimed to be genuine. Normies are unlikely to spot the fakes and its a real shame because it undermines Casio's quality reputation.
In future I'll buy these from Casio dealers and pay full list price. That's rhe thing.. these weren't even all that cheap .I think rhe A168 was near enough the $50 list price.
Caveat emptor
