Tag Heuer Grand Carrera - Serial No. 007348, Limited Edition 0899/1000 (Model : CAV5185.FT6020)

My Seiko Monster-Ducati accompanied me during my current Bali holiday.

I am taking a well-deserved holiday at a beautiful hotel in Bali at the moment. After a nice dinner with my parents, wife and kid earlier the night, I whipped out my Dell XPS 12 and decided to surf for just a bit accompanied by a bottle of Bintang.

 

 

 

Imagine my excitement when I came across an advert for the above watch advertised by a seller named Assamarqandi Lee (mobile no : 016-266 9586), whom stated that he had a BNIB Tag Heuer model no. CAV5185.FT6020 that he was willing to sell at RM5,000 as he needed to utilise cash immediately.

Readers would know that I have a soft spot for the Carrera series, what's more for the Grand Carrera series. I knew that such a watch would cost USD10,500.00 from the AD; so I would have to quickly verify on the genuity of the watch to make an immediate offer. Watches like this generally don't stay long at such daylight robbery prices!

Well, when things sound too good to be true, there's often a catch somewhere- after all, how often is there a real free lunch?

There are many replica watches in the market- but these would normally sell at sub-RM1,000 for a brand new copy. However, sellers wouldn't dare claim that these are genuine pieces least that the arms of law catch up with them sometime soon for copyright infringement and false representation.

So, would this advert be the real deal or just someone trying to pull a fast one on unsuspecting potential buyers?

I quickly contacted the seller to verify if it's the genuine article. He was somewhat pervasive, informing me that the watch was an AP set, which upon my further inquiry on what it meant; explained that AP watches were like AP mobile phones ie "not replica... engine and body... original part... both are same but different factory".

 

I found the explanations wanting, and decided to research on replica sets for the same type of Grand Carrera on the Net. Well, firstly, I found that you could order for such replicas at less than RM500 after currency conversion from overseas replica sites. Secondly, I found the exact same serial no and limited edition no from other sellers- only difference was that the sellers identified the watch as a replica and the prices were nowhere near what the Mudah seller was trying to sell.

I'll give the benefit of doubt to this seller that he could be unwittingly peddling a counterfeit Tag Heuer Grand Carrera for a genuine article; but if he did indeed know that he was intentionally trying to sell off such a counterfeit article at a price much, much higher than a replica's in order to mask its status, then the long arms of the law should be in motion to protect the consumers.