"Super Clone" Fake Rolexes Are Now So Good They Fooled Rolex's Own Staff
A WIRED investigation found that Chinese-made counterfeit "super clone" Rolex watches have become so precise that staff at Rolex's own London flagship store failed to notice one was fake.
WIRED conducted an experiment, ordering three counterfeit Rolex watches online to test how advanced the "super clone" industry has become. As part of the test, a reporter brought one of the fakes — a replica Oyster Perpetual — into Rolex's flagship store on Old Bond Street in London, asking staff to resize its bracelet. Neither the sales staff nor the technicians in the workshop noticed the watch was fake; it was serviced and returned along with the removed links in a small branded paper bag.
Counterfeit Swiss watches used to be sold from street market stalls or back-alley shops for around $50, rarely surviving the flight home. Today, Chinese factories mass-produce "super clones" — extremely accurate replicas sold by dealers who advertise on TikTok and Instagram, arrange deals over WhatsApp, and even offer customer support, warranties, and free replacements if a shipment is seized by customs.
A community built around fakes
A large online community has grown around this trade. The Reddit forum r/RepTime attracts roughly 269,000 weekly visitors and more than 18,000 weekly posts, where buyers share dealer-supplied quality control (QC) photos and seek approval from moderators in the form of a "green light" (GL) or "red light" (RL). The community uses its own jargon: factories are referred to by abbreviations, reliable sellers are called "TDs," and the very best replicas are rated "NWBIG" — meaning they're so accurate that buying the genuine watch is deemed pointless.
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Agency estimates tens of millions of counterfeit watches are produced annually, far outnumbering genuine Swiss production. Most super clones sell for $500 to $700, but even watches worth millions, such as a rare Patek Philippe reference 3448, have reportedly been counterfeited.
For its own test, WIRED ordered a Submariner, a Daytona, and an Oyster Perpetual "Celebration" from a dealer called JTime, paying between $438 and $768 in cryptocurrency. The watches were produced at two Chinese factories and shipped in boxes falsely labeled as $15 men's trousers; the Celebration model even arrived with a fake Rolex warranty card. All three watches looked nearly identical to the originals and kept accurate time — and it was that same Celebration model that later fooled staff at Rolex's own store.
