What the AI inspects, brand by brand
WatchRadar runs the same six-step AI inspection on every watch — dial typography, bezel and markers, case and crown, bracelet, datewheel and reference match — but the weights and the reference patterns change per brand. A Rolex Submariner is judged against the rehaut engraving, cyclops magnification and applied logo. A Royal Oak is judged against tapisserie, screws and case finishing. Each guide below walks through the specific tells the AI uses for that brand.
- Rolex authentication — Submariner, Datejust, GMT-Master, Daytona, Day-Date. Graded on cyclops magnification, rehaut engraving, the applied coronet and the laser-etched crown in the crystal.
- Audemars Piguet authentication — Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore, Code 11.59. Graded on tapisserie depth, bezel-screw rotation, the case chamfer and the H-link knife edge.
- Patek Philippe authentication — Nautilus, Aquanaut, Calatrava, Complications. Graded on the embossed dial pattern, Calatrava cross geometry, bezel chamfer symmetry and the lug-side reference cut.
- Omega authentication — Speedmaster, Seamaster, Constellation, Aqua Terra. Graded on applied-logo geometry, subdial recess depth, tachymeter alignment, the helium escape valve and the rotor engraving.
- Cartier authentication — Santos, Tank, Panthère, Ballon Bleu. Graded on the cabochon crown stone, Roman-numeral typography, the secret signature and the colour curve of blued sword hands.
- Jaeger-LeCoultre authentication — Reverso, Master Control, Polaris, Memovox. Graded on cradle engraving depth, rivet flushness, bridge anglage and case proportion.
How a brand-specific scan works
You take five guided photos — dial, bezel, crown, case, finishing. WatchRadar narrows the candidate reference, weights the inspection criteria for that brand, and returns a verdict: Likely Authentic, Uncertain, or High Risk. Each region of the watch is scored separately and pinned right onto the photo so you can see the evidence for the verdict, not just the conclusion.
Why the same five photos are judged differently per brand
The capture flow never changes. What changes is which evidence the verdict leans on, and that is not a cosmetic difference — it decides whether a scan is worth anything on a given watch.
- Volume brands are judged on measurement. Rolex produces at a scale that makes its tolerances effectively fixed, so the useful checks are numeric: is the cyclops magnifying 2.5×, is the rehaut kerning right, does the serial format match the claimed year. There is a correct answer, and a counterfeit either hits it or does not.
- Design-led brands are judged on surface finish. On a Royal Oak or a Nautilus, the tolerances that matter are hand-applied — chamfer continuity, tapisserie depth, the knife edge between polished and brushed. Those are read as texture and shadow rather than as a dimension, which is why the lighting instructions on those pages are stricter.
- Low-volume brands lean on the movement and the paper. For Jaeger-LeCoultre and complicated Patek references, the strongest visible signal is the finishing behind a display back, and the strongest signal overall is a manufacturer archive extract. Those guides say so, and the verdict weights accordingly instead of over-claiming from the dial.
- Jewellery-adjacent brands are judged partly on metal. On Cartier, assay marks, the cabochon stone and the colour curve of heat-blued hands carry weight that a dial pattern would carry elsewhere.
Brands without a guide yet
The reference catalogue reaches further than these six pages do — IWC, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, Tudor, Breitling and Grand Seiko all return a verdict in the app. They do not have written guides here yet, and rather than publish six near-identical pages with a brand name swapped in, we would rather add them one at a time when there is something specific to say. If a scan on one of those brands comes back Uncertain, treat that as the honest answer for a reference the catalogue has not fully fingerprinted, and pair it with a manufacturer extract.
Which guide you probably want
- Buying — read the brand guide, then the pre-purchase inspection walkthrough for the photos to request before money moves.
- Selling or brokering — read the brand guide, then the reseller verification pipeline.
- Cataloguing what you own — the collector's watch box keeps a dated dossier and a valuation per reference.
- Still deciding whether an app is the right tool — WatchRadar vs Entrupy and the wider services comparison.