Step 1 — Reference identification
The first thing the dossier does is work out what the watch is. While you shoot, framing guidance, sharpness and glare checks and the text read run on your iPhone. The photos are then uploaded and analysed on WatchRadar’s servers, so a scan needs an internet connection. A suggested brand, model and reference comes back, with a confidence level. The catalogue covers the major Swiss maisons and their best-known references. The identification is the foundation: every later check asks whether what the photos show agrees with that suggested identity or contradicts it.
Step 2 — Region-by-region inspection
The photos are looked at region by region: dial text and printing, applied logo, hour markers, hands, bezel, crown and crown guards, case finishing, the lug-to-bracelet fit, the caseback and the clasp. Each region is checked on its own for signals that support or contradict the suggested reference. The findings appear on the inspection diagram, an annotated map of the regions inspected on your own photo, with notes on what looked consistent and what raised a flag.
Step 3 — OCR cross-checks
Visible text on the watch (dial signatures, the rehaut engraving on modern Rolex, caseback engravings, bezel numerals, clasp stamps) is read and compared with what the suggested reference should carry. Dial text that belongs to a different model is a flag. A misspelled brand name is a strong one. Text that is too blurred or glared to read counts as missing evidence, not as a pass, which is one reason a scan with poor photos comes back Uncertain.
Step 4 — Market-value estimate
Alongside the verdict, the dossier shows an estimated secondary-market value range next to the asking price you enter, so you can see whether the ask sits inside, above or below it. It is context, not an appraisal: secondary prices move, and condition, completeness and service history that photos cannot show all change what a particular watch is worth. The range sits next to the verdict because a genuine watch at the wrong price is a buyer risk too.
Step 5 — Final verdict
The region findings, the text read and the identification confidence come together in a hedged verdict: Likely Authentic (a confident identification and nothing in the photos that contradicts it), Uncertain (mixed signals, a low-confidence identification, or photos that do not show enough), or High Risk (clear signals that contradict the suggested identity). Each verdict comes with its reasons and a recommended next step, such as retaking a photo in better light or taking the watch to a qualified watchmaker. Likely Authentic is not a guarantee. It means the photos showed nothing that argues against the identity.
What the dossier does not do
- It does not see inside the case. A display back shows some of the movement in a photo, but a photo cannot confirm the calibre is genuine or unmodified, and a closed caseback shows nothing of it at all. For a high-value purchase, have the movement and case opened by a qualified watchmaker or the brand’s service centre.
- It does not predict the future. The value range is an estimate of the typical secondary-market range for the reference, not a live price and not a forecast. Market values move, so treat the range on an older Analysis Report as a snapshot, not a current valuation.
- It does not authenticate documentation. The Provenance Vault stores photos of papers and service receipts that you attach. The dossier does not verify the documents themselves. For that, an archive extract from the brand, where the brand offers one, is the gold standard.