What a pre-purchase check is looking for
Three classes of problem. Outright counterfeits — often the easiest to spot and the most damaging if missed. Frankenwatches — authentic case with replaced dial, hands or movement; legitimately a real watch in some sense, but not the watch the seller is representing. Authentic-but-overpriced — the asking price sits well above the typical market range, which makes the watch a bad purchase even though it is real.
WatchRadar helps with all three, within the limits of what photos can show. The verdict (Likely Authentic / Uncertain / High Risk) and its reasons speak to the first. The inspection diagram can flag visible parts that don’t match the suggested reference, which is how many frankenwatches show up; a swapped movement stays invisible, because WatchRadar can’t see inside the case. The value estimate addresses the third: the dossier shows a low / typical / high range and whether the asking price falls inside it.
How to use it before a purchase
- Before you go to see the watch. Review the listing photos yourself with the brand guides below, and ask the seller for any angle that is missing: dial, crown side, side profile, caseback and clasp. Decide whether the in-person visit is worth the trip.
- At the seller’s. Run a WatchRadar scan with the watch in your hand; the scan uses the live camera, so this is where it happens. Compare the suggested reference and the visible details with the listing. Differences can flag a bait-and-switch (the watch you are now holding is not the watch in the listing).
- At the negotiation. The estimated value range gives you a starting point for a counter-offer: "The typical range on this reference runs roughly USD 8,200–9,400. Your asking is 9,800. Can we land at 9,000?" It is an estimate, not an appraisal, so check recent sold listings too.
- After the purchase. Save the dossier and the receipt to your collection box, and create a shareable Analysis Report if you want a public record. You now have a dated dossier of the piece at the moment you bought it: useful for insurance paperwork, at resale, or if a defect surfaces in the first 30 days.
Read the brand tells before you meet the seller
A scan is far more useful when you already know what the watch is supposed to look like. Each guide below lists the tells worth checking on that maker, plus the frames to ask a seller for and the lighting that makes those frames usable.
- Buying a Submariner, Datejust, GMT-Master or Daytona — what to check on a Rolex, including the laser-etched crown most listings never photograph.
- Buying a Royal Oak or Code 11.59 — what to check on an Audemars Piguet, where dial lighting decides whether the scan is worth running at all.
- Buying a Nautilus, Aquanaut or Calatrava — what to check on a Patek Philippe, and why the archive extract is not optional above five figures.
- Buying a Speedmaster or Seamaster — what to check on an Omega, including the caseback-to-reference match that fails fastest.
- Buying a Tank, Santos or Ballon Bleu — what to check on a Cartier, starting with the cabochon crown stone.
- Buying a Reverso or Master Control — what to check on a Jaeger-LeCoultre, where the cradle engraving ends most counterfeits.
- Buying something else — the brand authentication hub covers the checks that carry over to makers without a dedicated guide.
High-value purchases: what WatchRadar will not do
For a high-value watch, the dossier is one of three steps you should take. The other two: an in-person inspection (handle the watch, work the crown, listen to the rotor), and a movement inspection by a qualified watchmaker or the brand’s service centre (open the case-back, inspect the calibre engravings and finishing). WatchRadar can’t see inside the case, so the dossier is the first look, not the last word. A watchmaker’s fee and an afternoon are small next to a watch that costs as much as a small car.