Jungens Watch - 1936 -

[JohnnyBravo]

Hi All!

First post of many, I'm hoping! I bought this recently in a lot. It was in an oil skin and is in good condition; but is it a fake?

Thanks in advance for all your help! Johnny. (My apologies if I have posted this in the incorrect section)

[BrodieBartfast]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

It's most likely an original watch, but it's been embellished with the addition of the swastika and eagle. Look at the difference between the metal of the watch and the metal of the addition, almost as if it's been artificially aged. Also note how off-centre it is, and the apparent solder marks around the eagle. It just doesn't look very professional at all.
It's not a fake per se, as the piece itself appears to be original. It's just a shame someone's decided to ruin it with spurious additions.

Kind regards, B.B.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I have to be honest and say that the face on it alone looks a total pile of crap. The Roman numeral for '4' is wrong for a start. The whole quality of that dial just looks too crude, and thats before you even start to question the back of the watch. But of course... as always... 'I could be wrong!'

Update... after searching a little more, I have found other watches ising 'IIII' for '4', so that rules out that particular 'error' doesn't it?

[BrodieBartfast]

The more I look at it, the less I like it. Unfortunately, there's no surefire way to certify the authenticity of these.
They could have been period done, they could be spurious rubbish.

B.B.

[BrodieBartfast]

There have been a surge in this type of oddity recently, especially on FleaBay. Have seen seen such hilarious things as compasses with 20 Juli 1944 commemorations, and telescopic spyglasses stamped with NSDAP and Deutsche Reichsbahn symbols.
The question is, why??? Fakers always seem to be nonsensical in their methods, and thankfully it's those errors that can often give them away.

B.B.

[CBH]

Leather would never be used in a real watch as it holds moisture and would rust the drive spring etc. Tarted up Crap.

[JohnnyBravo]

Theres no leather on it..

[CBH]

What is the face made of wood?

Also black hands on a brown face don't work well.

[big ned]

There have been a surge in this type of oddity recently, especially on FleaBay. Have seen seen such hilarious things as compasses with 20 Juli 1944 commemorations, and telescopic spyglasses stamped with NSDAP and Deutsche Reichsbahn symbols.
The question is, why??? Fakers always seem to be nonsensical in their methods, and thankfully it's those errors that can often give them away.

B.B.

The answer to the question "Why?" is that these sell on ebay by the dozens every week. $600-$700+ is not uncommon.

Most sellers are based in Eastern Europe, with Poland, Latvia and other ex soviet provinces being the main areas where they emanate from. I recently had cause to warn the owner of 'WWII Hot Finds', an American based militaria collectors newsletter that his continually ignoring of my warnings on promoting the sale of bogus timepieces was going to be reported to all who may have an interest as a warning. I was prompted to this eventual recourse by his quote in his recent 20th April newsletter whilst advertising 3 fake watches in the same issue as can be seen here:

eBay WWII Hot Finds Newsletter: To Catch A Fake

Here's the correspondence in full:

Quote from Jason Spangler, WWIIHotFinds.com

"How does an eBay seller who seemingly only lists fake items have a ratio of feedback that is 1552/1 positive vs. negative over the last year? Is everybody happy to buy cheap knock offs? This guy came to my attention because he has fake Scout patches that are priced deceptively high. I hope you don't mind me calling out a bad apple as the items are not listed as what they are."

My retort:

LOL!! It's funny you say that Jason, as I have told you twice before that the engraved German pocket watches/wrist watches that you help to advertise here are fake! Not the odd one, ALL of them. You show three today, and it's always the usual suspects from Eastern Europe hawking them, and stealing the money of poorly educated collectors by hoodwinking them with this laughable junk. You are complicit in aiding these crooks by your continued support of them by advertising their worthless crap here. "Bad Apple"??? It's a term that could be ascribed to you unfortunately due to your continued insistence on aiding these thieves.

I am afraid I shall be forwarding this message and your newsletter to the main militaria collecting forums and my many friends on them to draw their attention to your continued intractability on the subject of these bogus timepieces after having been forewarned twice before, it's inexcusable I'm afraid.

Regards....

He never replied to my concerns personally, but he did allude to taking them onboard in his May 11th newsletter as can be seen here:

eBay WWII Hot Finds Newsletter: Propeller Flying High

Since then he's been as good as his word regarding pimped watches, although there's so much bogus crap of all types posted on there it's an almost impossible task to address them all, so the old metaphor "Caveat Emptor" still applies with many of the items he naively promotes.

Regards, Ned.

[mauser9]

As usual never ceases to amaze. Now even watches embellished and faked. Pretty sad to think how many have been hoodwinked and laid out large amounts of cash for forged items.