Omega blames employees after Speedmaster record $ 4 million was found to be fake

Swiss watchmaker Omega accused three former employees of being involved in a criminal conspiracy that led to the sale of a fake Speedmaster at auction for more than $4 million.

The watch, an Omega Speedmaster with “Broad Arrow” hands from 1957, is in fact a “Frankenstein” watch, consisting of a mixture of mostly authentic parts from vintage timepieces. other, the Switzerland-based company said in a statement in response to questions from Bloomberg.

This watch sold for just over 3.1 million Swiss francs (S$4.6 million) through the Phillips auction house in November 2021, the highest price ever paid for a Speedmaster in Singapore. auction.

It was purchased by Omega itself, the company said.

The scandal underscores concerns that counterfeiters are creating fakes or altering some vintage watches that are sold on the secondary market and auctioned off to gain a higher selling price. Collectors will pay millions of dollars for some watches in good condition with original parts.

The company said a former employee of the Omega Museum and its brand heritage department were among the employees believed to have participated.

The former employee “worked in tandem with middlemen to purchase the watch for the Omega Museum”, arguing with company executives that it was “a rare and special watch that will is an absolute must” for the Omega collection, it said.

But this watch is a sophisticated forgery, combining parts from many different watches and potentially fabricated parts, Omega alleges. It added that former employees may have been involved in its assembly.

Omega has not identified the former employee it claims to have been involved in the scheme.

The watchmaker said: “Its legacy of falsehoods has allowed profiteers to justify overpriced bids made through intermediaries.

Chief executive Raynald Aeschlimann told Swiss newspaper NZZ, which first reported on the case and the allegations against former employees, the plan was “to a great disadvantage for Omega”.

An Omega spokesperson said the company is yet to know who brought the watch to Phillips for auction.

A spokesman for the auction house said it did not reveal the identity of the seller due to customer privacy rules, but would do so if required by authorities such as police or a court.

When Phillips deposited the watch and went to Omega to obtain information from its archives, “we were not aware of the alleged criminal activity that is currently the subject of an investigation,” the spokesperson said. said more.

A spokesperson for the auction house said the auction house has received confirmation from Omega about the production date of the numbered movement, the serial number, the model of the watch the movement was fitted to, and the date it was sold. Omega saw the watch before they bought it.

Phillips says it is committed to “the highest standards and levels of appraisal in the watch market”, and that the item in question has been reviewed by collectors, scholars and professionals and has come to the fore. London, Singapore, Hong Kong and New York before it hit the market. auction in Geneva.

A spokesman for Phillips said: “If, after reviewing the evidence, we believe there are grounds for criminal prosecution, we will not hesitate to refer the case to the authorities for prosecution.”

Best known for its Speedmaster and Seamaster models, Omega is Switzerland’s third-largest watch manufacturer by revenue with sales of around 2.47 billion francs in 2022, Morgan Stanley estimates.

Morgan Stanley says the brand is part of Swatch Group AG and generates about half of the company’s total watch sales. BLOOMBERG