This brochure was purchased off eBay. It was supposed to be a German language 1675 brochure. What I received was a really bad fake. I can count at least 10 ways this is a counterfeit, the following are just 7. It's almost a joke, except it cost me over $300 for this piece of junk until I complained to Paypal and got my money refunded.



Which one is fake?

Answer: LEFT

Even from this vantage, the "GMT-MASTER" is not in the correct typeface.

Below are Images from three brochures, the bottom one is not correct.



But maybe the German version, has a different type style. So, let's look a little closer at the printing.
 

There are no impressions from the printing equipment showing from the other side on the fake (above). The crown and Rolex are flat on the page. This is not correct either. The correct brochure (below) is how it is supposed to look. Rolex used printing methods that made an indentation in the page when printing these brochures. This is not the case on all their printed material, but all brochures of this style have this characteristic.

What else is wrong? The are many places where things are different from the real version. The following image from two brochure covers shows a world map. The cover on the left is from the fake. There correct one is on the right. The fake one has horizontal streaks where indicated. This probably comes from making a copy or scan from a printed brochure. Without original artwork, any subsequent reproduction is of inferior quality.

Also, from the cover, the crown is much thicker than the original. This is not to mention the lettering that is inferior when compared even without magnification.

 

Looking at the last page, the example on the bottom is not correct. The type does not match and the Pan Am globe has fine lines that have filled in on the fake (lower image).

The image on the left is from the correct brochure. The image on the right is from the fake. Notice that the picture is smaller on the right. There are too many things wrong to begin to describe.



The fake brochure is pure garbage and would never pass unless the buyer has no idea what an original one is supposed to look like. Still, I am sure there are some who probably got fooled and purchased the fake.