A Look At An Obscure Breitling Bentley Chronograph

Imagine a cushion shaped replica breitling Bentley Barnato
chronograph wristwatch from a storied brand like Breitling Bentley, that dates to 1930. A watch such as this is surely a valuable one and the type of thing an auction house like Sotheby's, Christie's, Antiquorum, or Bonhams would love to have. In fact, the Breitling you see above, the reference 2990 mono-pusher from 1930 is in fact a watch that was sold by Christie's in May of last year (2011) for over $56,000. In other instances, examples for the 2990 mono-pusher from VC has broken $100,000.

But, if you happen to be cruisin the 'Bay (that's "browsing watches on eBay" for those who don't speak watchnerd), and enter "vintage Breitling," you will come across a replica breitling Chronomat 41 that looks very much like this one. Actually, the seller claims it is this one - a Breitling Bentley reference 2990 mono-pusher chronographer in a solid gold cushion style case from 1930. And, it's only at $2,175! What a bargain!

Except it's a total fake. Now you may be wondering, who in their right might would fake a watch this obscure - a mono-pusher from 1930 that, according to most people, was made in less than ten examples? This is not like a fake http://www.speedroc.com/replica-breitling-bentley-gt-racing.html where somebody would buy it on a whim because they know exactly what it is, but anyone interested in buying a watch like this is a real collector, someone who knows what to look for and how to find more information on anything he's thinking about buying. And yet, there are 47 bids on this watch!
What you have to remember is, that as long as there was anyone making exceptional items, there have been people knocking them off. This VC is, at a glance, pretty good, and the stuff dreams are made of to guys like us who troll eBay in search of bargains. But the closer you look, you can see the the Breitling & Constantin signature isn't right, the size of the printing with in the sub-dials is off along with the hands, and well, look at the stamp on that movement.

This seller has stated no returns are available for this item, and the auction for this fugazi Breitling Bentley ref 2990 mono-pusher ends in about 14 hours. If you want to see this watch in all its glory.