Authentication Services Terms

Authentication is a structured professional examination of a watch, carried out by our examiners against our reference material and recorded methodology. It results in a documented conclusion about the watch’s authenticity and configuration on the evidence available at the time of examination.

We are an independent authentication service. We are not a manufacturer, an authorized dealer, or an authorized service center, and we are not acting for any manufacturer when we examine your watch. See the Manufacturer & Third-Party Notice.

By submitting a watch you confirm that, so far as you are aware:

• You own the watch, or you are authorized by the owner to submit it.
• The watch is not reported stolen, and is not the subject of an ownership dispute you know about.
• The information you have given about the watch — brand, model, reference, serial, production year, history — is accurate and complete so far as you know it.
• Any documentation you upload is genuine, and you are entitled to upload it.
• You have disclosed any modification, service, or component replacement you are aware of.

Depending on the watch and the material available, an examination may draw on any combination of:

• Physical inspection of the watch, where the watch is with us.
• Photographs and video you submit, including guided capture sessions.
• Documentation you supply — warranty cards, receipts, service records, correspondence.
• Case, dial, hands, bezel, crystal, bracelet, and clasp analysis.
• Movement analysis and component-level examination.
• Serial and reference-number analysis against known production schemes.
• Our reference catalog, including documented factory variations and production changes.
• Our counterfeit-indicator research and comparative material.
• Third-party records, where available and identified as such.
• Examiner judgement applied to all of the above.

Not every input is available for every submission, and a conclusion reflects the evidence that was actually available. Where the available evidence limits what can be concluded, the report says so.

Every examination ends in one of three recorded conclusions:

Genuine

On the evidence examined, the watch is consistent with authentic manufacture. This is the only conclusion for which a certificate is issued.

Counterfeit

On the evidence examined, the watch is not authentic. No certificate is issued, and the record does not enter the public Registry as a verified entry.

Inconclusive

The available evidence does not support a determination either way. No certificate is issued. An inconclusive result is not a finding that the watch is counterfeit.

Watches are serviced, repaired, and modified over their lives. Where our examination identifies a component that is not consistent with original factory configuration — a service part, a replacement, or an aftermarket component — that finding is recorded against the component in the report.

A component-level finding is a statement about that component. It is separate from the overall conclusion, and neither one implies the other: an otherwise authentic watch may carry replaced components, and a component that appears correct does not authenticate the whole watch.

Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing, an authentication does not include:

• An appraisal, valuation, or opinion on market or resale value.
• Advice on whether to buy, sell, insure, or hold a watch.
• A search of stolen-property databases, police records, or title records.
• A confirmation of legal ownership or title.
• Servicing, repair, restoration, timing regulation, or water-resistance testing.
• A manufacturer warranty, or any statement made on a manufacturer’s behalf.

Where a watch is physically submitted, we will handle it with the care expected of a professional examiner and will keep a record of its custody while it is with us.

A fee, where one applies, pays for the examination and the work of reaching a documented conclusion. It is not a payment for a particular outcome.

A conclusion reflects the evidence available when it was made. Evidence can change: a manufacturer archive may respond, a component may be examined that was not available before, new counterfeit techniques may be documented, or an omission may come to light.

We therefore reserve the ability to reconsider a conclusion where credible new evidence justifies it. If we do, the change is recorded rather than substituted silently: the original decision remains in the record, the amendment is written to our audit trail, and any certificate affected is superseded or revoked as appropriate.

We are not obliged to re-examine a watch on request, and a request to reconsider is not a complaint procedure or an appeal to a third party.

Photographs, capture sessions, inspection findings, component analyses, examiner notes, and the decision record are the working record of the examination. We retain them so that a conclusion can be explained, audited, and — where necessary — revisited.

Internal examiner notes and methodology detail are not published, and are not part of what a customer report or a Registry entry displays. See the Registry Terms and the Privacy Policy.

We may decline a submission, or stop work on one, where we cannot verify who is submitting, where the watch appears to be the subject of a theft report or an ownership dispute, where documentation appears to be forged, where the material provided is inadequate to examine, or where proceeding would expose us or a third party to unreasonable risk.