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Identification of a vintage Rotary, is it authentic?

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18K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  nico2000  
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#1 ·
I dont know much about vintage Rotary's, or even about Rotary in general. Despite that, I went and impulse buy a vintage Rotary from a local seller. The classic rookie mistake lmao. Theres not enough information online regarding vintage Rotary online so its quite hard to even do my research on them. I only paid like 50 bucks for this one so my hopes arent high for this. Even so, could this be an authentic vintage Rotary? It says swiss made on the bottom of the dial. The crown is slightly wobbly which in turns move the dial ever so slightly when I play with the crown. Telltale sign of a fake? Or perhaps just a replaced crown? Case seems to be in too good of a condition so I assume it was polished at some point. I heard Rotary watches were made like all around the world, but back then their main market was Britain so idk how their distribution and production process worked. Ill attach some pictures of the watch and movement thats inside below. Thank you in advance.
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to Watchuseek! I am afraid that in my opinion, you've landed yourself a duff watch. Rotary (founded by Moise Dreyfuss in La Chaux de Fonds) were one of the slightly better known makers using generic movements and the movement looks of the grade that they might have used. However the movement is entirely unmarked whereas real Rotary watches usually have the logo on the mainspring gear. Secondly, I have never come across all black hands on a watch of that style but I could be wrong on that one. Thirdly, we know on this forum that an awfully large number of faked watches purportedly belonging to brands of around the "Rotary" tier come out of India - and they all have that movement! I am willing to argue about Point 2 but Points 1 & 3 clinch it as a fake for me. Still, you didn't pay too much.

Hartmut Richter
 
#3 ·
A Google search for Rotary Avenger did not turn up anything with a case styled anything like that.

You mentioned that you bought the watch from a "local seller" but you didn't say local to what. Where are you located?
 
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#5 ·
Got it here in Malaysia where I live, the seller sells alot of these old swiss made vintage watches. Cyma, Nino, Sandoz, Ardath and a bunch of other brands. I probably lucked out with this purchase, its my first vintage purchase so I definitely have a ton more to learn :< I was hoping atleast the movement or dial was somewhat authentic but I guess that might not be the case here
 
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#4 ·
I agree on most of your points. Shouldve done my research lmao, I only realized that most Rotary movements come with the logo etched on the gear after I got the watch and decided to research more. The hands actually is not all black, they do have a streak of lume but its just been aged/covered up by something for whatever reason. As you said, I didnt pay too much for it, which I am glad is the case. Actually bought it randomly to learn more about mechanical movements in general. But knowing its an outright fake is certainly off putting. Thanks for your detailed response!
 
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#11 ·
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