How to distinguish genuine Rado watches from replicas

    Rado is a watch brand under the Swiss Swatch Group, founded in 1917. Rado produced the world's first batch of scratch-resistant watches—the oval "DiaStar" watch—which laid the foundation for Rado's rapid development. As a luxury watch brand, many people love Rado watches. How do we distinguish genuine Rado watches from replicas when purchasing? Here, Watch Home will help you understand.

Appearance identification

    First, original Rado watches are made of stainless steel and tungsten steel, while the case back of a replica might be gold-plated. Furthermore, the case is often too thick. The tungsten steel on replicas has a uniform, dark, dull grey colour. On genuine Rado watches, the four screws on the case back all have single-slot heads, whereas replicas have cross-head screws. In addition, the engraving on the case back of a replica is blurred, and the "RADO" lettering on the bracelet clasp is also very poorly engraved; they usually do not use a stamping process, and all markings are shallow without any relief.

    Fake watches have SWISS MOVT or SWISS MADE printed below the 6 o'clock position on the dial, whilst genuine Rado watches only print SWISS and a three-digit group representing the dial style. Genuine Rado watches are engraved with a non-repeating 8-digit production serial number, whereas replica watches share the same number with up to 13 digits, such as 1372811523769. The clasp of a fake Rado strap lacks a bracelet number, whilst genuine Rado watches have it engraved; for example, 04140 04142 are common on "black ceramic" Rado models. Additionally, the clasp construction also differs.

    Finally, check the factory label on the caseback. Luxury watch labels usually display the brand logo along with the watch model number. Some timepiece caseback labels also feature a laser hologram for anti-counterfeiting.

Movement Identification

    Genuine Rado watches have unique model numbers per reference; even in a pair set, the gents' and ladies' watches have different numbers. Counterfeit Rado men's and women's models share the exact same number, for example 120.0281.3N.

    Fake Rado watches use cheap movements, commonly RONDA calibres, whereas genuine Rado watches always use high-quality gold-plated ETA calibres.

    Upon careful inspection, differences can even be found in the shape, printing and colour of the presentation box, instruction manual and hangtags. A Rado watch includes a warranty card featuring three numbers: serial number, reference code and model number. These numbers also appear on the sticker on the back of the leather warranty sleeve. If the watch features precious stones, these numbers will also be listed on the diamond certificate card. For limited editions, these numbers appear on the limited edition card, and for chronometer-certified models, on the COSC card. Counterfeit watches lack complete cards with matching, accurate information.