During the Christmas holidays, President Bush pardoned James Won Hee Kang, who was convicted of trafficking in counterfeit goods back in 1985.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Kang, who arrived in the United States as a student in 1974, was running a stand at the rough-and-tumble Maxwell Street Market when an undercover Chicago police officer stopped by in October 1984 and purchased some fake Rolex and Omega watches, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

Charged in U.S. District Court with one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods, Kang was sentenced by a federal judge in May 1985 to a year’s probation. He paid a $5,000 fine, and records show he was released from probation in good standing just a month later.

“I told customers these were not real,” Kang said, adding that he sold “toy” Rolexes for just $7. “We were not fooling anybody.”

But he said he pleaded guilty and paid the fine because it was just the easiest way to deal with federal agents. He thought that would be the end of it.

The conviction later prevented Kang from serving on the board of a local bank, thus applying for the pardon in 2002.

Swiss watch maker Rado has introduced a new system to protect consumers from purchasing fake watches.

From Emirates Business:

To combat the problem of counterfeiting and the loss of market share to the producers of fake watches, Rado of Switzerland has come up with a system where consumers can log on to the internet, enter their watch’s serial number and reference number and learn whether the watch is real or a fake.

Roland Streule, president and CEO of Rado, spoke exclusively to Emirates Business about the new system during the Dubai launch of Rado’s latest timepiece. It has been introduced to mark the company’s 50th anniversary as it was in 1957 that Rado offered its first collection to the public.

Read the entire interview here.

Counterfeit Watches is a $655 million market.

The net profit of the estimated 40 million counterfeit watches sold each year is valued at roughly $1 billion.  The trade is equal to 6 percent of the Swiss Watch Industry’s exports.

Source:  The Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie, “Fake Watches are for Fake People,” last accessed: July 15, 2009.

In a 1998 report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), counterfeit watches consists of 5 percent of the total watch market.

Source: OECD, “The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting,” 1998.

Source: “Trade in fakes takes shine off luxury goods market,” Monsters and Critics, April 11, 2007, (accessed: April 18, 2007).

25 million watches are legitimately produced by the Swiss watch industry, while 40 million counterfeit watches are produced around the world.

Source: Swissinfo, “Watchmakers sound alarm over internet fakes,” swissinfo.org,December 19, 2006, (accessed: December 20, 2006).

From the archives of Time Magazine comes this story of Counterfeit Bulova watches.

Two months ago, Bulova Watch Co.’s Long Island plant was suddenly flooded with irate letters. Each letter was accompanied by a broken wristwatch marked “Bulov 17″ on the dial. Bulova needed only one look at the misspelled trademark to see that they were fakes. Since most of the letters were from Chicago, Bulova hired private detectives to roam through the Loop area looking for the counterfeit Bulovas. Before long they picked up 250 from sidewalk peddlers.

What is interesting in reading this report is the mindset of consumers. The counterfeit Bulova watch was being sold for $23, when the legitimate price of the watch was $95. The report mentions that the areas where the watches were sold hasn’t changed in over 50 years.

As police reconstructed the case, the watches were bought for $3.50, the original brand name was erased with acid, and “Bulov 17″ stamped on in ink. The watch looked like the real Bulova 23 model, which retails for $95. The fakes were sold to street hawkers, who sold them at bus depots and railroad stations for up to $23 each. Chief victims: service men in transit.

In today’s marketplace, it is highly unlikely that people who buy watches at bus depots and railroad stations at a cheap price will believe they are buying an authentic product.

The Counterfeit Watch industry is estimated to valued at $655 Million.