See what I have to put up with - Please help me

Hi all,

I was a few days ago at our company's Partner Meeting.
Just as a background two information for you:
[ol]
[li]a Partner in our company is a Managing Director of one of our Network companies, so someone who has a fairly healthy income[/li]
[li]I have done a presentation in this Partner Meeting in which I integrated a picture of my Portuguese Regulateur.
[/ol]
Now the second evening of this Partner Meeting some of us Partners were sitting together at the Hotel bar having the one or the other Whisky.
At my right hand side a new Partner was sitting who had just joined the company and basically started off attending this meeting. He will be located together with me in our Düsseldorf office.
While I was taking a sip of my Whiskey I noticed that something disturbed my eyes. The disturbance was arriving from my right hand side, so I looked right and saw something strange on the wrist of this new Partner colleague.
On the dial I could clearly recognize the three letters. IWC. And below the writing Schaffhausen, there was something which looked like hand-writing, and remembered me the F.A. Jones writing. But something was wrong. I could see a Power Reserve circle, which looked strange... I saw a moon phase which was really small... and the hands were blue. But that thing did not look like the F.A. Jones I know.
So I was starring at this watch, trying to identify what was disturbing me. I simply could not understand it. That was the first IWC really hurting my eyes.
At a certain point in time the guy noticed that I was starring at his watch. He put his wrist directly under my nose - I immediately felt like thousands swords cutting my body - and asked me "REAL of FAKE? You told in your presentation you have a soft spot for IWCs, so tell me, REAL or FAKE?".
"Hm", I said, "I am not an expert, but I have never seen that model. It really looks strange. So, without offense, I would guess it is a fake".
"Right", he said, in a proud tone as if he would own the most exclusive IWC, one out of one, in the world. "But a friend of mine is IWC expert and he says it is a really good fake" he added.
Now guys, look at these horrible pictures and tell me what I shall do with the guy.

How can a person, who earns quite a lot of money, and is a MD, and has contact with clients, wear a fake IWC? If he is not up to exclusive watches, he could wear a Swatch. No problem at all. But a fake IWC? Explain me, if you know, what drives those people to do such things.

Now, as said above, he will be sitting in the same building as I, just a few offices further down the floor. How shall I survive this situation, seeing this horrible timepiece nearly every single day? I mean, the guy is even without that fake not really likable, but with it ... he is simply insupportable.
I really do not want to break the rules of good communication of this forum, but tell me ... in case I would bring a hammer with me in one of my next meetings with him, and in a moment of non-attention of the guy I would smash the hammer on his watch ... do you think that his severely damaged wrist would be regarded as a "collateral damage"? I mean, finally it is illegal to wear a fake watch.

Dear IWC community, please help me understanding what I should do?
(Just for the avoidance of doubt, I used the example with the hammer just to express in a picture my feelings. I do not seriously intend to do that:-)

Giovanni, sometimes it is difficult to get a camel to drink. No matter how good the male camel is, no camel can be a "7 day camel" unless it is well watered prior to setting out.

Now know, there is a saying " one can take a camel to the water - but one cannot make a camel drink" This, is basically your dilemma. Some of us here would say, that for sure one could make a camel drink - the answer lies in having not one but two hammers (those rubber mallets used by the Bedouin to pitch their tents) and whilst having the camel stand with his head above the water trough one sneaks up behind the camel and applies in one swift strike an action whereby the two hammers meet up with each other (of course - I leave it up to your imagination as to what part of the said male camels anatomy lies between the two hammers at that time).

Guaranteed, that camel is going to whoosh up all the water in the trough in one foul intake of gasping!

But are hammers and cruelty really the answer? No Sir, they are not.

Educate - therein lies the answer. Help the poor man see the error of his ways - introduce him to other watch afundis who can share with him the 1001 reasons why he is so wrong. Let us put him in the car, get him to Schaffhausen and show him the TRUTH...

But in the end, even wise men of the desert know, that sometimes in good faith they have aquired a camel which is lame and does not cut it. If they do not succeed within a reasonable period of time, to teach the camel to drink - the camel is very soon brought back to the camel market where it is sold off to slaughter - and in so doing recuperate some of the investment, and at the same time proving that even lame camels have some worth - even if not ever destined to be amongst the true wonders of the dessert!

Try to educate but if not succesful this one does not belong in your herd!

Best regards
Mark

yes, don't use a hammer...

push him out the window! =P

best,
vinhthang

It is an ugly fake and inexcusable.

If this partner is interfacing with clients and representing the business, he is a liability to your firm's credibility.

It's not a "good fake" at all, and can be spotted instantly - especially since IWC has gained so much more exposure, even non-experts can see what this watch is. Just think about how you feel about his credibility and honesty? This fake calls all that into question. The more he wears it, the greater the risk your firm places a less-than-honest image to the public....

I would ignore his watch. He likes it, horrible as it may be to us, and that is what it's all about. At work this just is an unimportant issue: if you at all have business with him, there will be more important things to talk about, certainly to him, who quite obviously is not really interested in watches. Maybe he likes football.

Kind regards,
Paul

"The horror, the horror...!"

Buy him a real IWC and deduct it later from his bonus.....

No excuse. No doubt he wants to simulate something via the false watch, why not buy the real one and appreciate the quality and beauty?
This is as low you can get.

I have seen this piece - or yet another 'manufacture' of this beast - being sold on ebay.

when I saw it, I gave it a nickname: The 'Everything Must Be Put Inside This Watch' Special Edition

That hot air balloon on the caseback really must win a prize ...

Giovanni - I am sorry to hear about your predicament. I tend to agree with Ardoise - showcasing proudly a fake watch like that is just plain wrong to me and gives a bad impression to knowledgable customers & strangers.

Oh please, Giovanni, get it out of my eye-sight! It hurts.

I too feel disgusted when people wear a fake. I have no problem with people wearing a Tissot or even a Casio. A fake? why?

Last year I was in a company kick-off meeting. As I was entering a lift, I saw another engineer reporting to one of my peers. I immediately spotted a "Ceramic Da Vinci chronograph" on his wrist. I could not help but to chuckle at him and asked, "don't tell it is real". He laughed and was a little sheepish about it. He didn't know anyone would have noticed (too bad he ran into an IWC fanatic).

I pulled his hand and asked to have a look. I tried pushing the "chrono buttons" and he felt a bit embarrassed and told me that I had changed the date on his watch. How cute!

Anyway... from then on every time I ran into him at the events (may it be lunches or meetings, etc.), I often asked him "so where is your IWC?" He laughed and said he had to be "subtle" about it.

Anyway... if he worked for me I would have asked him to buy a real watch... a real watch of any brand!

I would just ask him to ask his knowlegeable friend what model number is this as it seems to be a very interesting limited edition. (Well if there is such a friend...)

Throw him and his fake watch out the window. Ever thought that if one of his most personal things is a big lie then what is there to stop his business ethics or CV being a lie as well.

Use of a hammer is good as you'd be protecting IWC name and reputation.

Buy him a real Swatch or Casio and present it to him at the next big meeting, he does not deserve a real IWC so why waste your efforts.

Ask him "as and when you need Viagra whether now or in the future, do you want the real pills or as per your watch, the counterfeits?"

Wow... this is real watch horror! I would feel completely ridiculous with this watch around my wrist. I'm not a fan of throwing people out of windows, but ending the life of this watch would be OK with me. I just hope you might be able to educate the person who wears this "thing" so he will symbolically destroy it himself....

Tell him to buy a genuine Mickey Mouse watch if he can't afford a real IWC.

Zyxtimer

The watch we wear may say a lot about us, well before we open our mouths. This is particularly true about wearers of fake watches.
It is especially reprehensible in the case of upper management of a large corporation. Overlooking the lack of taste, there is the legal issue of being a willing accomplice of infringing copyright laws.

I would be direct with him, but in a slightly non-threatening, almost joking way. Something like: "you still wearing that fake? One day with your bonus you could even buy a real one." When he opens the door by replying that he really likes his watch, then I'd move in for the closer: "I know, I know....but some clients might question it. I've heard others say "fake watches are for fake people". You really don't want to take that chance, ever."

As others have written already, it's a horrible watch and might give people a wrong signal.

As for the hammers: I don't think a judge would agree with your action (unless he's an IWC fan too :-) so I suggest something more practical. You work with him in an office environment. Get his arm with the watch between the elevator doors or any door. You could easily make it look like an accident :-)

Kind regards and good luck!

Clemens

At my office, I once met a young trainee at lunch and noticed he was wearing a watch from a known Italian brand. When he saw me noticing he was very proud and told me how he had to take extra jobs to afford it. I could see it was a fake and I told him! When he asked how I could be certain about it I just pulled my shirt sleeve and showed the 'real' watch. He was so embarassed, got red ears, changed his explanation to having borrowed the watch from his uncle and avoided me from that day after, never saw him wear the fake again.
Don't understand why people want's to show off in 'borrowed feathers'.

You spotted the problem. Apart the personal offense I need to go through every single day when I see that watch, it is the business impact I am afraid of.
If I would be a client and that guy would sit in front of me, trying to sell me something, I would have zero trust in what he is telling me. He would have absolutely no credibility.

Unfortunately he is a peer of mine, and I can't simply fire him. So I will need to make our CEO understand why he chose the wrong guy. By no means I think that any effort in trying to convince the guy to throw away the "Thing" will be successful.

I will keep you updated on new happenings in this story.
Thanks for your replies and suggestions. It is good to know that I am not alone with my "feelings" about the guy.

On the spot!

Fake watches Fake people!

Kind regards,