A funny thing happened to me about 10 years ago. . .
About 10 years ago (I think it was when I was a junior in high school), our National Honor Society took a trip during the Thanksgiving break. By my calculations, that would have been around this time in 1995. We went to Colonial Williamsburg, Washington DC, New York City, and Intercourse Pennsylvania, and probably some other places that I can't remember right now.
My most memorable moment during the trip involved a small shop in Chinatown. We'd just finished eating supper (it was one of the first times I'd eaten Chineese food), and they let us go around to some nearby shops. I wanted to by a "Rolex" watch, so I was on the lookout. At the first place we came to, I asked the young Chineese boy if they had any Rolex watches. He said they did, and he went in the back of the shop to fetch them. I knew how to tell a fake Rolex from a real one. On a real Rolex, the second hand moves more than just once per second. I don't think it's continuous, but it moves at least twice a second. You might think of it as a "half-second" or "quarter second" hand. Fake Rolexes, like most other analog watches, have second hands that move only once per second (click . . . click . . . click at one second intervals). Well, the young boy returned with his Rolex collection on a cheep plastic tray, and set the tray on a table. I was hoping to get a fake watch for under $30, so I was happy when he said $15 for a "Rolex." Well, I picked one up and looked at it (fully expecting it to be fake), and lo and behold, the second hand moved like a real one! I rubbed my eyes and looked at it again. Sure enough, as far as I could tell, this was a bone fide true Rolex! (After reading the Wikipedia entry on Rolex watches, I now know that some fake Rolexes actually mimic the movement as well as the design of Rolexes, so in retrospect, this might not have been a real one, but I like to think it was). Before I knew what was happening, a much older Chineese man came over from the back of the store. He said something harsh sounding to the young boy in Chineese, and then he yanked the watch out of my hand. Indeed, he took the entire tray from the table and started picking watches off of it. He took out about 5 or 10 watches and left the majority of them (probably 25) on the tray. Then, he returned the tray to the table and let us look at the watches again. I picked up every single watch that was left. Not a single one was real. The only thing I can come up with is that the stolen watches accidentaly got mixed up with the fake ones!
I paid $15 for a fake Rolex that broke before the trip was over.
My most memorable moment during the trip involved a small shop in Chinatown. We'd just finished eating supper (it was one of the first times I'd eaten Chineese food), and they let us go around to some nearby shops. I wanted to by a "Rolex" watch, so I was on the lookout. At the first place we came to, I asked the young Chineese boy if they had any Rolex watches. He said they did, and he went in the back of the shop to fetch them. I knew how to tell a fake Rolex from a real one. On a real Rolex, the second hand moves more than just once per second. I don't think it's continuous, but it moves at least twice a second. You might think of it as a "half-second" or "quarter second" hand. Fake Rolexes, like most other analog watches, have second hands that move only once per second (click . . . click . . . click at one second intervals). Well, the young boy returned with his Rolex collection on a cheep plastic tray, and set the tray on a table. I was hoping to get a fake watch for under $30, so I was happy when he said $15 for a "Rolex." Well, I picked one up and looked at it (fully expecting it to be fake), and lo and behold, the second hand moved like a real one! I rubbed my eyes and looked at it again. Sure enough, as far as I could tell, this was a bone fide true Rolex! (After reading the Wikipedia entry on Rolex watches, I now know that some fake Rolexes actually mimic the movement as well as the design of Rolexes, so in retrospect, this might not have been a real one, but I like to think it was). Before I knew what was happening, a much older Chineese man came over from the back of the store. He said something harsh sounding to the young boy in Chineese, and then he yanked the watch out of my hand. Indeed, he took the entire tray from the table and started picking watches off of it. He took out about 5 or 10 watches and left the majority of them (probably 25) on the tray. Then, he returned the tray to the table and let us look at the watches again. I picked up every single watch that was left. Not a single one was real. The only thing I can come up with is that the stolen watches accidentaly got mixed up with the fake ones!
I paid $15 for a fake Rolex that broke before the trip was over.
posted by jigawatt at 9:20:00 PM
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