Tour of Canal Street

[Distinct 0]

So I'll be taking a walking tour of the Canal Street fakes/replicas on Friday, July 22nd, 2011. It's been a few years since I've bought some low end replicas there. All of them sold for dirt cheap once I started seeing how good the watches are from the Trusted Dealers here. I plan on doing a write up and marking the stalls and spots on a map for anything good, bad or ugly that I find. I'll keep everyone posted and hopefully come up with some funny photos and maybe some interesting souvenirs.

 

Any particular spots people recommend?

Edited July 23, 2011 by Distinct

[Aren 27]

That is a great idea. I am planning to go to Canal St at the beginning of August.

I couldn't get there the last time I was in NYC in December.

I will know more about what I am looking at now.

I remember those watches and handbags being junk, but I've heard they are much improved the past decade.

 

In your report, please identify where you start your tour.

 

Ok...this looked like a pretty good link:

 

http://www.allny.com/shopping-articles/can...s-new-york.html

 

I would add to that report to keep different amounts of cash in different pockets,

so you can appear to have less money when you haggle.

Going with a friend is also a good idea.

A friend who says, "I saw it cheaper/better... You don't really want that." and can make valid critical comments during the negotiating process...which is fast and not easily understood unless you speak some Chinese. Don't be too friendly. These are hit and run sales. Get in, get out...no mucking about.

 

Good luck. Looking forward to your report.

 

[michaelkhleb 0]

wait im in brooklyn lol i was at canal street today,,,,, they have a street for like replicas and sht is it good wats up with that? can youbuy them there etc

[kolchak 17]

I've bought a few turds over the years but haven't been back to Canal St. since discovering RWG last year.

I'm curious to know which vendors carry high end reps & ~ prices. I'm sure they will be kept in secret locations in the back room, away from the usual crap.

G/L

[seclark007 11]

See, every time I think Canal Street, I think Amsterdam................

 

I suppose that just goes to show how priorities manifest themselves when you least expect it...

[AGL 0]

Is there a UK equivalent?

[ebzen02 341]

Bought a few duds and thought they were cool 4 years ago before I tripped over this site.. Wonder if they are selling better shit now a days! I hope not.. Don't want to water down our exclusive watches now :(

[opus9 0]

Is there a UK equivalent?

 

There is a street in Manchester called canal street.It is the Gay district.Last time I heard some one had scratched out letters and it now reads

 

'anal treet'

 

Scousers no doubt...

regards opus 9.

[ebzen02 341]

Is there a UK equivalent?

 

There is a street in Manchester called canal street.It is the Gay district.Last time I heard some one had scratched out letters and it now reads

 

'anal treet'

 

Scousers no doubt...

regards opus 9.

 

:(

[greg_r 81]

Is there a UK equivalent?

 

 

Used to be Camden Market, but the plod cracked down on that kinda thing years ago. Not much on the street anywhere these days that I know of...

[Greenhat 0]

Is there a UK equivalent?

 

There is a street in Manchester called canal street.It is the Gay district.Last time I heard some one had scratched out letters and it now reads

 

'anal treet'

 

Scousers no doubt...

regards opus 9.

 

Whats a mickey mouse bubble doing in a gay district of Manchester?

[djprone 0]

The is a place near where i live in Lincolnshire called Ingoldmells (Near Butlins and Skegness). Anyway, they have a market in the fantasy island complex that sells fake everything (burberry hats, adidas joggers, and ray ban sunglasses etc) There is usually a few stalls selling replica watches, but how good they are i don't know. I may take a trip down there on my day off and pick up a couple for review.

[kolchak 17]

Maybe someone can help me here.

I never understood why the "authorities" & manufacturers being copied permit vendors to openly sell fake products in one of the biggest cities in the US. Since it would be easy to stop, the authorities, state of NY, & manufacturers must enjoy the tax revenue & advertising benifits.

If 99.9% of the stuff wasn't total shit I'm betting it would be a different story. If PWC (or any of the TD's here) had a store front on canal street carrying higher quality reps they'd last about 10 seconds.

I also wonder if any of those shitty watches, purses, shoes, etc are made in the US or somehow manage to slip through customs on such a regular basis.

I'd now like to open this topic up for discussion...

[Balad1 0]

Most of the counterfeit copies with logos and such are kept in a back room and aren't openly on display.

 

I've only bought cheap junk there but I wasn't into reps then. I would ask if they have better quality reps in back, who knows what they might drag out.

[ebzen02 341]

What I found most ironic when I was there a few years ago is that there were literally cops on every corner. Every so often they'd pick on some poor soul and issue a citation, but no arrest or seizures of goods. There was branded stuff out and about (mosty) watches. Flocks of peopel haggling as well.

[AGL 0]

The is a place near where i live in Lincolnshire called Ingoldmells (Near Butlins and Skegness). Anyway, they have a market in the fantasy island complex that sells fake everything (burberry hats, adidas joggers, and ray ban sunglasses etc) There is usually a few stalls selling replica watches, but how good they are i don't know. I may take a trip down there on my day off and pick up a couple for review.

 

Would be cool to hear about this!!

[SB56667 155]

Looking forward to the write-up! I'm very interested to know if there's anything halfway decent there. Last time I was there, it all looked like junk, but didn't dig around too hard.

[Bosox 0]

Maybe someone can help me here.

I never understood why the "authorities" & manufacturers being copied permit vendors to openly sell fake products in one of the biggest cities in the US. Since it would be easy to stop, the authorities, state of NY, & manufacturers must enjoy the tax revenue & advertising benifits.

...

 

 

Simple. It would be racist to crack down on a person of color.

[gB. 0]

Maybe someone can help me here.

I never understood why the "authorities" & manufacturers being copied permit vendors to openly sell fake products in one of the biggest cities in the US. Since it would be easy to stop, the authorities, state of NY, & manufacturers must enjoy the tax revenue & advertising benifits.

...

I don't believe there's any tax revenue to be had from rep products on Canal Street. Last I checked it was an all cash business.

[jcglobal 0]

some good ones there. the rolex and movados are kept in duffle bags by street vendors. They are crap. be careful. They will ask 150 and take 25. when you get it home you'll know you paid too much.

[Distinct 0]

On Friday, July 22nd, 2011 I walked the notorious Canal Street in Chinatown to document the state of possibly the biggest replica watch market area outside of China. I've been here a few years ago and the sales environment has changed significantly. It was the hottest day on record this year in New York City and I highly recommend that any visit here be on a much cooler day.

 

The pink circle denotes the eastern boundary (Bowery) of the area you should be exploring and the red circle identifies the general end (West Broadway). I have taken a few pictures with my camera phone. You can match my pictures when you go on Google Maps Street View. Interestingly enough, the Street View captures some of these corner stalls and store fronts and clearly shows the watches on display.

 

 

I was not a popular person doing this and a number of the organized sellers on the street were suspicious of me. Especially when I was waiting by the Canal Street 6 Station for SB56667. More on this later.

 

 

So what did we find in general?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The common replicas found in the small store fronts are Bell & Ross, U-BOAT, Ferrari, Audemars Piguet, Chopard and a series of fantasy versions. Bell & Ross seems to be the most common in variety across the stores. Every single store on the street (without exception) has non-branded cheap Chanel J12 watches in black and white. The general price of most watches averages $75-79 to start and goes up to $150. If you see anything with a chrono function, IT DOES NOT WORK! Some lesser common replicas are some Graham Chronofighters and Patek Philippe, etc. There are ABSOLUTELY NO CARTIER, OMEGA, ROLEX, TAG HEUER OR PANERAI in these stores. Not even things that look like them without the name. In terms of selection, the first couple stores closest to Bowery had the least.

 

 

 

A universal rule that applies to every single watch I found in these store fronts is: DO NOT BUY THESE!!! Forget that these are over-priced but they are terribly cheap and inaccurate. If they were sold for $10, you might buy them only to pull the bracelet or strap off as a spare for a better Bell & Ross. It is quite common after being in many stores and listening for the $75 watches immediately go to $50 if the customer hints at disinterest. My advice to anyone is that these are not even worth the joke or souvenir value of buying one at $40. I think every single Bell & Ross watch with date had the black/white colour flipped (should be white lettering on black background). I was in one store and standing behind an excited tourist Family, where the Father was remarking to this two teenage Sons about how amazing the replicas are. He was holding a Bell & Ross chrono in orange face. I quietly advised him the chrono doesn't work and the date is wrong. He should skip it. He was very appreciative. I can't stress enough, I would not recommend trying to get these store front watches down to a certain haggling price to justify their purchase.

 

 

 

 

Every Store has these weird rubber/plastic watches...

 

 

Note: The Bell & Ross Heritages have hit the streets here. I found about half the stores I visited had them in the brown and black strap.

 

I bought a flawless Chanel J12 Ceramic quartz on this day. It had good weight and was really flawless. Had the right screw in crown and bracelet/clasp. How did I find this treasure amongst all the garbage I just described? I didn't. Here's how it all works on the street now...

 

 

4 years ago the New York Mayor Bloomberg began a large scale crack down on the replica market at Canal Street. They stepped up police activity and really clamped down. I'll contrast what I experienced on Friday with what I saw a couple years ago. It was very difficult to walk on the sidewalk on my last visit. You had to navigate like a salmon swimming up stream due to how crowded the sidewalk was. The crowds were larger and there was less sidewalk real estate because there were replica bags every where on makeshift presentation tables and blankets. People hauled garbage bags filled with replica purses up and down the sidewalk. The major change is the disappearance of the bags and purses. Most tourists don't come to Canal Street for the watches, they come for the bags. All the American and French tourists I saw then and now, had Girls in the group or couple and they were looking for bags. Sure the Husband or Boyfriend might check out a watch, but you don't see 4 20 something Guys get all dolled up for a day on Canal Street to go shopping for watches (maybe you do, but I don't want to know about it). You will see 4 hot chicks out for a day of fun in search of bags. You'll see two teenage Girls leading a tired looking Mom and Dad on the hunt for a bag or a Tiffany bracelet. On my last visit, the Rolex watches were already gone from the store fronts, but they might have generic looking ones (like the Chanel J12 I saw every where). People stood around on sidewalks with small plastic bags of Rolex inventory and you bought from people on the street who approached you.

 

 

Here's the Players:

 

Store Worker: Generally East India immigrants who man the store fronts and try to sell the cheap watches to uneducated buyers. They will beckon for one of the other Players if you are persistent and keep asking for better watches. If they don't think you're a cop, it won't take long.

 

Merchandise Walker: Chinese immigrant women (China or Taiwan) who are wearing a single Coach or Gucci purse or bag and then walk past you asking if you like it or if you want one. They'll connect you with a Seller.

 

Lookout: Chinese women (China or Taiwan) or local Chinese American teenage boys (with tattoos and flat brim caps, a la Jay Z New York).

 

Seller: These are the Guys you try to work your way towards. They will discuss the different watches and make the pricing deals. Carries small laminated pictures of the watches and bags. Basically, these people have what you see on websites but on paper.

 

 

Inventory Runner: When you have picked out a watch/es you want, this person will be instructed by the Seller to get the specific watches you want to see. They will only bring those watches. You never see their whole inventory.

 

 

Most of these people involved in selling watches are either uneducated about watches or just make it up or lie. The worst are the Store Workers but even the Sellers still claim Swiss movements in all the watches (there's no way).

 

This whole arrangement (organization and process) is designed to minimize loss or charges. If they get raided, they lose very little value in stock because the store fronts carry the worst watches. I'm going to guess the whole sale value of the watches is only a few hundred dollars. The citation and court summons is for $120 if you are caught selling any of the fake goods. I managed to get my Chanel J12 seller to actually show me his ticket. He complained that he had to appear in court next week. A lot of what I have written up here comes from a lengthy interview with him. People never get caught with much actual inventory or stock on them. They have pretty much anything you will find on any of the websites.

 

Back on the map, where the blue line meets the pink line, is where I was checking out the non-branded Chanel J12 at a corner side stand. The Store Worker connected me with a Seller who asked me to walk with him to go check out better watches. The blue circle shows where we stopped. During this walk he was on his phone calling for some Panerai ($100 to $140) and two Chanel J12 (two different quality levels). I passed on the Panerai and haggled for the better quality J12. He asked if I liked Rolex and I asked to see a DSSD. He wanted $300+ for the DSSD but I'm sure you could have this for $150 if you haggle enough. The problem that I saw with his DSSD was the fuzzy inking on the ORIGINAL GAS ESCAPE VALVE. I passed but this is a great example of being able to buy in person. You just make the Seller get the Inventory Runner to go get another and this continues until you're happy.

 

Tourists get so happy when they start to move past the Store Worker level. I can see the look on their face that says, "Score! I have the inside connection!" It's not all that hard. For anyone who's not interested in being aggressive and just wants the process to come to them, go to the Canal Street 6 Station. There's a whole bunch of these Players at this corner. People don't say hi, hello or ni hao here, they greet you with, "Rolex" in a raising question based tone. Not sure what language that greeting is in. Some of the more stylish greetings are "'lex, 'lex, 'lex?" as evidenced by this hustler who was just working it hard.

 

 

Met up with fellow member SB56667 at the Canal St 6 station and bought his watch box (pictures below) and checked out his awesome custom vintage watch and shared a few laughs (mostly about how bad I am at repairing watches). Awesome meeting him and special thanks to him for selling me the watch box. Is this the first in-person RWG international Member to Member sales ever?

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

 

DO NOT BUY FROM A STORE. CONNECT WITH A SELLER.

 

If you live in New York or are visiting, you get the benefit of having access to buying watches in person. You can do the QC in person with your hands on the watch. You can see if the watch is dead or if the date sucks or the cyclops is misaligned. Please note that a lot of these watches are wrapped in a lot of the the clear cellophane so it can be difficult to perfectly see everything. You also get to haggle in English (sort of). He originally wanted the Chanel J12 for $225. I got him to $150. I've seen the same watch for about $175 on the various websites. You can get pretty much any of the usual suspects for Rolex, Omega and Panerai, etc. You won't find good replicas of rarer or less common watches (Omega Ploprof, certain Panerai, Graham Chronofighter, certain Chopard, etc.). So Canal Street is still a fun visit if you're in the mood for a DSSD or Submariner or basic Panerai. Most are 21J with maybe some ETA clone movements.

 

Chanel J12:

 

 

 

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll respond. Hope you enjoyed the information. I paid for it in 10 pounds of water loss.

Edited July 24, 2011 by Distinct

[gB. 0]

Awesome write up. Thanks!

[bklynboy 0]

Nice pics! You did pick the worst day

 

A walk down memory lane for me. . .

[Fiddo 0]

Quite Interesting! Thanks for posting it!

[robznet 0]

Superb review/writeup - thanks for sharing your experiences!