Omega lodges criminal complaint with Swiss prosecutors over $3m fake watch

Omega was the buyer at an auction and has previously said that three former employees were involved in the alleged criminal plot

The Bioceramic Moonswatch Collection by Swatch and Omega on display in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters

Swatch Group’s Omega brand filed a criminal complaint with Swiss prosecutors over the sale of a fake Speedmaster watch it bought at an auction for a record price of more than $3 million.

A spokesman in the Bern prosecutor’s office confirmed receipt of the complaint, but declined to say whether a criminal investigation had been started.

Omega alleged former employees conspired with others to produce a “Frankenstein” version of a vintage Speedmaster.

An amalgam of time-period correct and allegedly inauthentic components, the watch was sold by auction house Phillips in Geneva in 2021 for a record price of more than 3.1 million Swiss francs ($3.6 million).

Omega was the buyer and previously said that three former employees, including one that worked at the brand’s museum, were involved in the alleged criminal plot.

News of the bogus watch sent shock waves through the Swiss luxury watch and auction communities last month when details first emerged.

Online blogger Jose Perez’s website Perezcope first raised questions about the authenticity of the watch in April and Swiss newspaper NZZ published a story in June alleging the former Omega employees had assisted others in Switzerland who were involved in constructing the watch before it was consigned to Phillips.

Omega and parent company Swatch Group AG declined to comment. A representative for Phillips said the auction house welcomed the investigation and looks forward to seeing the outcome of the findings.

Phillips is co-operating “in full” with the authorities.

“We are expecting to be contacted by the prosecutor’s office and are ready to hand over all our evidence relevant to this transaction as soon as that happens,” the representative said.

Omega previously said that Phillips had not disclosed who sold the watch purported to have been produced in 1957.

The auction house said it would disclose the seller’s identity if requested by police or prosecutors.

Known for its Speedmaster and Seamaster models, Omega is the third-largest Swiss watchmaker by revenue, with sales of about 2.5 billion francs last year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.

The brand generated more than half of Swatch Group’s pretax earnings from watches in 2022, Morgan Stanley said.