What Are Fake Audemars Piguet Complications?
A fake Audemars Piguet complication is a decorative feature on a counterfeit watch, such as a perpetual calendar, tourbillon, or chronograph, that copies the look of a real mechanism without the real engineering. On most counterfeits the extra functions are printed on the dial or driven by a cheap add-on module instead of being built from scratch. That gap is the fastest way to tell a fake Royal Oak from a genuine one.
The word "complication" means any function beyond hours, minutes, and seconds. Audemars Piguet builds some of the hardest ones in watchmaking: perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, split-seconds chronographs, and tourbillons. Each one takes hundreds of parts and years of tooling to produce.
Which AP Complications Show Up in Fakes?
Counterfeiters copy the complications that sell the loudest look. The Royal Oak Offshore chronograph and the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar are the two most copied, followed by openworked and "tourbillon" models.
- Chronograph: pushers may move, but the counters jump, lag, or reset to the wrong spot.
- Perpetual calendar: the day, date, month, and moonphase subdials are often printed or slaved to one gear, so they never track a real calendar.
- Tourbillon: many fakes hide a spinning disc behind an open dial. A real tourbillon rotates the whole escapement in a cage.
- Moonphase: a printed disc with a painted moon that shifts with the hour hand instead of a 29.5 day cycle.
- Openworked dials: laser-cut plates that imitate hand-bevelled bridges.
Complication Tiers in the Royal Oak Line
Audemars Piguet sells complications in three rough groups, and each group shows up in fakes in a different way.
- Entry tier: date, day-date, and simple moonphase. Fakes cover these with a stock movement and a printed dial.
- Mid tier: chronograph and GMT. Fakes use a third-party automatic movement plus a module, so pusher feel gives them away.
- High tier: perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and tourbillon. Fakes imitate these on the dial only, because the real mechanisms cost too much to copy.
How Do You Spot a Fake AP Complication?
Start with function, then thickness, then finish. A genuine complication has to do something a printed dial cannot.
1. Test the Function
Push the chronograph, set the calendar, and let the watch run for a day. Real complications track the correct date, week, and month without drifting. Printed subdials sit in the same place no matter what.
2. Measure the Case Thickness
Stacking a module on top of a base movement makes a watch thicker. Check the official case thickness for the reference you are looking at and compare it with a caliper. The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is a thin watch, and a fake with a date module often misses that spec.
3. Read the Dial and Fonts
Look at the calendar text, the subdial spacing, and the logo. Fakes crowd the subdials, use thicker fonts, and misalign the date window with the minute track.
4. Check the Caseback and Movement
A real AP shows a finished movement with Geneva stripes, polished bevels, and engraved bridges. Fakes hide the movement behind a solid caseback or show a rotor with a logo sticker. If the seller will not let you see the caseback, walk away.
Why Do Fake Complications Look Convincing Online?
Photos hide the three things that give a fake away: weight, sound, and motion. A counterfeit perpetual calendar can pass in a single still image and fail in your hand.
- Product photos get retouched, and the same file gets reused by many sellers.
- Camera angles hide case thickness and pusher placement.
- Video clips often cut before the date changes.
Genuine AP Complications vs. Fakes
- Movement: in-house calibres such as the 2121, 3120, 4302, 4401, and 5134 vs. generic third-party movements with add-on modules.
- Thickness: matched to the reference spec vs. thicker to fit the module.
- Calendar logic: correct for decades, with a leap year indicator, vs. a simple date or a printed dial.
- Caseback: sapphire with visible finishing vs. solid steel or a sticker-logo rotor.
- Service: factory service and parts vs. no repair path at all.
What Are the Risks of Buying Fake AP Complications?
In the United States, importing a counterfeit watch that carries a registered trademark is illegal. U.S. Customs and Border Protection can seize the shipment, and the buyer loses both the watch and the money.
Audemars Piguet holds registered trademarks on its name and logo. Selling or trafficking counterfeits can bring civil claims and, in some cases, criminal charges. There is also no service path: authorized watchmakers will not touch a counterfeit, and parts do not exist.
FAQ
Do fake AP perpetual calendars work?
Most of them do not. Some track the date, but the month and moonphase subdials stay static or move on the wrong cycle.
Is a cheap "tourbillon" AP a real tourbillon?
No. A true tourbillon puts the balance and escapement inside a rotating cage. Most fakes show a spinning disc with no escapement in it.
How much do replicas of AP complications cost?
Prices run from under $100 for a quartz model to several hundred dollars for an automatic "chronograph." None of that money buys the movement the dial imitates.
Can a watchmaker service a counterfeit AP?
Most will refuse, and the ones who agree cannot source parts. That leaves you with a broken watch and no repair path.
Checklist Before You Trust Any AP Complication
- Confirm the reference number and the official case thickness.
- Test every function: chronograph, calendar, moonphase, pushers.
- Ask for a caseback photo and a video of the date change.
- Compare font, subdial spacing, and hand shape with the maker's own photos.
- Check the legal side before you buy, especially for cross-border shipping.