These must be really impressive fakes for $300 a copy. Instead of buying fakes I would recommend the Casio G-shock aviation watches from Costco or Sams for less than a C note. They have alarms, every zone in the planet, solar powered batteries, satellite wave time updates several times a day, large digital displays, and a wrist movement activated light feature which is very handy in the cockpit at night. If you lose it, have it stolen, etc you are out the equivalent of a couple of beers in Narita. JMHO
Additionally, was it not only a couple of Olympics ago we were buying Coach bags, name brand tennis/basketball shoes, clothes, etc in Seoul at counterfeit prices...remember $8 Nike basketball shoes????? I simply try not to buy anything fake anywhere and/or anything from China as they are inferior in quality and safety and produced at the expense of American workers. No political statement, that's just me.

 

In another life, I was leaving Hong Kong and my FO showed up with a huge duffel bag that he hadn't had when we arrived four days earlier. He could barely carry it, and it made a distinct "clinkkkk" when he set it on the marble floor of the hotel lobby.

"What's that" says me.

"Oh...I bought some flashlights cheap"

"Some flashlights? That sounds like more than "some". What are you doing?"

"Well, my wife has a business selling things on eBay."

"Oh....cool. Do you make much money....." blah blah blah. Turns out he had 400 of them in that bag.

Finally, I get around to what I was thinking about:

"So now...you are, of course....planning on declaring all those up in Anchorage, right? I mean, you know....if you get CAUGHT trying to sneak those in, as captain it is going to be the skin on MY rear that gets CUT, TRIMMED, TANNED and turned into a bar stool for some functionary at the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement....right?"

[sheepish look]

"Well...you don't want me to declare all of them? Do you?

[glare, arms folded, snort from nose]

"Yes, I would really prefer it if you would declare those. If you want to leave them, we can hold the driver for 15 minutes I think"

-He brought them.

-He declared them.

-He paid a fee, I can't remember what it was, but it was small, like $40. He told me inflight that he was buying them in Hong Kong for $1.75 US, and selling them for $10. I about choked when he said that. In order to avoid $40 or so in customs fees, he was willing to put his and his crews' rear ends on the line.

Hello? I don't know what the fine would be but it would be HUGE!

 

It is not necessarily important to the discussion but I believe the gentleman's name in TPE is Jammy and not Jimmy.

Cheers,
Beertini

 

I heard if you call him Jimmy he charges you $300 for a Rorex. $30 if you call him Jammy.

 

We are not as smart as we think we are. What size would the fire be if a duffle bag full of flashlights with chinese batteries cooked off over the pacific? As for watches, someone once said, fake people wear fake s%!+

 

I bet no one here looks at fake boobs either...

 

Customs at RKSI has been pretty strict for a while now. At least 8 years ago we had one guy that operated RKSI - VHHH and was then commercialed back into RKSI. Prior to his departure from RKSI he had purchased a bunch of counterfeit purses for his wife/mother/sisters/etc. Coming back through RKSI of course Customs and other Korean authorities nabbed him. They detained him for over 6 hours, intensely interrogating him the whole time, fined him over $700.00 USD, confiscated the purses, made him sign a confession (in Korean of course), and flagged him as a smuggler, which now meant that he could for all practical purposes not operate out of Korea. During that whole time he could not contact anyone for any legal representation or support.

When this guy tells this story it is nearly hilarious, if it wasn't so tragic. During his whole endeavor it was constantly punctuated with the Korean agents saying to him; " Ah, You, - Stupid Pilot!!!".

PANC is doing random searches to inbound crews. They might let you through with one counterfeit item, as you could use plausible deniability - "I didn't know it was counterfeit". Coming through with multiple Rolex watches is a big tip off, after all when people usually buy a Rolex they do it ONE AT A TIME. When you are bringing in known counterfeit material you are a smuggler and that makes you a criminal.

I don't bother with counterfeit goods. I will not spend two cents of my hard earned money on counterfeit stuff, it is all junk.

 

It takes close and extended examination to accurately confirm they are, in fact, fake...

 

duplicate post ....

 

You guys crack me up with all the "I would never buy anything counterfeit!" nonsense. To clarify, I've never bought a copy watch, expensive or otherwise, but have been impressed by the hi fidelity reproductions I've seen others sporting. $300 for a really nice looking fake Tag/Rolex/etc is not the worst use of $$ I've seen a pilot make on a trip. Think of it as discount man jewelry... if you're into that. No one, and I repeat NO ONE, is pulling any wool with a d@mn G-shock! Furthermore do none of you own anything NOT purchased at WalMart or Costco? So no one on here has a single brand label of anything, right? I'm calling BS... I've got a closet full of decent clothes - purchased at Goodwill by my wife .

Just seems funny that I've yet to have a PVG layover where everyone wasn't chomping at the bit to get to the 580 market yet the demographics on APC seem to find that all beneath them. Yeah, that $8 Tiffany bracelet for the wife was a complete waste of money! Didn't get me l@id or anything!

C ya at showtime with a duffel full of lithium batteries and LBFM's!

hoya