The vintage watch market may be thriving, but so is the market for fakes and Franken-watches. QP asked a panel of experts for ten tips on avoiding the pitfalls.
By Chris Hall

We all lust after one priceless vintage watch or another. It could be an early Heuer Autavia, a Vacheron dress watch, or one of the many 1970s steel chronographs that have re-emerged in the last couple of years. But where there is money to be made, there are scams. Fakes and franken-watches are all over eBay and beyond, just waiting to catch out over-eager buyers. We asked some of the most knowledgeable vintage experts in the world for their quick and easy tips to avoid buying a fake. 
The panel: 
Justin Koullapis is a founder and director of Watch Club in Mayfair (you can watch co-founder Danny Pizzigoni talking about his favourite vintage watches here)
Adrian Hailwood is a director at Fellows Auctioneers 

Alex Barter is a consultant to Sotheby?s Watch department and co-owner of Black Bough 

Nicholas Biebuyck is a senior specialist in watches at Bonhams, based in Hong Kong 
The tips:
1. Box and papers are essential, but do you trust them"
Justin Koullapis: ?This is just one example, but if you go back a long time, not all Rolexes were chronometer certified. Those that were came with printed, perforated-edged certification; those that didn?t were often hand-written. If you see, for instance, a Submariner Date, which were all certified, with hand-written, non-perfo...