The replica Rolex market is growing by leaps and bounds. A whole sub-industry has grown out of it, and you can see this both on the Internet and off. Fake Rolex dealers have set up their own shops and showrooms; go online and you'll see perhaps even more of them hawking their wares. It isn't any surprise that replica Rolex watches are so popular. After all, many of them are made to faithfully reproduce the appearance and functions of the authentic ones, but are priced much lower.

The rapid advance of technology has proven to be a great thing for makers of fake Rolex watches, enabling them to produce timepieces that look so much like the originals it's hard to tell which is real and which isn't. This is a good thing for consumers who want to own a Rolex but can't afford to do so. And it's a bad thing for people who are thinking of buying a genuine Rolex timepiece, but at a discounted price. Some sellers can say that what they are offering are genuine but secondhand Rolex watches when in fact they are just replicas. So how can an ordinary consumer tell whether the watch he or she is considering buying is in fact genuine?

The best thing to do, of course, would be to make one's purchase from an authorized Rolex dealer. Barring that, it would be advisable for consumers to educate themselves about the telltale signs that would give away a fake Rolex watch. There are several things to look out for.

First, check the size of the numbers and letters on the face of the watch. Lower quality replicas mess up on this one, having numbers and letters that are larger than what would be found on an original Rolex. Aside from the text and numbers, sometimes the minute and hour hands are also sized irregularly in counterfeit Rolex watches. Another thing to look out for is the appearance of the back of the case. On fake ones these are clear or transparent, enabling you to see the watch's inner mechanism. They also have engravings, logos, or hallmarks printed or engraved at the back. Compare this with genuine Rolex watches, whose backs are smooth and free from any marks or engravings, save for a solitary three-dimensional sticker. Many Rolex replica also have this sticker, which shows the Rolex crown logo above the case reference number. But whereas the original sticker is a hologram - it changes its appearance when viewed from different angles - the one on a replica isn't. All that appears is a Rolex pattern that does not change even if you look at it from different perspectives.

The crystal bubble above the date wheel is another characteristic shared by both original and replica Rolex watches. This bubble functions as a magnifying glass, making the date appear larger. The difference between the two is that the date on a real Rolex is magnified 2.5 times its original size while a fake Rolex only magnifies it by 1.5 times.