A long time ago, probably when I was in seventh grade, a couple of friends and I went through a firing frenzy and decided we needed Zippo lighters. Stay with me here – there’s a horological connection coming up, I assure you. After a while, we got a couple of phone calls, in ridiculously low voices, and we found a place to sell them to us. Fast-forward a few hours, and we’re all on a bus to a sketch shop, where they talk on the phone. If I were a lucky Preston Waters, I might choose this lighter.
This is a supremely tasteful bit of the fake Patek Philippe branded kit, which was produced between the 1970s and ’80s. Celebrating the manufacture’s iconic Ellipse collection, this 18k lighter features the same proportions as the corresponding timepieces. It’s worth noting these lighters were produced for Patek Philippe by Colibri, the fine lighter manufacturer that’s also credited with having made the lighter used in assembling Francisco Scaramanga’s golden gun in The Man with the Golden Gun.
The lighter has visibly been taken care of, resulting in its perfect present state. Knowing the astonishing numbers that lesser examples have achieved in recent years, it’ll be exciting to see what this one commands, complete with the original warranty certificate. If you’re an aficionado of all things Patek Philippe or just a unique debonair pyromaniac, you’ll possibly want to give this one a closer look.
I haven’t seen anything suspicious enough to warrant buyer caution in a while. While an interesting pseudo-debate can be exciting, and it’s ultimately a good thing because so far, nothing alarming has happened.
This is an extremely fake-looking Jaeger-LeCoultre chronograph – that’s curiously been cataloged as a Jeager-LeCoultre. I’m not sure if it was a simple mistake or a strange trick to avoid future lawsuits, but I’m pretty sure the best replica watches didn’t fit. Its dial signature looks all wrong, with different font weights from the beginning to the end of the logo.
