Here is a short list of things that elite watch nerds like Ed Sheeran know are incredibly hot in the fake watch world right now (or always have been):
The Replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
Ceramic, the hard-wearing scratch-proof material, that brands like perfect replica Audemars Piguet and Hublot frequently use to make pieces in bright showstopping colours
“Panda” dials (meaning a white dial with black sub registers)
Until now, however, there hasn’t been a watch that combined this holy trinity into one single piece. That all changed when Ed Sheeran wore this 1:1 fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar at the Country Music Awards in Texas last week.
A representative for AAA fake Audemars Piguet confirms this is a unique Royal Oak made specifically for Sheeran. The singer’s watch is inspired by one of the brand’s existing perpetual calendars, which is also made out of ceramic but with a navy dial. Sheeran’s version is really striking, with a full snow-white dial and a quartet of intense black subdials. Of course, it’s a watch only a super-collector like Sheeran – who moonlights as a Hodinkee contributor – would have.
Sheeran is a fan of collecting and producing unique replica watches for sale like this one. He owns another custom Royal Oak: a black-and-gold chronograph with an eight-point star at 12 o’clock to symbolise August (the eighth month), when his daughter was born. He also wears a custom-made, black-and-red, Darth Maul-looking Nautilus with his initials on it. Sheeran loves unique pieces so much, he teamed up with Tudor to produce a series of watches for the crew who worked on his Divide tour. Still, this new white-and-black top super clone Audemars Piguet US might be the best of the bunch.
Lionel Messi’s Replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
Last year, Swiss movement fake Audemars Piguet celebrated the 50th anniversary of its flagship Royal Oak. The brand spun the watch out in a wide range of special-edition flavours to commemorate the occasion. The smoked green dial might not be the flashiest in the collection – which also included full yellow-gold tourbillon pieces and skeleton dials – but celebrities like Messi have gravitated toward it since its release.
Tommy Hilfiger’s Copy Patek Philippe Nautilus
The Tiffany-blue cheap fake Patek Philippe Nautilus is like Where’s Waldo?: You never know where you’re going to spot it, but it’s always exciting when you do. It was a pretty safe bet the watch would appear at the F1 race in Miami, but who would have guessed it would be on the wrist of fashion designer Hilfiger? This is the hype watch to end all hype copy watches online. When it was first released, it sold at auction for $5.6 million. Clearly, there isn’t a watch collector that can resist this piece: it’s attracted Leonardo DiCaprio, architect Daniel Abraham, and now Hilfiger.