Ho Chi Minh City Warning or Danger Tips by TravelChick67

My husband is a watch collector (real and knockoffs) and he knows his stuff pretty well.

While in HCMC, he was shocked to see the large number of "old watches" for sale.

All but 2 of the watches he looked at were actually genuine vintage watches. Most were knock offs to look like old watches OR they were truly old (30-40 years or so) BUT they were knock offs from THAT time period and still weren't the real thing they were imitating.

In summary? Don't pay more than $20 for any watch you see in HCMC because no matter what they say, it most likely isn't real. Buy it because you like it and it's cheap, not because you think you're getting some kind of deal.

My husband was quoted as high as US$1,500 for some of these watches all the while the vendor is telling him how real it is. Fortunately, he knew better but I'm sure many people have been seriously burned by these watch scams.

Also, many of these vendors may actually believe that what they have is real, they themselves do not know how to tell the difference. So, it isn't necessarily true that they are trying to "pull one over" on you but just be careful.

I wouldn't spend any real money on anything. Whatever you buy, just think of it as a souvenir that in 5 years you won't care about.

Spend only the amount of money you wouldn't care to lose if you were to place a bet on the blackjack table in Vegas.

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