The short answer
A fake De Ville Trésor 40mm gives you the shape of Omega's slim hand-wound dress watch for a fraction of the price. It does not give you the movement, the finishing, or the service support. Most copies look convincing on a wrist and on a table, then fall apart under a loupe or on a timegrapher. Buy one for how it wears, not for the mechanics inside.
What the genuine Trésor 40mm is
The Trésor is Omega's dress line, and the 40mm version is the one most people mean. Figure on a 40mm case, roughly 10.6mm thick, with a hand-wound Master Co-Axial calibre and a 60 hour power reserve. Sapphire covers the dial, and most references show the movement through a second sapphire window in the back. Water resistance is rated at 30 meters, which covers rain and hand washing and nothing more. The point of the watch is a thin, quiet profile that disappears under a shirt cuff.
What a good copy gets right
Case diameter is settled with a caliper, so 40mm is easy. Better copies also match the case shape: a narrow bezel, short curved lugs, a lightly domed crystal, and a signed crown. Dial printing has closed a lot of ground. Applied markers on the stronger versions catch light the way the originals do, and the mixed brushed and polished finishing on the case reads correctly from arm's length.
Where copies fall short
- Thickness. A quartz copy can come in thinner than the real watch, and an automatic with a rotor tends to run a millimeter or more thicker. Either way, the side profile gives it away.
- The movement. Through a display back you want a thin hand-wound calibre. Too often you get a decorated automatic or a quartz movement with a fake bridge plate screwed over it.
- Dial text. 'OMEGA,' the omega symbol, the model name, and 'Swiss Made' need crisp edges and even spacing. Soft, blurry printing is the single most common tell.
- Hands. Shape, length, and polish matter more than buyers expect. Thin, flat hands with rough edges ruin an otherwise decent dial.
- Date aperture. On references that have a date, the window should be beveled and the numerals should match the genuine font. Copies tend to use a generic date disc.
- Strap and buckle. Stock leather is stiff and the engraving on the buckle is shallow. This is the cheapest thing to upgrade and the fastest way to make the watch look better.
Movement: the tell most people miss
Hand-wound dress watches are thin because there is no rotor. If a seller shows you a caseback photo with a spinning rotor or a battery, that copy missed the whole assignment. Ask for a movement photo and a case thickness measurement in millimeters before you commit. A seller who cannot provide both is guessing.
Sizing and daily wear
A 40mm case with a thin profile wears smaller than the number suggests, so it suits wrists from about 6.5 inches up. Lug to lug matters more than diameter here. Measure your wrist across the top and compare against the lug span, because a 40mm watch with long lugs can overhang a smaller wrist. For daily wear, keep it away from water and swimming pools, and treat any water resistance claim on a copy as marketing.
Price bands
- Roughly $80 to $150: quartz, thin, decent dial, cheap strap. Fine as a look-alike, forgettable as an object.
- Roughly $180 to $350: automatic or hand-wound, better dial printing, sapphire crystal, real finishing on the case. This is the sweet spot for most buyers.
- Above $450: marketed as top tier. Demand movement photos, thickness measurements, and clear macro shots of the dial text before paying. The gap between $300 and $600 is often marketing, not parts.
Before you pay
- Ask for the case diameter and thickness in millimeters.
- Ask which movement is inside, and whether it is quartz, automatic, or hand-wound.
- Request macro photos of the dial printing and the crown logo.
- Check that the photos show the actual watch, not stock images of the genuine model.
- Confirm the return policy in writing, since sizing surprises are common.
One legal and practical note
Counterfeit watches cannot be legally imported into the United States, and shipments can be seized. Omega will not service a fake, and independent watchmakers tend to avoid movements with no parts supply. Resale is close to zero. Treat the money as spent on a costume, not an asset.
Bottom line
The fake De Ville Trésor 40mm is worth buying only if you want the slim dress-watch look at a low price and you accept that the movement will not match. Judge it on thickness, dial printing, and what sits behind the caseback. Get those three right and it wears well. Get them wrong and no amount of polishing will hide it.