What’s the deal with dealer clocks, and how can you actually get a legit one

Borna Bošnjak

There are certain stages of a watch collector’s journey when you really need to stop and ask yourself: “What in fresh hell am I actually doing?” Well, that’s the exact spot I found myself in recently, after a simple Google search spiralled into maniacally CTRL+F’ing in the depths of the Omega forums to find answers. What was I searching for? To be perfectly honest, I don’t even remember the exact term that initiated the frenzy, but I do remember being curious about dealer clocks. They come up in discussions every once in a while, and while it has become pretty common knowledge that the vast majority of the ones you see listed on Reddit and various Facebook enthusiast groups are fake, I wondered where the real ones actually come from.

What is a dealer clock?

Before I reveal the results of my findings, let’s narrow down what a dealer clock really is. While most wristwatch companies out there focus on wristwatches, there are a couple that also delve into clocks every once in a while. I’m sure that at some point you’ve seen a Citizen or Seiko-branded wall clock, likely in your doctor’s waiting room, or one of JLC’s gorgeous Atmos models – also potentially at your doctor’s, if you’re the type that goes private. In any case, these commercially available examples aren’t the clocks we’re looking for.

Instead, I’m talking about those imposing, blown-up examples of an El Primero, Royal Oak or Speedmaster you see hung on the wall of some padded boutique. While I’m specifically talking about watch brands here, dealer clocks were also common in the automotive industry, used as promotional gifts by dealerships to sweeten deals. More often than not, they take the design cues of one of the brand’s most popular watches and clockify it, sometimes eschewing the lugs to satisfy a conventional clock shape. That’s not always the case, though: in the above (genuine) Rolex wall clock, only the fluted bezel is immediately recognisable as a brand signature.

If you’re like me, you’ve wondered where in the world you might be able to get one, and that’s where it gets tricky. Clearly, these are products that the brands are proud to display, and would make for an ideal decor option for us, aesthetically stunted by horological obsession. But you won’t find them for sale anywhere, and the talk of the town is that you have to be given one by the brands as a gift, whether for your extremely dedicated and ongoing custom, or to commemorate the long term of your employment with the company. Given that most of us don’t fall into those categories, we have to settle for auctions and being diligent with the few that pop up on marketplaces like eBay and Facebook.

Limited options

The name you’ll continuously come across if you go digging is Inducta. They specialise in electric clocks for everything from small, table-sized replicas of Royal Oaks to huge, 20-metre façade and flower clocks. Now, I use the word “replica” here very carefully. Unlike the tarnished reputation it has garnered to mean “fake”, Inducta is contracted by big box brands like Patek Philippe, Rolex, Omega, and more to make clocks that bear resemblance to the companies’ products. And while they don’t come directly from Patek or IWC, these are no cheap knock-offs – there’s a reason why all of these household names trust a third party with their IP. Tracing its history back to 1924, when it was known as Turmuhrenfabrik, the company was renamed Inducta in the ’60s, after purchasing the naming rights from another clockmaker, Landis & Gyr.

Another historic Swiss brand well-known for its dealer clock reproductions is Ruegg. Like Inducta, some of their products are electronic, specifically the clocks that are part of bigger installations, but the Ruegg examples you see in showrooms are powered by quartz movements.

That said, both Inducta and Ruegg don’t use their own quartz movements to power the watches, often using ELAG or Kienzle modules. The Ellipse above is listed by Antiquorum as being made by ELAG for Patek Phillipe, though it’s more likely to have been made by Inducta – like this example from Sotheby’s – and merely fitted with an ELAG quartz movement.

Watch out for fakes

These uncertainties bring us nicely to the next important consideration – and that’s fakes. Unfortunately, seeing an ELAG or Kienzle quartz module in the back of a branded wall clock doesn’t automatically confirm them to be genuine examples. Not to fret, however. If you’re just starting out and aren’t sure what to even look for, there are some “dealer” clocks that you can automatically eliminate from your search – if you are after the genuine article, as I have been assuming.

Without going into specifics, as I’d rather not support the buying of fakes, certain websites list a myriad of basic designs that just take a popular dial and bezel combo and size it up by a factor of ten. Usually price will range between $50 and $200, depending on how hard they’re trying to scam you, and will often be sold alongside fakes and “super clones” of wristwatches. So, don’t be fooled by wall-mounted Daytonas that have “Rolex Oyster Quartz” stickers covering the origin of the movement… Especially when the “brand” you’re buying from uses a Gmail address.

If you’re thinking of a big brand wall clock as an affordable alternative while saving up for your grail, I’ve got bad news for you and your interior decoration plans. While you can certainly pick up a bargain here and there, genuine branded wall clocks tend to go for quite a pretty penny. That Inducta Rolex sold at Christie’s in 2023? US$16k. The Patek World Time (also by Inducta) from 2021? That one went for US$47.5k. On the lower end, Sotheby’s had an IWC Portugieser (though not specifying the maker, I’m almost certain it’s Inducta) selling for US$2.8k, and Antiquorum popped up with a Ruegg Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, going for CHF 1,125 more than five years ago – but you get my point. Just like with most things, the best adage to follow if you come across an affordable dealer clock is: if it’s too good to be true…