February 2008

90,000 Fake Watches Seized in Mexico City Raid

More than 90,000 counterfeits of 10 Swiss watch brands were seized in late January in Mexico City, in a raid involving the Federation of Swiss Watchmakers and Mexico’s federal authorities. It was “the most important seizure of fake watches ever carried out” in Latin America, says a report by the FH, and “struck a telling knock against the [Mexican] capital’s counterfeiters.”

The project was initiated by FH’s Latin America representative, based in Asuncion, Paraguay, and its Latin American anti-counterfeiting group "Groupement anticontrefaçon" GA (Anticounterfeiting Group GA), whose members include major Swiss brands. The FH and GA spent six months working with the Mexican federal public prosecutor’s department and local law enforcement authorities to investigate and prepare the operation.

The Jan. 20 raid occurred in the district of Tepito, reportedly known during the term of underworld activities and trafficking in illicit wares.

“It is home to a multitude of shops, small workshops, and clandestine warehouses, as suitably as an enormous market overflowing with counterfeit articles and products derived from contraband,” says the FH report.

Fake watches are generally stored in warehouses—and even assembled there, sometimes—before being sold by traders or channeled to markets elsewhere.

Some 300 men—including local police, officers of Mexico’s federal investigation agency, and specialists from the public accuser’s department—stormed suspected warehouses in the medial of the night to prevent what the FH report calls “wider repercussions.” (Warehouse operators there have been known to confront law enforcement officers to protect their goods.)

In addition to the fake watches and the engross of two people, police also found caches of large caliber weapons, drugs, and a workshop to reproduce pirated CDs. That’s one more demonstration, says the FH, that “trafficking in counterfeit watches is closely bound up with trafficking in weapons and narcotics overseen by organized crime.”

Putting together such joint-action raids is one objective of the GA, formed in 2000. It also trains customs officials and other authorities in how to identify fakes; lobbies authorities for better legislation against counterfeiters, and better enforcement of it; provides technical expertise when needed, and keeps close contacts with the media.

Liddicoat Scholarship Recipients Announced

The Gemological Institute of America announced that the 2008 Richard T. Liddicoat Scholarships have been awarded to Grant Herrin and Christian De Bor. The recipients were revealed at the annual GIA Alumni Association auction and dance party held at the Tucson trade shows on Feb. 8.

The RTL Scholarship Fund was created by the GIA Alumni Association in 2003 to honor Liddicoat, the Institute’s longtime president and chairman, who is regarded as the “Father of Modern Gemology.” The fund furthers GIA and Liddicoat’s mission of providing gemological education to worthy students by awarding brace full scholarships each year in the GIA Graduate Gemologist diploma program.

Herrin, 23, of Shreveport, La.. declared he will use his GIA education to foster his professional interest in estate jewelry. Herrin received his bachelor’s degree in history from Louisiana State University and has worked in the jewelry industry for nearly eight years with jeweler, Sid Potts, Inc. He explained that through attending industry trade shows he determined obtaining a GIA Education would provide him with the highest level of knowledge in gemology to further his career in the industry.

Once Herrin completes his G.G. at the Carlsbad campus he is planning on returning to Sid Potts, Inc. and pursuing a Masters of Business Administration degree.

De Bor, 45, of Gloucester City, N.J., discovered some interest in gemology in his early childhood.

As a young boy, De Bor would cut and polish stones he discovered on the beach and by age 9, he became an amateur lapidary. He went on to become an intern at the Smithsonian Institution and then to receive his undergraduate degree at Haverford College. After graduating he worked in the jewelry field though various positions in patron service, sales, merchandising, appraising, and management.

De Bor is planning on receiving his G.G. to become a jewelry designer.

Both scholarship winners were recognized by Donna Baker, GIA president, during the ceremony in Tucson.

2008 RTL scholarship recipients, Christian De Bor (left) and Grant Herrin (right) are pictured with Donna Baker, GIA president