Business: The Counterfeit Watch

Two months ago, Bulova Watch Co.’s Long Island plant was suddenly flooded with irate letters. Each letter was accompanied by a broken wristwatch marked “Bulov 17” on the dial. Bulova needed only one look at the misspelled trademark to see that they were fakes. Since most of the letters were from Chicago, Bulova hired private detectives to roam through the Loop area looking for the counterfeit Bulovas. Before long they picked up 250 from sidewalk peddlers. Last week Chicago police arrested William Furie, 51, as the ringleader of a group that had sold at least 100,000 phony Bulova watches.

As police reconstructed the case, the watches were bought for $3.50, the original brand name was erased with acid, and “Bulov 17” stamped on in ink. The watch looked like the real Bulova 23 model, which retails for $95. The fakes were sold to street hawkers, who sold them at bus depots and railroad stations for up to $23 each. Chief victims: service men in transit. At week’s end Furie was charged with counterfeiting a trademark (maximum sentence: one year), let out on $500 bail.