As the demand for MM watches increased so did prices. Certain "entrepreneurs" began manufacturing their own "rare" MM watches. These watches are indeed rare because they were never made by a licensed manufacturer of a Disney watch. These persons will locate cheap pocket watches such as old Ingersolls or Westclox pocket Ben watches or even new cheap Chinese pocket watches and dismantle them, print out dials on their inkjet or laser printers and paste them over the factory dial, reassemble them and pass them off as something rare and valuable. In reality these watches are worth no more than $25 or $30, the typical going rate for a working Ingersoll or pocket Ben. The Chinese watches are worth even less.

Back when you could purchase watches for less than $25 or even as low as $7 (my best deal) purchasing a counterfeit watch wasn't such a big deal, the value of the watch itself may be equal to the purchase price. But today, every time I log in I see 3 or 4 bogus watches being sold often for more than $500. I won't be taken by these people and you shouldn't be either, this guide will give you everything you need to know to identify a fake Mickey Mouse pocket watch. Much of this advice will work for wrist watches as well.

(The watch to the left was designed by Al Horen a collector out of Philidelphia. Al made his watches out of Ingersoll watches and never tried to pass them off as rare or valuable, though others do. Unless you have strong provenance that such a watch was truly made by Al, all you have is an old watch with a paper dial.)

1) Licensed MM watches from the 30's through the 60's will have an Ingersoll trademark on them. Later watches will have a Disney trademark label on them. If you can't find a trademark its a fake.

2) From 1933 to 1946 Ingersoll was the ONLY licensed manufacturer of MM watches. The original watch features Mickey in balloon pants with his hands as the watch hands. Between his feet was a tiny wheel for the second hand where 3 tiny Mickeys chased each other as the wheel turned. All US watches featured this look. There was one UK watch with a similar appearance that lacked the second hand dial. All of these watches were made under the Ingersoll license, had Mickey stamped in the case and had an Ingersoll trademark. US Time (Timex) bought Ingersoll in chunks between 1942 and 1951. In 1946 US Time produced MM wrist watches under the Keyton brand name, pocket watches remained Ingersoll.

3) All MM pocket watches made before the 1980s have Mickey's hands as the watch hands. If someone tries to sell you a "rare" "vintage" MM watch that has regular hands, it's a fake. Even if the watch appears to have an Ingersoll trademark, Ingersoll never made a MM watch using regular arrow hands. Some "builders" have become aware of this and have located Ingersoll hands, there were caches of spare parts sold some time ago and hands can be got from broken Ingersolls. Even if the watch uses Mickey's arms and hands look for other features.

(Disney persued Al legally to get him to stop making watches. However, due to Als devotion to all things Mickey they eventually had a change of heart and produced a licensed watch with his design. This watch is neither rare nor old, but it is charming.)

4) All US MM pocket watches made prior to 1970 have an image of Mickey molded, stamped, or etched into the case. There is one UK lapel watch with a black enamel bezel that has nothing on the case. After 1970 Bradley watches may not have had anything stamped in the case, but Bradley is written on the dial. Some watches may feature Disney's signature stamped into the case rather than an image of Mickey.

5) Bradley had the MM license from 1972 to 1986, many of these watches do not have anything molded or stamped into the case. They can be identified by the Disney trademark and the Bradley name on the dial. All Bradley watches use Mickey's hand for the watch hands.

6) After 1986 many companies got the license to make MM watches, Pulsar, Seiko, Lorus, Pedre, Colibri, Verichron, Fossil, MZB and others. Many of these use regular watch hands, if you can't identify the manufacturer clearly on the watch dial it's a fake. Also the vast majority of these watches have Mickey stamped, molded or etched into the case, I can only think of one Lorus watch that doesn't, but that watch is clearly marked by Lorus and has the Disney trademark.

7) Prior to 1990 Minny wasn't found on a dial with Mickey. Nor would you find Mickey performing an activity like playing the piano or playing Golf.

8) There are matched watch sets that violate many of these rules, these come in nice wooden boxes and certificates of authenticity from Disney. All were made in the 2000s.

9) Some Chinese knockoffs have many legit features such as a Mickey image in the case, however these lack the Disney trademark and are usually very, very cheap.

10) Take a good look at the dial. Most MM watches will have an enamel or silk screened dial though a few will have paper dials. If the dial is paper it will be a glossy paper. If the dial has a matt or flat finish that looks like ordinary printer paper it probably is.

Summary: If nothing Mickey or Disney is stamped, molded or etched into the case be very suspect, look for the Disney trademark and manufacturer trademarks, if you can't find them leave the watch alone. if the case is stamped, molded, or etched but lack trademark it's likely a Chinese knockoff, these can be had for as low as $0.99 each. Only Ingersoll made MM pocket watches from 1933 to 1950 and all use Mickey's hands as the watch hands, don't fall prey to "rare vintage" watches that use conventional arrow hands, it's a fake.

At this site here you can find more details and information about vintage watches and pocket watches from Ingersoll Mickey Mouse.