Short answer
A fake Omega Caliber 8806 is not a copy of an Omega movement. It is a third-party automatic, usually built on a 2824 pattern or a Chinese-made base, dressed up with shaped bridges, a rotor, and engraving made to look like the real 8806. The decoration photographs well. It fails the moment you check the beat rate, the balance assembly, the jewel count, or the crown positions.
What the real 8806 is
Caliber 8806 sits in Omega's 8xxx family. It is an automatic with a co-axial escapement, Master Chronometer certification from METAS, a silicon balance spring, and a free-sprung balance with no regulator index. Omega rates it at 25,200 vibrations per hour, or 3.5 Hz, with 35 jewels and a 55-hour power reserve. Magnetic resistance is rated to 15,000 gauss. The 8806 is the no-date version of the 8800, and it shows up in the Seamaster Diver 300M line, including the titanium 007 Edition.
Four things I check first
1. Beat rate
The real movement runs at 25,200 vph. Most replicas run at 28,800 because that is what the 2824 pattern does. A timegrapher, or a phone app that listens to the case, shows the number in seconds. If it reads 28,800, the movement is not an 8806. Plenty of listings even print "high beat 28,800" in the spec sheet, which is a straight admission.
2. The balance assembly
A genuine 8806 has a free-sprung balance. There is no regulator arm with two pins sitting over the hairspring. If you see a regulator lever, a stud carrier, and adjustment screws on the balance cock, you are looking at an ETA-pattern movement under a costume. The hairspring material is another clue. Silicon has a flat, matte look that steel does not have.
3. Jewel count and bridge layout
Count 35 jewels on the real thing. Many clones carry 25 or 27. The bridges are also cut differently, since they are covering a gear train that was never designed to sit under them. Look at the shape of the automatic bridge and the placement of the screw heads. A plate that looks laid on top of another plate is a decoration plate, and it does nothing except look busy.
4. Engraving and finish
Omega finishes the arabesque Geneva waves so they follow the curve of each part. On fakes, the waves run in straight lines or stop short of the edges. The "Co-Axial" and "Master Chronometer" text often sits off center, and the serial number uses a font that is too large or a weight that is too heavy.
The date position trap
The 8806 has no date. The crown should have two positions: winding and setting. If a no-date replica clicks into a third position where the hands keep moving past midnight without changing anything, the base movement has a date function hidden behind the dial. That check takes ten seconds and needs no tools.
The grades you will see
- Basic decorated. A 2824 or a Miyota with a stamped rotor and printed lettering. Noisy rotor, 28,800 vph, sells for very little.
- Mid clone. A Hangzhou or Seagull base with a shaped rotor and a bridge plate over the top. Better finish, still a regulator arm, still 28,800 vph.
- Super clone. A custom-built movement that copies the bridge shapes and the free-sprung look more closely. Closer to the real layout, but no parts interchange with Omega, and no watchmaker will treat it as a genuine 8806.
What it means for ownership
A real 8806 is certified to run within 0 and +5 seconds a day. A decorated clone usually lands between plus or minus 15 and 20 seconds a day, and that number drifts as the lubrication ages. A plain 2824 base is easy to service because parts are everywhere. A clone with faux plates is harder, since a broken decoration plate cannot be replaced on its own. The Master Chronometer card that ships with a replica has a number on it, and that number does not return a match in Omega's system, which you can test yourself.
Bottom line
If the price sits in the low hundreds and the listing says 8806, you are buying a 2824 in a costume. That is not automatically a bad watch. It is a bad Omega. Judge it as what it is, check the beat rate and the crown positions before you pay, and do not let the engraving on the rotor set the price.