Tempo Authentication Policy

This is a preliminary policy. It will be reviewed by legal counsel before Tempo processes real transactions.

1. Our Approach

Tempo does not support the buying or selling of counterfeit watches, replicas, or watches containing undisclosed non-factory parts. We protect the marketplace at three layers:

Verified sellers. Tempo is an application-only marketplace. Every seller completes government-ID identity verification and payout verification before they can list, and every seller is contractually bound — under the Tempo Seller Agreement — to warrant the authenticity of every watch they list. Sellers who list a counterfeit face suspension, financial liability, and referral to law enforcement. Accountability is the foundation of the system: there are no anonymous sellers on Tempo.

Listing review. Listings are reviewed against our reference catalog (brand, reference number, dial, caseback, movement details, and known counterfeit indicators) and our photo standards, which require photographs of the actual watch being sold. Listings that don't meet our standards, or that raise authenticity concerns, are not published or are removed.

Authentication on dispute. If a buyer questions a delivered watch's authenticity within the inspection window, Tempo investigates through an escalating process: expert photo review against the original listing and reference data; a detailed photo review of specific components if needed; and, where photos can't resolve the question and the value warrants it, third-party physical authentication by an independent specialist. The cost mechanics of third-party authentication are described in the Buyer Protection Policy.

2. What We Guarantee

Watches on Tempo are pre-owned and sold as-is — but we guarantee that the watch you receive matches the listing you bought: the watch itself, its described condition, and its described accessories. If it doesn't, the Buyer Protection Policy applies, your funds are still in escrow, and we will make it right through refund, partial refund, or credit.

This guarantee is void if the watch is altered in any way after delivery — sizing, polishing, servicing, opening the caseback, or part replacement all end our ability to verify what was delivered.

3. A Note on Serviced Watches

Watches are functional objects that require maintenance. A watch that has been serviced — with factory-spec replacement of wear components such as the crystal, gaskets, movement parts, hands, or bracelet elements — is still an authentic watch. Even expert examination often cannot trace every component exchanged over decades of service history, and component replacement in the course of legitimate maintenance does not make a watch counterfeit or inauthentic. Sellers must disclose known service history and any known aftermarket (non-factory) parts; a properly serviced watch with accurate disclosure does not violate this policy.

What does violate this policy: counterfeit watches; franken-watches (assembled from mixed parts and presented as original); undisclosed aftermarket dials, bezels, or movements; and altered, removed, or obscured serial numbers.

4. Confirmed Counterfeits

When a watch is confirmed counterfeit: the buyer is fully refunded (including any authentication fee paid), the seller is suspended and bears the costs, and the watch is removed from circulation — provided to law enforcement, destroyed with documented proof, or surrendered to Tempo, at our direction. Counterfeit watches may not be resold by anyone, anywhere.

5. Honest Limits

No authentication process — physical or photographic — is infallible, and Tempo does not represent that every watch has been physically inspected by Tempo before delivery. What we stand behind is the system: verified, accountable sellers; reference-based review; escrowed funds that never reach a seller while a question is open; and a defined escalation path to definitive physical authentication when it's needed. Your remedies for an inauthentic or misdescribed watch are those in the Buyer Protection Policy and the Terms of Service.

6. Questions

admin@tempo-watches.com