Jeweler: Gatecrasher's watch a fake

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The watch Tareq Salahi, the Virginia man who crashed a dinner at the White House, was forced to turn over as security for a debt is a fake, a jeweler says.

Ray Cosey, owner of R E Jewelers Watch & Clock in Chambersburg, Pa., told The Washington Post the watch, supposedly a Patek Phillipe, was worth about $100. A real Patek Phillipe could go for as much as $15,000.

"Right away, we could see it was an imitation," Cosey said. "Oh yeah, even the look of the watch, you could just tell it wasn't real."

A Warren County judge ordered Salahi to hand over the watch during a hearing last week in Front Royal, Va., on a financial dispute with a landscaper. On Monday, Salahi gave the landscaper's lawyer a certified check for $2,063.35 and got his watch back.

Salahi and his wife, Michaele, became notorious in November when they allegedly got into President Obama's state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even though they had received no invitation.