[PhantomGremlin]

it is illegal to sell stolen or fake merchandise in the United States. Anyone selling fake Rolexes is committing a crime and could also be sued

Huh? Now I'm worried. Are you telling me that the Rolex watch I paid $30 for, that I bought from a street vendor near Times Square, might be fake? Oh no, the horror! /sarcasm

I don't think that Rolex is too worried about this. Nobody would mistake a $30 watch for a real Rolex. And, give it credit, my fake Rolex worked for a year or so. It probably just needs a new battery.

Besides, you can't sue a street vendor. They're what's known as "judgement proof".[1]

And as to police action against them, the de Blasio administration seems to have adopted a laissez-faire attitude about all this stuff. If they're willing to allow squeegee men to operate with impunity, they certainly won't care about novelty watches being peddled.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_proof