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Don’t shop on 47th Street
Mostly all stolen watches there. And no, they don’t care if they are buying a stolen watch to resell. They buy as cheap as possible and sell with no comment on provenance. They just shrug their shoulders and look up at the ceiling if you ask. That’s why they sell Rolex and everything else, except for Patek. They do sell Patek but usually pieces stolen from outside the US.
A friend bought a Patek from one of the most well known Patek collectors/pre-owned dealers in the US. Dealer has been featured on all the known horological websites etc. Friend was told the Cert of Origin was in the safe. Just pay for watch and the cert would be hand delivered. After several days of back and forth, friend was exasperated. Called Geneva. Filled out online form for Extract. Didn’t hear from Geneva but did hear from Barcelona Police a week later. Friend wore a wire. Went back to dealer. If you heard the recording you would say “Guilty”. Story kept changing. Dealer lied and lied. Anyway, he gave friend a replacement watch with box and papers. Took back the hot Patek by which time the real owner was on his way across the Atlantic. Dealer gave him the watch just thankful he wasn’t going to jail.
So, trust nobody. Most re-sellers are dodgy. Even the guys who run “museum” type shops with relationships with the Stern’s (purportedly).
But just avoid 47th street even for diamonds. And even the guys on Madison.
thinking on the secondary market of stolen watches
as you may aware may wife s watch(Rolex Datejust Serial number Z678378)was stolen and obviously I know /read many stories about lost watches during my collecting years , however never really think about it . I know in the car business , stolen vehicles ar...
Tough and painful topic, my friend.
There are two things: 1/ I would not buy a watch stolen to someone else. It would spoil my ownership feeling. 2/ Buying a watch which was stolen to me... It happened twice. Once, I gave an appointment to the guy who was trying to sell me one of my stolen ...
i c but actually i d like to know more how THAT
business works , of course I m aware what s the standard collectors point of view on this matter , all honest people act more or less the same -due to moral reasons -and businesswise too , a high end piece with red flag is almost worthless , no service an...
No, they don't sell them as stolen watches. They rather say that they are in urgent need of money and that their pain is your gain. Or...
Or they play the silly guy who doesn't know the value of what he's selling...
Don’t Buy back
I belief I wouldn’t easily buy back a watch that’s been stolen from me. For multiple reasons: * buying* it back would imply there is some form of contact between the thief and you, which means he knows private information about you. Now if you buy back yo...
I am sorry that this has happened to you and your wife...
We all dread this sort of thing happening. Best wishes The Captain
Sorry again for what your wife and daughter had to experience in Milano, this is something that must take time to fully put behind ourselves, understandably.
Please just be careful whatever you do next, this is probably my best suggestion. Your watch is hardly in Milano now, chances are it was immediately moved to either Southern Italy or Eastern Europe (though of course anything can be). The last thing you wa...
Gents no worry i wouldn t play PI
it s just a “safe to wear your Rolex”type of topic which may grabs some extra attention and educative for those who are interested.
Stolen watches
make their way into the black market. Who they are sold to is anybody's guess. I suspect all parties in that market know the merchandise is stolen.
Anti Theft Tracker
I think watch companies can add a watch tracker to the watch which is activated when stolen,especially Rolex, Swatch Group, Richemont and LVMH can create a joint consortium to develop such a system. S
They may working on that
just not sure how can they make it mechanical ,a super mini morse transmitter d be the obvious choice 😂
Breitling Emergency.....
came equipped with a locator beacon and this is 1990s technology, I am sure if they put their heads together they can come up with a smaller more efficient solution. It would also be great marketing and reinvigorate mass interest in watches again.
Tracking stolen watches is a difficult problem to solve...
I've often thought about this when buying pre-owned watches. It's tough. Police reports, insurance fraud, fake receipts, grey market dealers, validating ownership can be very difficult. The brands themselves just don't seem to want or have any incentive t...
Hmmm
I’m sure all the high value watches are stolen to “order” and the new owner knows exactly what he’s getting and knows to keep the head down and not service it at any reputable service centre. Most of the regular watches will be sold to friends, friends of...
I know how you feel.
It happened to me too last summer . However mine was a very limited piece so it will be hard to sell i guess . I hope it will pup up in the near future . I would never buy it back . Not paying for something thats mine already
Someone told
he was offered a nice IWC (stolen from the Swiss watch fair)the scumbag wasn t aware that it was a dummy
Don’t shop on 47th Street
Mostly all stolen watches there. And no, they don’t care if they are buying a stolen watch to resell. They buy as cheap as possible and sell with no comment on provenance. They just shrug their shoulders and look up at the ceiling if you ask. That’s why t...
Actualy if sold as is
W/o a warning to the new owner that s give me hope ,the watch is 8th years old may will be due to service or a regular pressure check at the RSC can help to re surface .In parts it d be a mission impossible. The47th isn t my target location nor NYC ,once ...
Stolen watch database
Have added to the Alpha Hands stolen watch database (). The database is both free to post and free to search - hope it can help!
