Horological Meandering

News Article:

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/thieves-ransack-hollywood-hills-home-in-multi-million-dollar-heist/

Now, we have a large group of our community live in Los Angeles, many in the Hollywood area.  Some of us even know the victim, recognize the victim, or have met the victim.  

Can this kind of crime be prevented?  Hard to say, sometimes if you're targeted, there's little you can do if someone else is determined.  But, remember to take precautions.  Don't get complacent.  Use more locks, safes, redundant security systems that run on different networks and at lest one should have a cellular backup.  Keep a minimal amount of jewelry at home, keep everything else at the bank.  And remember to take inventory of what you have at the bank!  Check out this article about safe deposit boxes:  www.watchprosite.com

For those of you who have domestic staff, remember to go over the contents of your home with the lead housekeeper every year to do an inventory audit.  Closely inspect each fork and knife to make sure that it's the correct one.  Have a scale with you - the silver knives weigh more - so if you have a utensil that doesn't feel quite right, check the dimensions with another utensil and check the weight.  

The watches stolen will be very difficult to resell.  However, various auction houses, such as Antiquorum and others, have helped traffic stolen goods.  Multiple WatchProSite readers have contacted auction houses like Antiquorum, informing them that one of their lots is stolen property, and that said lot is theirs.  Antiquorum instead of alerting the police, gives the watch back to the consignor as to metaphorically wipe their hands - and the watch is lost again - often for years.  Remember, auction houses make mistakes.  And if you want to know how auction houses cover up their mistakes; auction-houses sometimes ask the buyer to reconsign the questionable goods with the auction house and to keep quiet about the "questionable" parts.  Check out this CBS News story that was on 60 Minutes where a Billionaire Koch-brother realized a large percentage of his wine collection had dubious origins...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/billionaire-koch-brothers-crusade-against-counterfeit-wine/

BILL KOCH: There is a code of silence in this business because obviously, the faker doesn't want anybody to know that he's making fake wine. The auction house doesn't wanna know that, and then, the collector himself generally doesn't wanna know it. Or if he finds out, he wants to find a secret way to dump it and get his money back. And that's why, you see, I was very unique in being the one who said, "I'm gonna stand up for it. I'm gonna shine a bright light on these fakers."

So always be careful when buying any used goods!  Remember to buy the seller!  The watches will be missing their paperwork, so be extra cautious about buying watches without boxes and papers!  

I can only hope that this unfortunate victim is able to recover some or all of his property.  As watches become more and more mainstream, mentioned more often in rap music lyrics, prominently worn in blockbuster movies such as The Avengers, and gloated on Facebook and Instagram...  ...well, as watches have become mainstream, these crimes will continue to increase in frequency.