Horological Meandering

Los Angeles, USA: On 9-July-2024 a watch collector's home was unfortunately burgled. Thieves unfortunately got away with dozens of watches including Patek Philippes, Rolexes, Audemars Piguet, and other highly liquid brand-name luxury watches. The value is...  

As a resident of LA, it hurts that people in our community are being targeted. The video definitely made it look like someone with key information was part of this robbery in some capacity. Only speculation but that’s the way it felt. I am hoping the indi... 

I speculate that there was an "inside-job" component. Someone has been in this house before and knew where the security alarm mainframe is. Maybe a former electrician, or an Audio/Visual stereo system installer, or something else. So I speculate something... 

And also another example of why people with even more financial means are okay with paying hundreds of thousands, if not millions per year for round the clock security measures. I wish him good luck in recovering his watches!....

It's a scary world out there! Thank you for chiming in!

But becoming far too common in the times we live in, at least it appears no one was hurt. I'm not really sure the bank vault idea is such a good one personally as we know the lengths some of these criminals will go for just one watch on a wrist. Sorry but... 

That's true. People will do anything to get a watch off your wrist! In London, scores of young men have died, usually stabbed, by a perpetrator who wanted to steal their watch. And yes, the "bank" solution is not perfect neither. Yes, there are a lot of a... 

Because many of the owners of the watches were not at the physical auction house site. Thus, it was harder to get local police involved. So they called the auction house thinking the auction house would be customer centric and willing to help. Bad assumpt... 

I still feel a big "drop" in my stomach whenever I think about it.

It also goes to show you that you can only trust someone to a point. Hopefully he was smart enough to have his watches insured for market value.

LA is a tale of two cities. There's the glitz and glamour, and people there show it! Furthermore, the poor are aware of it! Everyone knows what a Ferrari is, a Rolls Royce. And now with rap music mentioning Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe by name, even... 

Gut wrenching to think about it. I feel relatively safe wearing my matte titanium watch or a steel watch. Do you feel safe wearing an Alpine Eagle? The watch isn't too flashy, but that bracelet does have some polish to it.

Being so accustomed to wearing a matte titanium watch these days... Even an Alpine Eagle seems a little flashy for me!

They really made that titanium look nice and bright.

"Prominent New Zealand couple targeted in deadly US robbery" www.bbc.com

Both stories above are notable and concerning for their targeted nature.

Many WatchProSite members have been to Newport Beach's Fashion Island. We've even had GTGs there - the last one we had down there was at a Greek restaurant there. Thank you for providing this article. I was very aware on the robbery - it's been mentioned ... 

The District Attorney in Orange County, California will definitely prosecute hard, unlike some other DAs elsewhere.

Very sad indeed.

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Sad, yes, yet very much expected for Southern California in 2023 / 2024 and perhaps 2025 and beyond. Here we have yet another flash mob, which caused ~$100,000 in damage. The police took NINE HOURS to respond. i humbly suggest Singapore, Saudi Arabia / Du... 

I even try to avoid driving through Oakland if I can. The Mayor is even under investigation by the FBI which is not a good sign.

Today I find it is easy for upper class to become targets. Most have nanny, cleaners, landscapers, lawn service, chef/food servers (at least on occasion/party), etc. This adds so many people who can see the homeowner has a gold nautilus, or whatever they ... 

Domestic staff is a big one! A huge percentage of Uber drivers are former criminals. I wouldn't be surprised if some people who work as nannies and cleaners may come from a criminal background. Sometimes they're not even criminals - but gamblers who borro... 

I've done executive protection for the Uber co-founder for almost a year, and despite not thinking about him individually in any unfavorable way, my opinion of the company itself has always been extremely polarized. I don't like the lax process of driver ... 

Furthermore, the person who is driving you is often NOT the person listed on the app! In other words, a legitimate person signed into their Uber account and then passed the phone to another person to drive his car. I once had a driver who was a woman and ... 

I was sending and immediately deleting messages online long before Snapchat incorporated offering that exact strategy. Never could have I imagined that to become so popularized, then again I think the company still isn't turning tangible profits.... Anoth... 

...Many years. He is a very private person so there ia a short list of insiders that could be involved. Stay tuned. - Scott

Hope you're doing well! And I hope they catch the sons of guns who committed this terrible crime. I did not sleep well last night!

... Yes, I took a little break from ALL social media. How the hell are you?

Haven't seen you in LA since forever. Too bad we don't do a lot of GTGs together anymore.

... At the next GTG. I think Dr. No said it will be at the end of August. Will do my darndest to be there. Look forward to seeing you soon. - Scott

... Holy smokes. - scott

There was case in NZ and the heist was about US$2m. Don’t think there has been any progress in recovering the stolen watches….😰