Patek Philippe

I am always a little concerned about wearing an expensive watch with a t-shirt, that is fully exposed, in big cities where people recognize high end products and may attempt to rob you. I am reminded of the woman from Maryland who was robbed of her expensive jewerly in NYC when thieves marked her in an expensive bridal shop. Thus, I tone it down on such outings. Any thoughts?

Though I don't think high-end accessories and casual attire mix to begin with.

Cheers,

--

RWK.

Very very seldom wear any gold watches with short sleeves or t-shirts.  Wear them only w/ long sleeves so not to flash the gold.  I wear only stainless or white gold with polos.  Cannot be too cautious in the big cities.  Too many predators.

One of the reasons I think I've tended towards steel/WG/Platinum pieces is they don't have that "gold" look from far away...

A

Recently, I was walking in the West Village and a kid decided he wanted to ride his bike on a narrow sidewalk.  He rode his bike into me and my 5960p!  :-(  Luckily no damage was done to my watch but I would have been real pissed if there was and how do you hold a teenager responsible for damaging your uber expensive watch?

Hi,

that's my chief concern too,I got used to hide my wrist behind my back any time a passer-by comes to close,I cannot count the times some woman banged the buckle of her huge bag on my wrist.

No much fear of thieves,I am lucky to live in an- up to now- quite safe country.

nice thread,

Lutz

 

watch-er,

The case you allude to, with which I am thoroughly familiar, is a rarity.  The vast majority of armed robberies occur at night, in obviously seedy or isolated environments, and involve a low "score."  Moreover, the bad outcome in the case you allude to might well have been prevented had the victim followed the standard guidance to comply with the man with the gun, rather than challenging him and struggling with him.

If you avoid alcohol, drugs, isolated areas, and high crime areas, your odds of being attacked for your watch in a large U.S. city are so low that insurance against this risk at 1% of replacement value per year is not a rational investment, unless perhaps you flaunt a colored gold bracelet.

Park

 

 

 

That's why Patek Philippe has created numerous discreet models for us to wear. If we MUST wear GOLD or BLINGED out watches, i'm sure we have the brains to not present ourselves as victims bt visting seedy places or behaving like a jacka**!

Patek lovers rarely go for models with diamonds and gold bracelets that stab other's eyes. There was one true story that a Patek Collector in Hong Kong once got burglared at home and the thugs was searching through his collections. They snatched all coloured-metal and diamond watches ( 3919J, 5107R, 5070J, 4860J, 5713, 7120, etc) but left behind THE platinum 5016P Since then he wears the 5016P on his wrist 24/7 liek part of his limb, and lives happily thereafter. Larry

Seems to be the watchword. Wear white metal not colored. Get it insured. Avoid obvious trouble spots. Or simply wear something fun like a vintage Swatch if you're wearing a tee-shirt.

Whilst I fully agree with your views I must add that the ones that acutally attract the most attention are not those gold watches with leather straps but those like the Rolex gold gold  watches (those with the President giold bracelet).

To the unintiated a Patek rold gold on a leather strap is not as ostentatious as a sold gold rolex.

Henry Hoe. 

As you all know a majority of people carry cells phone with a built-in clock, so hardly anyone should ask for the time anymore. So you are walking through a busy closed area such as a shopping mall, terminal, etc. in the middle of the day and a group of young teens whom notice you are wearing an expensive watch which is and mostly hidden under your long dress shirt and they ask you for the time. What would you do ? Let's also not kid ourselves street robbers know expensive brand watches even in white metals.

No message body

assuming you know one or even if you know just a few phrases.  when I am accosted by strangers on the street and I do not have time, I just tell them to $&%&^^^^&^^$%^$%^@@$*^ in chinese! ;-)

jajaja.....just joking

I might take a chance if it was a pretty girl though but I'm so shallow.

I wear my patek everywhere in every city.. 99% people don't recognize it. I have been in a patek AD and they didn't notice I was wearing my 6000G-010, and I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. If life becomes so threatening that I can't wear what I want to wear, I'm not sure it's worth living.. Just stay out of the bad part of town where people are desperate or impoverished and are compelled to do bad things. Have faith in humanity. If you get burned, you are the minority. If someone has the propensity to rob someone, it really doesn't matter what watch you're wearing. Protect your body and loved ones. Everything else can be replaced.

I've been to Mali and Kenya with my Reverso Squadra, and yes even though it is stainless steel it still is obviously more valuable than a quartz watch, and thats easily seen. In my opinion, as long as the watch is discreet, and you carry yourself confidently no one will bother you. On the other hand, I would advise you don't wear any outwardly complicated pieces I.E. any skeletonised pieces or those clearly with tourbillons etc. as thats just asking for trouble.

My friend was stopped by roadside bandits outside Johannesburg a few years ago.  His driver was pistol whipped and everyone was robbed of their cash and valuables.  My friend was wearing his rubber band Aquanaut and he was about to take it off for the robbers but they politely refused to accept his "cheap" watch with a rubber band!  Hahaha!

everyone has some anedoctal examples, some even statistical...lets just be sensible, vary choice of watch to wear relative to the cities we visit, take into account security along with the other reasons for wearing the watch we choose. and insure them!!