Experience with Stolen Rolex that was recovered by Service Center

[saltyandwet]

Originally Posted by samwoo2go

I got a new DJ 41 back in October 2023. It was stolen around New Years (yes less than 3 months). Not going to get into what happened but I do want to talk about the recovery process and see if anyone has gone through it and can provide me with some guidance.

I reported the watch stolen of course and have a police report. I also reported it stolen with Rolex directly so the serial number is tagged.

About early March, I got a letter from a Law Firm ( Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP ) representing Rolex (I looked them up, legit) letting me know a Jeweler sent the watch into Rolex for service and it's now seized by Rolex pending outcome. Great! Watch found VERY QUICKLY!

Not so fast. The law firm is basically telling me it's not so simple to decide even though I have a police report, original serial card and receipt. They need the seller to relinquish claim to the watch. Since he didn't, the law firm now wants to "introduce" me to the other party directly so we can sort it out. This process feels completely insane to me and honestly feels like the law firm does not want any legal liability and just want to toss this over the fence. The only reason the other party would want to communicate direct with me is to probably try and settle (extort) money to release the claim.

This is so crazy that Rolex would not want to put a swift end to a shady grey dealer that bought a watch with no papers and was in possession of stolen property. I feel like the way they are handling this only continues to encourage all these crimes with owners around the world.

In so far, I have not been actively involving my Detective on the case because they actually hinted that involving the police will take longer, which also feels really shady to me. But it's been about 3 weeks now with no real resolution, so I think I am going to go the police route.

In so far, I told the firm I am not going to communicate with 3rd party, gave them all my documentation and requested that the watch be release to me or my local police dept.

My questions are:

- Does anyone know a customer email address for Rolex USA or Switzerland? I can't seen to find one via searching. Or a good phone number?

- Anyone have dealt with this before, how should I handle this?

OFC they are not going to just release the watch back to you. Who is to say you didn't sell the watch w/o box and papers, all cash transaction and try to pull a fast one? I can sell a Daytona to you for $5k, no box, no papers, all cash. As soon as you drive off, I will report to police and Rolex. Are you going to just release the watch back to me?