Quick hand switch. Beware!

[007timer]

This is one of my first posts on this forum. Consider this to be public service announcement.

A little background. I have owned a few Rolex, Omega, Breitling and other watches over the years. I am familiar with the new and second hand markets.

In January of this year, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a Rolex Submariner 116610LN. The ad stated that it was a 2015 watch with no box & papers. After making contact with the seller I agreed on a price of $5,000. However a condition of my purchase is to have the watch inspected by a Rolex watchmaker that has over 15 years of servicing Rolex watches.

The kid showed up with the watch "on belay of his dad". Handed the watch to the watchmaker and he inspected every aspect of the watch. Clasp, links, bracelet, bezel, case, and opened the back and inspected the gears and movement. EVERYTHING checked out 100%. To the extent that my watch maker said "if you don't end up buying it, I will" absolutely good clean watch with no issues whatsoever.

The seller claimed that his Dad really wanted a little more money that what we agreed on and wanted to call him to make sure it's ok. He made the call and said. Ok. He got paid, I got the watch and I wore for 9 months. Fast forward to last week. I had an opportunity to buy a PP Nautilus Moonphase watch. Went to my jeweler to authenticate when he asked me about my Sub. I gaveit to him for a quick cleaning while I was there, that's when he came back saying "this watch is off" it looks right but something is not quiet right. Asked if the watch ever left my possession or if anyone serviced it, the answer was no. He asked if he can open the watch and that's when we discovered that I had been taken. Back in January, when the watch maker handed the watch back on the counter, he switched the watch with a fake one. Not having any reason to re-check my watch it went unnoticed for 9 whole months. Again, I have 4 other Rolex watches at home and I never suspected it. It's a $1,250 fake watch. Even the movement is an exact copy. The watch maker showed it to two other guys who have less experience and at first glance they both said yes it's real until they started to notice things like the quality of the finish on the movement and the top of the screws. Very subtle and easy to miss. All the markings were correct, stamps and numbers are all present. This is very scary that they are getting this good at faking these watches. I took every precaution I can and the fact that he put his hands on it on the counter in front of cost me the losses.

Advice. If you buy used, follow all the precautions. But from now on, if anyone touches the watch after it's been authenticated, have it checked again.

Good luck and be careful out there.