Bad Deal with Baier GmbH on Chrono24

[Turnip88]

Hi all,

I would like to share my bad experience with my purchase of a Rolex Explorer I 1016 (1988-89), serial L21XXXX. I will never know the serial as I never received the watch.

I am a buyer based in Singapore, and the seller is Gabriel Baier based in Essen, Germany. He operates under the entity of Baier GmbH on Chrono24.

The initial correspondence was pleasant and he actively sent me pictures and videos of the watch. I have done previous dealings online prior and am quite comfortable with it. The most recent online deal was an Aquanaut 5066A-001 (2005).

Based on Gabriel's good reviews on Chrono24, and my great past experience with online dealers, I decided to transact off Chrono24 due to its high fees and exchange rate. Therefore, I purchased the watch with insurance, with the full value declared and even paid tax on it. The deal was made in March 2022.

About a week after the transfer, I received the UPS parcel at my office. Upon opening the parcel, there was no watch to be found. The internal packing was sort of intact, but was very untidy. The watch bubble wrap was found empty. I immediately contacted Gabriel, and he said would get in touch with UPS Germany. I then took some pictures and made a police report and also informing UPS Singapore. UPS Singapore then dispatched a Damage Inspection Team to investigate and concluded that the parcel was likely to be tampered with. This means that the watch could have been originally packed, but a case of theft was possible.

As the insurance was under Gabriel, only he could claim the insurance and liaise with the relevant parties in Germany. After weeks of supposed correspondence with UPS Germany, Gabriel informed me that the insurance was under a third party, and not under UPS. Hence, the whole investigation process would have to be restarted. At this instance, I requested that he included myself in the email correspondence with the insurance party, as I am the ultimate victim in this case. However, he refused to share any information citing strict privacy laws in Germany (if anyone is from Germany, would appreciate if you could comment on this). Over the entire process, there was some radio silence due to Covid infections and business/leisure travel, which I full understand and respect.

Fast forward to 22 Aug 2022, he ended all communications with a WhatsApp text:

"Hey. Unfortunately not good news. The insurance checked all the way. And they checked the singapur tax authorities too . The watch was all the way inside the package even in the last station in singapur authorities . You took the package and give signature that everything was ok and after that you said it was not inside. First you dont even want an insurance. in this case the insurance dont recognize an thief in all the way till your place."

This was utterly unbelievable to me as it felt like he was calling me a fraud. He even barked on the fact that I did not want insurance in the beginning. Honestly, my pass dealings had no insurance on them and I had no issues. On this occasion, I decided to get insurance but it amounted to nothing.

Anyway, Gabriel refuses to respond to my texts or calls after the above message. I have reached out to Chrono24 to assist as it seems like he still active on the platform.

In a nutshell, I hope that watch buyers take this as lesson and take extra care and diligence while purchasing online.

On a side note, if anyone here lives in Essen region and is willing to assist me, please dm me. I would also like to hear from anyone who has dealt with Gabriel from Baier GmbH if any.

I am still finding ways to contact Gabriel and hopefully there is some form of resolution.