Be careful: Stolen Rolex's Floating around

[kingel]

My AD had a smash and grab robbery around this time last year. The thieves smashed their "Gold Rolex" case and made off with an 18K Yellow Gold Sub, a couple of Ladies Diamond Pearlmasters, and a Yacht II.

Since they stole them directly from the case the box and papers were left behind.

One of the Pearlmasters showed up on Ebay a couple of months later. It had an ususul string diamond dial and the Ad would look for it occasionaly, and saw it, confirmed serial, etc. The interesting thing about it was that the seller was a Platinum Power Seller with great feedback. His defense was obviously that he had purchased it from someone not knowing it was stolen and was innocent to it. Being cynical I would think anyone with experience would question why someone was selling a brand new condition, never worn $40,000 + watch for a low price, and had no documents or receipts associated with it, and he didn't think to check with Rolex and their stolen watch directory, but sometimes people turn a blind eye to suspicious things when they see money to be made. The watch was confiscated, and the original seller that the ebay seller said sold him the watch was not tracked down.

I worked at my AD on Saturday and he told me that he got a call from a police officer from a small town in Florida on Friday. The 18K Submariner was located at a jewelry store that sells used watches. Apparently they have to turn in their serial numbers of watches they buy to the local police every month. The police ran the serial #'s and the sub came up as stolen. Problem is by the time this happened, the jewelry store is saying they already have sold the watch. Now they are trying to track down the buyer. The seller gave them an I.D. from Illinois, but hasn't been tracked down either. Again, the jewelry store did not question or turn down a brand new Gold Rolex, never worn with no papers. So that is ongoing.

Apart from what I thought was just an interesting look into what happens to watches that are stolen, I guess I am writing this as a word of caution. I see alot of guys on here asking for advice on buying watches, etc, and usually the 1st advice is- if you don't buy it from an Authorized Dealer- to buy from a well known or reputable seller. This is great advice. However, as seen from above, even a reputable seller is only as good as the person he bought the watch from. These guys might have thought they were buying perfectly valid watches, but they got screwed or tricked by the thief too.
So also do your homework on the history of the watch, check with Rolex, etc.

I would also question any new to fairly new Rolex that doesn't have it's papers or a receipt from the original AD. Rolex's are kept seperate from their box and papers at the AD, so unless the thieves have the whole night in the jewelry store to get everything together, the stolen watches are usually taken without the documents. Now we also know that the documents can be forged later on, but that's just another thing you need to research. So if you see a new watch for sale and it doesn't have papers, that should raise a red flag.

Also, any price too good to be true-- is usually too good to be true.

Anyway, hopefully the thief in this case is eventually caught. There were a string of these robberies all over South and North Carolina at the time, so there are a good many stolen watches floating around. At the time, the thought was they end up overseas, but apparently they are turning up in the US.

[chris russell]

fed to dogs.

[BASSETHOUNDS]

If there are no resellers there are no thieves.. I bumped into a "scrap gold " trader the other day that had a gold GMT Rolex on his add. So jokingly I asked him if he gets many of those in for scrap . He did say he never got one of them but had gotten some full gold DD and DJ . Here is Spain they have to take a photocopy of the documents of the sellers , and keep what they call a "police book" that has to be stamped every month at the station . Police can come and consult that record whenever they like . He said as soon such items come in they "run" to the gold foundry with it before it turns out to be stolen . If the item can be recuperated they usually loose the money as the item will stay "under seal" till after the court case ( 2 years later ) and then will be returned to the original owner .
I think these resellers know exactly what they buy and from who . It will be a cash transaction and a superior value then actually was paid out will be recorded . Those professionals will have particular buyers "on hand " in form of copies of stolen documents in case the heat turns up and loose the item , hence their cash .

[DRAWTOOL]

Originally Posted by chris russell

fed to dogs.

Not my dogs, they don't eat

[TerryF]

We dont have many "smash and grabs" here. The thieves prefer to work in groups of around fifteen, each armed with an AK47 and they quietly wander into the AD and clean them out, box, papers, cash and whatever else they feel like taking.

If memory serves they did pull a "smash and grab" on a Rolex AD in Pretoria last year just before Christmas - I think it was the third time they'd been hit that year alone.

Worst part is that they sell them for between $500 and $800.

[Denver Dick]

Originally Posted by chris russell

fed to dogs.

Actually, they should be cut up and fed to the hogs. They'll eat bones and all. No trace. Then again, there is always the old standby . . . crocodiles, but they're a little harder to come by.

[BASSETHOUNDS]

Originally Posted by TerryF

Worst part is that they sell them for between $500 and $800.

At that price you throw away the case and sell the rest as parts . Just the bracelet gets you back on your investment

I spent some time going back and forth to S.A. in 1988/89 . We took advantage of the economical embargo's most of the world imposed onto S.A. except the UK , Portugal and some others .
We turned SWASAP ( Germingston ) railway axels into Portuguese made once so we could get them into the US and CAN . Even then Jo'Burg was dangerous and getting worse ... never stop at the red lights , never open your window. We had a bit the same in Rio de Janeiro , but Jo'Burg and Capetown are something else .
Such a beautiful country , what a shame .

[swazi85]

I just bought myself a deepsea in East gate and was rather nervous with all the stories you hear about getting hijacked after leaving the shop. I got back to Swaziland Asap though and keep it low profile when I am in RSA

[Puffy]

If the price is too good to be true the watch usually is so too