HOROLOGY HOUSE FAKE ROLEX 116500LN Serial 357Q00K9

[efthi]

I tried to read throughout all of the 1314 messages but stopped at around 500ish.. I was one of the followers of his YT channel, I am really sorry for all you out there that got scammed, this hobby next extra caution... and big karma payback to this scammer


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[77T]

We have been discussing what was done and that is the more useful data for newbies dipping a toe into the secondary watch market. The Why and the How are far more difficult to get right.

But the scam did follow some age-old methods when a supposedly trusted source goes bad for any reason.

If you’re new to collecting, maybe stick with an AD until you’ve gained some deeper knowledge.


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[TheBigBang]

Originally Posted by 77T

We have been discussing what was done and that is the more useful data for newbies dipping a toe into the secondary watch market. The Why and the How are far more difficult to get right.

But the scam did follow some age-old methods when a supposedly trusted source goes bad for any reason.

If you’re new to collecting, maybe stick with an AD until you’ve gained some deeper knowledge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Agree with "If you’re new to collecting, maybe stick with an AD until you’ve gained some deeper knowledge." Unfortunately this will preclude Rolex AD's if you are after anything more than a Date Just, etc. Rolex has to open its books so buyers can be enticed back into Rolex AD's.

[zul.hilme56]

Shocking! I'm just surprised by this. Shame on you Chris!

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[Gtecko]

44 pages later ... WOW what a read !!!

this guy new what he was doing and got away doing it for way too long apparently. OP's friend is VERY lucky to have got their money back.
Read too many times less fortunate stories on here ...

280 guests are viewing this tread atm, dozen of new account open just to write on this tread and handful already banned lol

I, too, will be waiting on the Netflix documentary

[sambb]

over 300,000 views of this thread alone. wow. has to be THE place on the internet for it. Im surprised more youtube videos arent out on this.

[crazymcmichael]

Can't believe this guy is an actual scam artist.. Quite often frankly enough i viewed his(good content)

[MLK]

Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster, made this account just to chime in:

1) I've met Chris irl, it was at the Omega Boutique (Sydney) back in September 2019. He walked in with bags of photography gear and the floor manager let him into the back area as if he's a staff member, clearly knew him well. Few days later he uploaded the "platinum Speedmaster Professional calibre 321" review video so that's what that was about.

2) Since then, from his videos I've noticed some significant changes in his appearance like the guy is suffering anxiety or something.

3) I don't believe he's a professional/serial con artist. The guy had a very public profile, showed his face in every video, gave away his real name, clearly knew a thing or two in photography, showed up at official boutiques, built a pretty solid youtube and FB platform. Who'd throw all that away over mere $20k? I have a feeling that something has gone wrong in his private life and it made him desperate to get that money. My guess is drugs? gambling? loan sharks?who knows? Notice that all the scams occured around the same time frame (Sept 2019+), when his physical appearance started to deteriorate.

4) The 2.5 months wait was definitely him trying to source a super clone from China.

5) I don't feel sorry for OP's friend, he thought he could score a ss Daytona for only $20k. Just because the scammer is 100% at fault doesn't make the victim any less stupid. Both can be true at the same time.

6) At the moment, all Rolex ADs in Australia expect you to have made in the ball park of $100k worth of purchases before they'd sell you ss sports models UNLESS they are absolutely certain that you're rich and won't flip (eg. they know your profession). If you have to take shortcuts and buy watches from "alternate" sources then you take the risk of being scammed. My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

[nickoftime1981]

Originally Posted by MLK

Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster, made this account just to chime in:

1) I've met Chris irl, it was at the Omega Boutique (Sydney) back in September 2019. He walked in with bags of photography gear and the floor manager let him into the back area as if he's a staff member, clearly knew him well. Few days later he uploaded the "platinum Speedmaster Professional calibre 321" review video so that's what that was about.

2) Since then, from his videos I've noticed some significant changes in his appearance like the guy is suffering anxiety or something.

3) I don't believe he's a professional/serial con artist. The guy had a very public profile, showed his face in every video, gave away his real name, clearly knew a thing or two in photography, showed up at official boutiques, built a pretty solid youtube and FB platform. Who'd throw all that away over mere $20k? I have a feeling that something has gone wrong in his private life and it made him desperate to get that money. My guess is drugs? gambling? loan sharks?who knows? Notice that all the scams occured around the same time frame (Sept 2019+), when his physical appearance started to deteriorate.

4) The 2.5 months wait was definitely him trying to source a super clone from China.

5) I don't feel sorry for OP's friend, he thought he could score a ss Daytona for only $20k. Just because the scammer is 100% at fault doesn't make the victim any less stupid. Both can be true at the same time.

6) At the moment, all Rolex ADs in Australia expect you to have made in the ball park of $100k worth of purchases before they'd sell you ss sports models UNLESS they are absolutely certain that you're rich and won't flip (eg. they know your profession). If you have to take shortcuts and buy watches from "alternate" sources then you take the risk of being scammed. My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

Its a lot more than $29k, and one incident. There is still a guy in Sydney waiting for a refund of $17k paid in November 2019 for a SD4K, another guy in Perth waiting on $100k, another guy, who is in this thread was owed $60k, myself, I was nearly done over for $34k, the guy that was sold the busted Zenith, and many more.

[jfoord27]

Originally Posted by MLK

Notice that all the scams occured around the same time frame (Sept 2019+), when his physical appearance started to deteriorate.

My speedmaster ordeal happened from February - May 2019, so it's been happening for longer than the last few months. Same excuses with DHL losing the package, delays from insurance claims etc.


This was from 28 March 2019.

Hi

Hope you are well mate. 

We have had a bit of a hiccup with delivery, and the package is currently trying to be located. 
The package arrived in Singapore for shipping to Perth, however has not left. 

There is insurance on the watch, so we are okay from that perspective. 

I will likley just purchase another one and have it reposted, and I'll deal with the insurance. This will mean another 1-2 weeks to your door.

Alternatively, I can cancel your order if you are unhappy, however if you choose to go this way - it's completely understandable. 

Apologies for the delay in responding, I wanted to get a recent update from DHL before reaching out. 

Regards, 

Chris

[Jamuze]

Originally Posted by jfoord27

My speedmaster ordeal happened from February - May 2019, so it's been happening for longer than the last few months. Same excuses with DHL losing the package, delays from insurance claims etc.


This was from 28 March 2019.

Hi

Hope you are well mate. 

We have had a bit of a hiccup with delivery, and the package is currently trying to be located. 
The package arrived in Singapore for shipping to Perth, however has not left. 

There is insurance on the watch, so we are okay from that perspective. 

I will likley just purchase another one and have it reposted, and I'll deal with the insurance. This will mean another 1-2 weeks to your door.

Alternatively, I can cancel your order if you are unhappy, however if you choose to go this way - it's completely understandable. 

Apologies for the delay in responding, I wanted to get a recent update from DHL before reaching out. 

Regards, 

Chris

From the chat logs etc, it seems like he is always quick to offer a refund, hoping the buyer will cancel the order due to longer wait time for a re-order. I suspect, if gambling addiction is true, he took the money from the sales, hoping to win a few bets to recoup his previous bet losses, then cause all the fuzz so the buyer ask for refund instead. Probably he lost more money, got desperate, took more money and the cycle continues, unfortunately still lost it in gambling.

[Roobarb]

Originally Posted by MLK

My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

The guy is a serial liar, con artist and scammer, who would put up pictures of someone’s else’s burning down house, make lies about basically everything.
Basically impossible to buy SS models from ADs these days without a massive wait. There is plenty of trusted sellers here and on other sites that I would happily transfer them money and feel safe doing so.
What’s with this working class bs ? I am a working class and have saved long for the 2 Rolex I have, nothing to do with lifestyle just a genuine love for the brand and quality watches. And many many people are the same.

[statsman]

Originally Posted by MLK

6) At the moment, all Rolex ADs in Australia expect you to have made in the ball park of $100k worth of purchases before they'd sell you ss sports models UNLESS they are absolutely certain that you're rich and won't flip (eg. they know your profession). If you have to take shortcuts and buy watches from "alternate" sources then you take the risk of being scammed. My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

I don’t get this comment at all. The only person in this entire sordid story who can’t afford this hobby, as far as we know, is Chris Essery. Did you miss the part about how his victims wired him cash? These are not people taking out high interest loans to obtain something they can’t afford. He is a con-man using the “confidence” people had in him to get their money. He convinced them that they could have almost the same confidence in him as they had in an AD.

[kersizm]

Originally Posted by MLK

Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster, made this account just to chime in:

6) At the moment, all Rolex ADs in Australia expect you to have made in the ball park of $100k worth of purchases before they'd sell you ss sports models UNLESS they are absolutely certain that you're rich and won't flip (eg. they know your profession). If you have to take shortcuts and buy watches from "alternate" sources then you take the risk of being scammed. My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

Long time lurker, etc. etc.

If one of your take aways from this sordid saga is that “working class” can’t own nice things then I think you are ignorant to the larger collecting community.

Wow this made me angry.

[Rolex_Fan_]

Originally Posted by kersizm

Long time lurker, etc. etc.

If one of your take aways from this sordid saga is that “working class” can’t own nice things then I think you are ignorant to the larger collecting community.

Wow this made me angry.

Agreed. What a stupid thing to say.

Anyways, hats off to the OP for bringing this to light and hope everyone gets their money back.

[ajw45]

Originally Posted by MLK

5) I don't feel sorry for OP's friend, he thought he could score a ss Daytona for only $20k. Just because the scammer is 100% at fault doesn't make the victim any less stupid. Both can be true at the same time.

6) At the moment, all Rolex ADs in Australia expect you to have made in the ball park of $100k worth of purchases before they'd sell you ss sports models UNLESS they are absolutely certain that you're rich and won't flip (eg. they know your profession). If you have to take shortcuts and buy watches from "alternate" sources then you take the risk of being scammed. My suggestion to people is to buy from ADs only and think long and hard about your lifestyle (is luxury goods really meant for working class people?).

I'm sorry, while not pertinent to the thread I just gotta say this is totally uncalled for on so many levels. I don't think there's a place in this thread for victim shaming and I don't think there's any place anywhere on TRF for telling people what is "meant" for them or using ”working class” as a derogatory or exclusionary pejoritve.

[Fleetlord]

Me thinks this guy got in over his head with something.....something that drained him of money. Drugs, Gambling...whatever.

He knows enough about watches and saw the fakes as a way out. He dug into them and figured that most buyers desperate for a Daytona are novices and might be "dopey" enough to never know the difference, so he could run this scam and get himself out...deal with later it if it ever came up because he would be rich by then or whatever.

Then there is the classic shipping tricks. Creating a label to generate a tracking # to buy some time, but then NEVER ship anything. He's just floating money at this point to pay off something else. It's one of the oldest scams around....then pay off in bits and pieces to keep the buyer from obliterating him online or getting the bronze involved...

The videos add an air of confidence to his persona...he'd never rip anybody off..etc.

Well, it all fell apart and he's done for.

[Jamuze]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Me thinks this guy got in over his head with something.....something that drained him of money. Drugs, Gambling...whatever.

He knows enough about watches and saw the fakes as a way out. He dug into them and figured that most buyers desperate for a Daytona are novices and might be "dopey" enough to never know the difference, so he could run this scam and get himself out...deal with later it if it ever came up because he would be rich by then or whatever.

Then there is the classic shipping tricks. Creating a label to generate a tracking # to buy some time, but then NEVER ship anything. He's just floating money at this point to pay off something else. It's one of the oldest scams around....then pay off in bits and pieces to keep the buyer from obliterating him online or getting the bronze involved...

The videos add an air of confidence to his persona...he'd never rip anybody off..etc.

Well, it all fell apart and he's done for.

Indeed, very well said.

[Undefeatable]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Me thinks this guy got in over his head with something.....something that drained him of money. Drugs, Gambling...whatever.

He knows enough about watches and saw the fakes as a way out. He dug into them and figured that most buyers desperate for a Daytona are novices and might be "dopey" enough to never know the difference, so he could run this scam and get himself out...deal with later it if it ever came up because he would be rich by then or whatever.

Then there is the classic shipping tricks. Creating a label to generate a tracking # to buy some time, but then NEVER ship anything. He's just floating money at this point to pay off something else. It's one of the oldest scams around....then pay off in bits and pieces to keep the buyer from obliterating him online or getting the bronze involved...

The videos add an air of confidence to his persona...he'd never rip anybody off..etc.

Well, it all fell apart and he's done for.

This is one of the best summary's of what I think happened and his thought process of how he hoped it would pan out.

[schnipples24]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Me thinks this guy got in over his head with something.....something that drained him of money. Drugs, Gambling...whatever.

He knows enough about watches and saw the fakes as a way out. He dug into them and figured that most buyers desperate for a Daytona are novices and might be "dopey" enough to never know the difference, so he could run this scam and get himself out...deal with later it if it ever came up because he would be rich by then or whatever.

Then there is the classic shipping tricks. Creating a label to generate a tracking # to buy some time, but then NEVER ship anything. He's just floating money at this point to pay off something else. It's one of the oldest scams around....then pay off in bits and pieces to keep the buyer from obliterating him online or getting the bronze involved...

The videos add an air of confidence to his persona...he'd never rip anybody off..etc.

Well, it all fell apart and he's done for.

Exactly my impression of the events and what I think happened.

[CorradoBrit]

Finally a considered response from the YT watch community. Nothing new, but at least this scandal is being acknowledged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qyEYidFnY

[pablobell]

Yeah right, he states himself that he hasn’t read the whole thread. Pointless fluff video.

I can’t get the mental image of Chris riding out of Perth on his “escape goat” out of my head lol.

[DJRikki]

Originally Posted by CorradoBrit

Finally a considered response from the YT watch community. Nothing new, but at least this scandal is being acknowledged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qyEYidFnY

It wasnt all that considered and missed a lot of basic points as was pointed out in the video comments :(

[mgsooner]

Originally Posted by CorradoBrit

Finally a considered response from the YT watch community. Nothing new, but at least this scandal is being acknowledged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qyEYidFnY

And of course he's getting ripped to shreds by some in the comments because he didn't offer a strong enough condemnation of HH. The mental gymnastics involved in demanding every watch-related YouTube channel to come forward and offer a scathing public conviction of HH is beyond me. Why on earth are they responsible for doing so, because they're colleagues? That is such a bizarre rationale. In this guy's case he literally does not even know Chris from HH, never had a single conversation with him, absolutely zero connection to him whatsoever.

[barkington]

Originally Posted by mgsooner

And of course he's getting ripped to shreds by some in the comments because he didn't offer a strong enough condemnation of HH. The mental gymnastics involved in demanding every watch-related YouTube channel to come forward and offer a scathing public conviction of HH is beyond me. Why on earth are they responsible for doing so, because they're colleagues? That is such a bizarre rationale. In this guy's case he literally does not even know Chris from HH, never had a single conversation with him, absolutely zero connection to him whatsoever.

It's tricky to publicly condemn someone/ another registered company as most youtube channels are registered companies and are therefore easily sued for defamation. Watch Reviews has threatened legal action against me for calling me a conman. I've seen threats from CE to his "customers" regarding defamation lawsuits.

It's one thing saying something behind the anonymity of a username and avatar and another thing say something as a registered company.

[mgsooner]

Originally Posted by barkington

It's tricky to publicly condemn someone/ another registered company as most youtube channels are registered companies and are therefore easily sued for defamation. Watch Reviews has threatened legal action against me for calling me a conman. I've seen threats from CE to his "customers" regarding defamation lawsuits.

It's one thing saying something behind the anonymity of a username and avatar and another thing say something as a registered company.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment Adrian. I'm certain it still won't be good enough for some, but life goes on.

[kev1nchoi]

Originally Posted by barkington

It's tricky to publicly condemn someone/ another registered company as most youtube channels are registered companies and are therefore easily sued for defamation. Watch Reviews has threatened legal action against me for calling me a conman. I've seen threats from CE to his "customers" regarding defamation lawsuits.

It's one thing saying something behind the anonymity of a username and avatar and another thing say something as a registered company.

Something tells me Chris doesn't have funds at the moment to be suing anyone for defamation, nor the time with all the bush fires and stuff.

[dreadforge]

Originally Posted by barkington

It's tricky to publicly condemn someone/ another registered company as most youtube channels are registered companies and are therefore easily sued for defamation. Watch Reviews has threatened legal action against me for calling me a conman. I've seen threats from CE to his "customers" regarding defamation lawsuits.

It's one thing saying something behind the anonymity of a username and avatar and another thing say something as a registered company.

Then don't say anything until facts come to light, come on.

[M-Technic]

Originally Posted by mgsooner

The mental gymnastics involved in demanding every watch-related YouTube channel to come forward and offer a scathing public conviction of HH is beyond me. Why on earth are they responsible for doing so, because they're colleagues?

I don't get it either. Same with the people saying any moderator of any forum/group that locks or deletes any topics related to HH/Chris are "in cahoots with him."

[alphadweller]

Originally Posted by CorradoBrit

Finally a considered response from the YT watch community. Nothing new, but at least this scandal is being acknowledged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qyEYidFnY

JustBlueFish. The guy gives an opinion without even reading the whatsapp transcripts and goes on defending Chris or at least giving him the benefit of doubt. Says we should at least let Chris give us an explanation blah blah blah. He's lost all credibility to me. Has just taken his video down. Defending a crook, what a joker.