Rolex probably has no interest in cooperating with police regarding stolen watches for the same reason that Swiss banks generally don’t lift a finger for all of the criminal accounts they are holding. Thank you, Paul, for at least having the integrity to not deal in watches with shady histories
Had my collection taken when some fuckheads broke into my house taking my watches, wife's jewellery and my Jeep wrangler (keys inside the house) I didnt have anything special, but I did have several vintage Enicars and Roamers that are darn near impossible to find today and I had a watch that my grandmother gave me for my christening when I was a baby that had a tonne of sentimental value. They then used my jeep as a vehicle to go around and rob other people's houses for a week. Police found them on the road several times *not hard in a bright orange jeep wrangler* and every single time they let them get away. Never seen any of my watches or jewellery again Jeep was a complete write off by the time they were done. Victoria Police (australia) "know who they are" from CCTV footage of them filling it with diesel at petrol stations, but never laid charges or tell me who they are. Its a fucked world my friend, sometimes I think the Police really dont give a fuck. Just on the Jeep alone I lost over $30,000AUD as insurance fucking shafted me on EVERYTHING. Because the watches weren't itemised I for shafted on that too. If i ever find out who it was I swear to god I'd rip their intestines out through their mouth
In one video Paul talked about a time after he had been robbed and nearly killed for a watch. He said he was back in his shop and saw two policemen looking in his store window. Paul said he activated the intercom to listen in to what they were saying. The cops said, "Oh he's the guy that got robbed, he deserved it with watches like that." Disgusting. The police very likely think it's just funny what happened to you and may even think you had it coming. If a cop thinks that having nice things is dumb then he will be indifferent. I've seen that attitude in other professions as well. There is an auto body/paint shop here that does great work on the cars they like. If they think a car is sh*t it gets the bare minimum. Consider a mace device like the site burglarbomb offers.
100% accurate. My Dad god bless him had his watch taken off him by some skum bag in Spain, they were in a posh car well dressed spoke to my dad for twenty minutes before conning him out of his watch ( long story ) then a year later he had a young attractive girl walk up to him showing affection with her hand on his watch ! She got told to piss off ! Great video again Paul
If not parted out, I would guess a lot of these watches go to overseas dealers in countries that turn a blind eye to international theft. Watch is stolen in UK and shows up on the market in somewhere like Turkey, Bulgaria, or China a few months later.
I would also think there is a service industry in certain countries that specialize in black market goods so they never actually end up at official dealers or go for official services. Until the west stands up for itself these things will continue. The sad part is it is not just watches but everything from military arms, pharma, medical equipment and even human trafficking. One of the biggest countries on earth right now has camps full of slaves that guest used for industrial proposes. A consignment of 800 tons of wigs going into America was discovered to be human hair probably from the camps.
Back in the 80’s everybody in my country did 7-15 months of mandatory service in the armed forces. The ones who did the long haul often became officers in the reserve forces. When they were done at the War Academy they were payed a substantial bonus. Several of them, I could say it was common practice among the cadets, marked the achievement by using that bonus to buy a Rolex Submariner. Whst happened was that most of them ”lost” it only to got another one through the insurance. Some put they new one in a safe and was wearing the ”lost” one as a daily beater, some sold it for cash abroad since the register for stolen watches was only local. I remember being offerered to buy these watches from friends and declining. I do believe that insurance fraud is still a large part of Rolex watches lost or stolen and that we should have a global register of this.
I'm a collector and lost a Rolex Explorer through the Canada Post....if they can put a microchip in my cat to track him they must be able to do it in an expensive watch!
Sentences for criminals found to be dealing with stolen watches or stealing watches should be much higher. At the same time I've been a victim of car theft and upon calling the police I was told why am I ringing 999 and to call 111 as it was not seen as an emergency! I insisted to speak to the police as it is a theft and was told I would be contacted within 48 hours of the phone call. I was then contacted within the next 24 hours with a crime reference number then to be further contacted with 12 hours of that to be told that the case was closed. The point of this story to show there was no urgency to find or even bother with my case which was shrugged off and basically left to be dealt with the insurance company. So sadly as much as I would love for them to put more emphasis on watch and car theft i just dont see it being a priority for them. But if we dont persist then we wont get any results. Great content paul, keep it up.
@Ahmed El-feki Western society has effectively given up on law and order and wants to focus on BLM, sexism, racism, sex crimes, hate crimes and so on. As if they cannot still focus on law and order and the other issues. If you look at certain politicians you will find that they do not believe in private property of any type hence why they have no regard for theft.
Living in the Philippines I would say a good majority end up in Asian second hand stores. We have a few of them in the malls that have hundreds of Rolex all without boxes and papers.
Had my Rolex anniversary Sub stolen, along with an Explorer, by a common thief who broke into my apartment while I was at work. I registered the serial with Rolex USA, notifying them that it was stolen. Is there anything else for me to do? The police recovered the Explorer from the pawn shop, there's only one here in town, so it was the first place to look. The pawn shop though knew the Sub was stolen, so shipped it to an out of town branch of the pawn shop and sold it the same day, so that's unfortunately probably gone for ever. Insurance at least covered the purchase price, but not the appreciation.
what insurance did you have? we got 600 euros from our home insurance because we lost the original recept from Rolex and therefore home insurance didnt want to pay out the full amount.
@@ragnarbluechip8795 They were confiscated by the police and even after 2 years did not received them back. Going to ask him about it cause it is now more then 6 years ago I think...
@@mzdbow please keep us posted on this one, brother. What a shame that even getting stolen watches back after having been found is such a load of nonsense
My take on this Paul is the growing underground industry of Franken watches in the high end replica community ,were they replace parts on high end fakes with genuine Rolex parts obtained on ebay for a quite considerable sum .My question is ,where are these new genuine parts coming from as we all know Rolex don't issue spares,and breaking the watches down and selling the parts is very profitable and there's very little to trace,just my tupenneth ,keep up the great work ,you're a lovely man
There are forgers that can do incredible jobs. The art world is plagued by them. The same applies in the watch world. Many are coming out China where there are industrial scale counterfitters that can produce things by the thousands. The only way to discover any of this would be to have large scale forensic analysis of many goods but what do you think the chances of this happening. The media will not even call out China for running concentration camps that use human hair in products. Or labour for products. There is also a chance that Children's toys may actually have had toxic elements applied to them on purpose. Our media could figure all of this out in 5 minutes if they wanted to.
Thank you for making this. I was burgled 7 yearsago and my safe was ripped out of my floor containing my watch collection. I'm still devastated as they were mistakenly under insured, hence there was no insurance payout. I would love to be involved in anyway to help put pressure on the powers that be to help everyone recover their watches.
The biggest thieves in the watch industry are Rolex. These are ordinary mass produced industrial watched which are sold for way more than they are worth due to slick advertising. A Ford for Aston Martin prices.
I’m in Scotland where one of the most high profile robberies in recent years was the raid on the Rolex boutique at Gleneagles Hotel in 2017. You can find the CCTV footage online. I think the gang have all been caught and given custodial sentences by now, but they stole £500K’s worth of watches which have never been recovered. I’ve often wondered what happened to those watches. Perhaps they’re stashed away somewhere, quietly appreciating in value whilst the culprits serve their jail time. 🤔🕵🏻♂️
Craig Thomson 500k how many in the gang . 10 or 5 let’s say 5 that’s 100k each so they get 5 years of jail. That’s 20k per year you would get more working in Mac Donald’s
@@timeintheuk 500k of stole watches so they probably soled them fo 30%$ of price and got 150k out of that robbery. 150k for 5 guys that's 30k. For 5 years it makes 6k a year, lol. Those assholes stealing watches are just pathetic apes.
ROLEX, PLEASE set up a lost/stolen register on your website. This would be SO EASY and a no-brainer for customer support. Doing so would also strengthen your brand image.
Lovely information Paul. Also want to say watching your videos is a pleasure - Audio is clear and at proper levels. Video is clear and crisp, with proper colouration, saturation, brightness and white balance. Cheers Mate.
The gold standard for buying a second hand watch is 'box & papers'. We know a replica box can be bought from the net very easily and I'm sure the papers, including the receipt could be forged. Do you know of any watch getting back to the MD which has complete box and papers which turns out to be on their stolen list? If your answer is yes then the only place where you could be certain to buy a genuine watch would be from a MD. Similarly if every watch is 'moody' unless verified by a MD it should be almost impossible to sell your watch to anyone outside the MD network.
Great video again Paul. I've decided not to wear my Rolex in public anymore. It's sad because you can't have anything anymore but my life is more important. I will only wear it when I think it's safe but won't even let it be seen in public again. 😤
Depending where I go I feel comfortable wearing my Tudor in many places though I wear a Seiko when I know that I need to be prudent but I only wear my better pieces out when I’m going somewhere with valet parking or I know has security or going to a friend’s home. I won’t let the world stop me from enjoying watches but I’ve adapted. The fact is that when I was young I was actually mugged for an Armitron and the cash in my wallet.
It seams to me that if Rolex chooses to no longer keep a "lost or stolen register", then they are actively participating in the stolen Rolex market. I say this from the stand point that it is now safe to send in a Rolex with questionable origin to get serviced. Previously Rolex would flag the questionable watch and return it to the legal owner. Rolex in essence has increased their market in servicing Rolex watches, where previously people would need to find alternative means to get their watch serviced.
I don't think it's a good idea for them to return it to the original owner, what if it was a gift from a relative? See how logically that wouldn't work? You take your watch in for service suddenly it's gone somewhere else think how you would feel?
Hey Paul, love your vids...keep them coming. Is there a website where the average consumer can go to check if a watch being sold from an online dealer is legit? How can the purchaser make sure the watches being sold are not stolen or fake...perhaps something for one of your next videos.
Paul, thank you for the outstanding service you are doing to the watch community. Thank you for keeping us informed, and most importantly to try to keep us safe. I have been robbed in Brazil at gunpoint, and they took the Milgauss I got for my 18th birthday. Since then, I have always recommended to anyone to simply not wear your pieces. Anywhere that you deem dangerous. It’s the only to keep us safe at this point, sadly to say.
So I take it that the days of when a guy would sell a hot watch hanging from the inside of his coat are over lol. Unfortunately if the law starts targeting watch crime the criminals will move on to something else to steal.
I really don't understand why Rolex wouldn't want the lost and stolen registry to be available. I don't own a Rolex I simply can't afford one but if I could help lobby Rolex I am willing to do so. I collect low end dive watches, not really anything anyone would want to steal but the entire collection could fetch $10,000 or so and I would hate to lose it so I truly appreciate how you feel. Some of my Seiko's and Восток Амфибия's I rebuilt the movements just as a hobby, I have more invested in them than they're worth by far, but they're mine and I enjoyed working on them. Sometimes it's not about money it's things that mean something that can't be replaced.
@@PerthLuxury I can't argue that, it's good logic. FYI I am dodgy Jimmy but I don't work on any high end watches. Want me to scerew around with Cheap throwaway I do it just for fun, a Watchmaker I'm not. Lots of fun to have a junk yard full of movements and fix things for people. If you have something nice I'm not your man.
Pete I don't understand why the big players don't make stolen list to verification of the stolen ID number. They doesn't seem to be fair to who got ripped off , when it wasn't known it was serial number stolen. Those are thieves and the police has to be notified. I think I rember you saying you had a watch stolen. A thieves is a thief. Why Rolex would keep the watch to the rightly ownership. It should be open to checking for stolen watches. I think they keep the watch because the numbers of stolen watches. That's sad for right full owner gets screwed for sure. Keep it up brother. Neal
@@julienbenoit4511 If you're buying any Rolex that's more than 10 or 15 years old, 90% won't have papers. I just don't think that's realistic. Modern Rolex sure, but not if you want a non ceramic sub or GMT.
I knew a fella who used to sell super clones as “genuine” but stolen. So he’d sell a £500-£600 super clone for £6000-£7000. 😂 he saw it as stealing from the dishonest. And who are they going to complain to? Are they going to risk getting it authenticated? If anyone found out it was a fake he’d apologise and refund them then flog it to someone else. Not sure how I feel about it. Seems iffy AF.
Bad things happen to Good People. Some-one once told me that there are no innocent victims. Meaning that People do things which put themself's in Danger. Unfortunately, wearing a nice Watch nowadays is one of these things. Which, thanks to you Paul, I am aware of. And you are 100% correct in saying that Police and Courts need to do their parts if we going to have a chance at reversing these crimes.
Last month, I brought a couple of watches (Tag aquaracer and Tag Carrera Cal 1887 ) from a police auction ( stolen and forfeited items) I brought the aquaracer to the Tag repairers to get a battery.. Jesus they jumped so far up my ass when they checked the serial numbers it wasnt funny.. I had to show them all kinds of proof i brought them before they decide im the new legal owner of them..
Hi Paul, great vids as always really enjoy them. My question has always been can we trust dealers such as Watchfinder when they are selling recent or nearly new models when they don’t have papers or boxes? Should our community blank such watches? I personally would not purchase without box and papers unless the watch is vintage. It just seems fishy when nearly new don’t have them, how do they check they are not stolen? All the best Tony
To be fair the vast, vast majority of watches with no B&P are just fine. In fact this week there's been a rash of switch thefts meaning watches WITH box and papers were stolen. Invest in the right dealer and you are safe either way. WF might not be my own personal cup of tea. But they are safe to deal with as far as stolen watches are concerned.
Is it possible for Rolex to put a chip in the watch for tracking it I’m not sure if they are small enough but the registration system is amazing for the people buying a watch I’m hoping to get my first Rolex this year and feel reassured that there is a system in place if it gets stolen great vides.
Paul, Good video. your right on every point. Airports , another bad place to wear expensive watch. Theives size you up by your watch, and then steal your bag, wallet, purse, attache etc when your not looking.
Some go straight to the local pawn shop. I know this because I caught the guy who burgled my home at a pawn shop trying to sell one of my Rolexes. Luckily I got it back but he ran off and I never recovered any of my other watches. Also, any online seller that blurs serial numbers (like Watchbox) isn't worthy of your business. They're hiding something.
After watching this and your other recent videos I’m wondering if I should sell my luxury pieces, and just own & wear my Steinharts etc, after all I get just as much pleasure in wearing a modest price watch., but one can always keep it up your sleeve & be very careful,but that’s a drag!
My kermit was stolen by a Serbian and Napolitano painter from my home in North Italy. Carabinieri was given his name, address, phone no THE LOT. 1 year later-“they’re still waiting for a search warrant” GO FIGURE! V555111.
Paul, Thank you...I agree also that the spare parts market can be driving this. Does Rolex only sell parts to authorized dealers?. I've had lesser watches have problems getting repaired, as the repair shops can't get parts.
Many watches go out to more porous jurisdictions for order. China/Russia/Africa/middle east. Same with cars often stolen at the same time. The houses get burgled in London, Surrey and Bucks all the time and the premium goods are loaded into the boot. The cars are in shipping containers before the sun is up and traveling east where they will be sold for full price.
Checked into a hotel in Barcelona last year and the concierge told me not to wear my Rolex outside the hotel. Half hour later I witnessed a fella get decked and robbed. This definitely happens
Witnessed exactly the same thing last time I was in Barcelona. Also saw a woman there put her bag on the floor for 1 second at a metro ticket barrier and in that second someone snatched it and vaulted the barriers into the crowd. You're being targeted and stalked in all big cities
In the 90's I worked with a bloke who had a nice gold Rolex he was carrying a box through a door and caught the bezel on the door frame and damaged the bezel, he took it to a Rolex authorised dealer for repair a couple of days later his front door was put through at 6am and he was dragged down to the local police station for questioning, the watch he took for repair had been stolen in a very violent jewelers shop robbery, but he had bought it from a jewelers the only thing that saved him was that he paid for it with a cheque, he was totally innocent!!
Hi Paul, very informative video, thanks for it I gotta ask the question is how can I make sure that the watch im buying from someone or even online that its not a stolen watch?
Excellent video Paul. I think what you're saying here applies to so many other things also. I could never afford a luxury watch, but even if i could, i dont think I'd buy one because of this.
We need a great site to verify the numbers of a watch in an instant to buy with piece of mind that a watch is authentic and not stolen property. That way we can buy with confidence.
Got to have honest motivated cops that actually engage and catch the crooks or death sentences for thief's will not deter! Socialized govt buys you what you have. Take your country back. Hold the cops accountable, hold the courts and the govt held accountable and make them do the will of the people. No more rob me it's OK I cant defend myself!
There are certainly places you can enjoy your hard earned watches; Zürich, Dubai to name a couple. But it’s such a shame that 99% of places you can’t. You are on the whole correct.
I think a large part of the problem is the PC world we live in and the authorities unwillingness to take action in case it’s politically risky. I have a relative in the Met Armed Response Unit, and they were called In by local police as they had intelligence that a luxury watch store in Knightsbridge was going to be attacked by armed robbers. When the ARU unit informed the locals that their mandate was to shoot to kill if the robbers were even thought to be about to use their weapons, they were stood down as that was seen as unacceptable. But ok for the shop workers or customers to get injured I guess.
Being from eastern europe myself( unfortunately). I know for a fact that some of the stolen watches end up here, in the hands of the rich business men( not talking about 100% legit business men) I’m talking about used, expensive ( even stolen)cars dealers, goods from Russia and Belarus exporters and etc. My friend’s dad ( deals with all kind of goods) got offered Richard Mille for just of a fraction of the real price. My friend said he didn’t like it, so he passed. Said it was stolen too.
Hmmm, I guess a lot of them are broken up and sold as spare parts, as far as I'm aware, only the case and maybe the main plate are serialised and if the case is gold it could be melted down and weighed in as scrap. I don't think Rolex helps the situation much by refusing to sell parts to the general public.
A damn good idea as when the watch needs a service there needs a steer towards someone who is authorised to service these type of watches where they can be checked, and then the watch can go back to its proper owner.
francesco deminelli Rolex uses 18k gold on the case and bracelet. On a full gold President there is approx 74.91 grams of gold. Most of the gold is on the bracelet, followed by the case ring, case back and then bezel. Total value of smelted gold is around $4673.94USD at today’s (23Sep20) price of $62.39USD per gram.
Yes I do but do you know that the dial of Rolex is worth about £500 alone on the used parts market and that the price of a stolen watch is only going to be about 30% of it's value, the objective here is to make as much money out of it as possible without going to prison.
Yes I am aware of that but what is your point, as far as I'm aware, the bracelet and case ring are not serialised and if you where that concerned about the case you could use laser welding techniques to remove the old serial number and then reengrave the case.
So having a full set of 'papers' something that could help buyers ensure the provenance of the watch is not stolen or is there a better way a prospective buyer can check if a piece is lost or stolen before a sale?
There are 2 ways: one is going to watchrepair shops or watch chop shops where there are intermingled and offered as second hand refurbished watches : second is taken en gros and sent to asia and south america. Simple ! Easy peasy! Nobody's interest is returning to the owner. Not insurance company:not the police and not nobody. There is a great similarity in phone business. It would be a absolute easy task to block the chip of a stolen phone. Who wants that? Nobody , owner buying new one , conpany is thrieving like a pig , case solved! And last but not least , all the respect for you Paul , but you have either bad apples among your relatives . Cheers
There's no point buying a Rolex nowadays. The risk of getting stabbed , or having your house raided in the middle of the night is too high to enjoy having a Rolex. It's like buying a Ferrari but you can't drive it or be seen to own it in case you get attacked. What's the point?
Paul, could the organised watch gangs strip a stolen watch down to sell for parts like the Bracelet, bezel, movement, crown etc or to rebuild a watch so it could be sold at a higher price? The case is the only part of the watch with the all important serial number? It only needs a bent watchmaker!!
It happens all the time. Watches in poor condition are used to make frankenwatches. Swapping the movement from a non-sports steel model into a solid gold replica case is quite common. It is far cheaper than buying one from Rolex. It is apparently rampant in South Africa and China. A guy on Quora claimed to have bought a gold Oysterquartz from South Africa. The supposed reference was never manufactured.
Bris Vegas I was thinking for example if you had a very poor condition Submariner and replaced the parts with original stolen ones you could improve the watches condition and make thousands of pounds in profit. Technically then your not selling a stolen watch and making a few bob in the process.
@@villageroma sadly Chris although I agree with what you're saying I'm not the one making this political, someone else is (ironically his politically charged posts get ♥ likes from Paul) I'm a genuine watch enthusiast but I'll give as good as I get if someone else wants to talk gip. Ireland ≠ England
thewolfetones I was a little ironical. As italian I see stolen land and fake empires as well as fake and stolen watches. Not to be political just an honest external point of view.
Never mind the knock on the door and loss of money, you're perpetuating the crime as a dealer to take them, dealers should know that, it's the same in several trades, car parts for example. Leave them changing hands with the scumbags for a lot less than their value until they resurface and are recovered.
The GPS is a good idea because if they can make them small enough to fit in your pet they can fit it to a watch but I always assumed the stolen watch will end up in a pawn shop or jewelry store in another state or city.
Hi Paul, is there a way to check if a Rolex is stolen without sending to service? I recently bought a Rolex, don’t think it’s stolen but would be ideal to check for piece of mind.
Rolex needs to release a new model. The Rolex GPS-Master.
That’s brilliant!! 😂👍🏽
L M A O thanks for that 👌💥 so true
That's a great idea.
How many years on the waiting list after my deposit??? 🧐
My late uncle told me back in the early 90's; when buy a Rolex, make sure you buy a pistol, to go with it!
Smart guy
@Forest Donald wow this is totally really and OBVIOUSLY not fake.
@Michael Federici That's exactly the caliber of gun my uncle showed me and the one I bought for myself. 👍
THANK YOU!!!! THIS IS THE SMARTEST COMMENT I HAVE READ HERE.
Rolex probably has no interest in cooperating with police regarding stolen watches for the same reason that Swiss banks generally don’t lift a finger for all of the criminal accounts they are holding. Thank you, Paul, for at least having the integrity to not deal in watches with shady histories
And the majority accounts in Swiss banks are criminal.
Had my collection taken when some fuckheads broke into my house taking my watches, wife's jewellery and my Jeep wrangler (keys inside the house) I didnt have anything special, but I did have several vintage Enicars and Roamers that are darn near impossible to find today and I had a watch that my grandmother gave me for my christening when I was a baby that had a tonne of sentimental value.
They then used my jeep as a vehicle to go around and rob other people's houses for a week.
Police found them on the road several times *not hard in a bright orange jeep wrangler* and every single time they let them get away.
Never seen any of my watches or jewellery again
Jeep was a complete write off by the time they were done.
Victoria Police (australia) "know who they are" from CCTV footage of them filling it with diesel at petrol stations, but never laid charges or tell me who they are.
Its a fucked world my friend, sometimes I think the Police really dont give a fuck.
Just on the Jeep alone I lost over $30,000AUD as insurance fucking shafted me on EVERYTHING. Because the watches weren't itemised I for shafted on that too.
If i ever find out who it was I swear to god I'd rip their intestines out through their mouth
In one video Paul talked about a time after he had been robbed and nearly killed for a watch. He said he was back in his shop and saw two policemen looking in his store window. Paul said he activated the intercom to listen in to what they were saying. The cops said, "Oh he's the guy that got robbed, he deserved it with watches like that." Disgusting. The police very likely think it's just funny what happened to you and may even think you had it coming. If a cop thinks that having nice things is dumb then he will be indifferent. I've seen that attitude in other professions as well. There is an auto body/paint shop here that does great work on the cars they like. If they think a car is sh*t it gets the bare minimum. Consider a mace device like the site burglarbomb offers.
@F E thanks bud
100% accurate.
My Dad god bless him had his watch taken off him by some skum bag in Spain, they were in a posh car well dressed spoke to my dad for twenty minutes before conning him out of his watch ( long story ) then a year later he had a young attractive girl walk up to him showing affection with her hand on his watch ! She got told to piss off !
Great video again Paul
Paul! I would be interested to see how many watches have been recovered, "a video down the road would be greatly appreciated".
If not parted out, I would guess a lot of these watches go to overseas dealers in countries that turn a blind eye to international theft. Watch is stolen in UK and shows up on the market in somewhere like Turkey, Bulgaria, or China a few months later.
Yeah like luxury cars and plant machinery. No one cares in some countries where it came from.
Agree
I would also think there is a service industry in certain countries that specialize in black market goods so they never actually end up at official dealers or go for official services.
Until the west stands up for itself these things will continue. The sad part is it is not just watches but everything from military arms, pharma, medical equipment and even human trafficking.
One of the biggest countries on earth right now has camps full of slaves that guest used for industrial proposes. A consignment of 800 tons of wigs going into America was discovered to be human hair probably from the camps.
All watches ends up in Dubai
Back in the 80’s everybody in my country did 7-15 months of mandatory service in the armed forces. The ones who did the long haul often became officers in the reserve forces. When they were done at the War Academy they were payed a substantial bonus.
Several of them, I could say it was common practice among the cadets, marked the achievement by using that bonus to buy a Rolex Submariner.
Whst happened was that most of them ”lost” it only to got another one through the insurance. Some put they new one in a safe and was wearing the ”lost” one as a daily beater, some sold it for cash abroad since the register for stolen watches was only local. I remember being offerered to buy these watches from friends and declining.
I do believe that insurance fraud is still a large part of Rolex watches lost or stolen and that we should have a global register of this.
I'm a collector and lost a Rolex Explorer through the Canada Post....if they can put a microchip in my cat to track him they must be able to do it in an expensive watch!
Most of these watches stay within the criminal gangs sold to other crooks
Sentences for criminals found to be dealing with stolen watches or stealing watches should be much higher. At the same time I've been a victim of car theft and upon calling the police I was told why am I ringing 999 and to call 111 as it was not seen as an emergency! I insisted to speak to the police as it is a theft and was told I would be contacted within 48 hours of the phone call. I was then contacted within the next 24 hours with a crime reference number then to be further contacted with 12 hours of that to be told that the case was closed. The point of this story to show there was no urgency to find or even bother with my case which was shrugged off and basically left to be dealt with the insurance company. So sadly as much as I would love for them to put more emphasis on watch and car theft i just dont see it being a priority for them. But if we dont persist then we wont get any results. Great content paul, keep it up.
@Ahmed El-feki
Western society has effectively given up on law and order and wants to focus on BLM, sexism, racism, sex crimes, hate crimes and so on.
As if they cannot still focus on law and order and the other issues. If you look at certain politicians you will find that they do not believe in private property of any type hence why they have no regard for theft.
Living in the Philippines I would say a good majority end up in Asian second hand stores. We have a few of them in the malls that have hundreds of Rolex all without boxes and papers.
All made in china fakes
I own nothing of value.
Rent and food take up 100% of my wage.
Nothing left to lose, nothing left to worry about.
Another great and informative video. Keep up the great work, Paul!
Had my Rolex anniversary Sub stolen, along with an Explorer, by a common thief who broke into my apartment while I was at work. I registered the serial with Rolex USA, notifying them that it was stolen. Is there anything else for me to do? The police recovered the Explorer from the pawn shop, there's only one here in town, so it was the first place to look. The pawn shop though knew the Sub was stolen, so shipped it to an out of town branch of the pawn shop and sold it the same day, so that's unfortunately probably gone for ever. Insurance at least covered the purchase price, but not the appreciation.
You can actually take the pawn shop to small claims court for the watch.
Isn’t the Pawn shop (which already sounds dodgy) supposed to have ID’d the seller-thief?
what insurance did you have? we got 600 euros from our home insurance because we lost the original recept from Rolex and therefore home insurance didnt want to pay out the full amount.
A friend of mine had his watch collection stolen at his home and they ALL showed up at a reputable grey market dealer in Brussels. Go figure...
Did your mate get all of them back? That would be a great story amidst all the terrible stories we've been hearing
@@ragnarbluechip8795 They were confiscated by the police and even after 2 years did not received them back. Going to ask him about it cause it is now more then 6 years ago I think...
Please let us know which dealer it is Mariano. I used to live in Brussels and most of my friends are still there and I’d like to warn them
@@mzdbow please keep us posted on this one, brother. What a shame that even getting stolen watches back after having been found is such a load of nonsense
@@JohnK9315 I'm going to ask him about it cause I remember it was in a gallery near the grand place.
My take on this Paul is the growing underground industry of Franken watches in the high end replica community ,were they replace parts on high end fakes with genuine Rolex parts obtained on ebay for a quite considerable sum .My question is ,where are these new genuine parts coming from as we all know Rolex don't issue spares,and breaking the watches down and selling the parts is very profitable and there's very little to trace,just my tupenneth ,keep up the great work ,you're a lovely man
There are forgers that can do incredible jobs. The art world is plagued by them. The same applies in the watch world.
Many are coming out China where there are industrial scale counterfitters that can produce things by the thousands.
The only way to discover any of this would be to have large scale forensic analysis of many goods but what do you think the chances of this happening.
The media will not even call out China for running concentration camps that use human hair in products. Or labour for products. There is also a chance that Children's toys may actually have had toxic elements applied to them on purpose.
Our media could figure all of this out in 5 minutes if they wanted to.
Thank you for making this. I was burgled 7 yearsago and my safe was ripped out of my floor containing my watch collection. I'm still devastated as they were mistakenly under insured, hence there was no insurance payout. I would love to be involved in anyway to help put pressure on the powers that be to help everyone recover their watches.
so sad to read this :'(
Some lucky burglar
The biggest thieves in the watch industry are Rolex. These are ordinary mass produced industrial watched which are sold for way more than they are worth due to slick advertising.
A Ford for Aston Martin prices.
I’m in Scotland where one of the most high profile robberies in recent years was the raid on the Rolex boutique at Gleneagles Hotel in 2017. You can find the CCTV footage online. I think the gang have all been caught and given custodial sentences by now, but they stole £500K’s worth of watches which have never been recovered. I’ve often wondered what happened to those watches. Perhaps they’re stashed away somewhere, quietly appreciating in value whilst the culprits serve their jail time. 🤔🕵🏻♂️
Craig Thomson 500k how many in the gang . 10 or 5 let’s say 5 that’s 100k each so they get 5 years of jail. That’s 20k per year you would get more working in Mac Donald’s
@@timeintheuk 500k of stole watches so they probably soled them fo 30%$ of price and got 150k out of that robbery. 150k for 5 guys that's 30k. For 5 years it makes 6k a year, lol. Those assholes stealing watches are just pathetic apes.
You are doing the international watch community a service with your videos. Thank you sir.
ROLEX, PLEASE set up a lost/stolen register on your website. This would be SO EASY and a no-brainer for customer support. Doing so would also strengthen your brand image.
Lovely information Paul. Also want to say watching your videos is a pleasure - Audio is clear and at proper levels. Video is clear and crisp, with proper colouration, saturation, brightness and white balance. Cheers Mate.
Watching these type of videos just makes me wonder if it’s worth pursuing this hobby anymore.
Aaron Poon you should stop
It's not for you.
The gold standard for buying a second hand watch is 'box & papers'. We know a replica box can be bought from the net very easily and I'm sure the papers, including the receipt could be forged. Do you know of any watch getting back to the MD which has complete box and papers which turns out to be on their stolen list? If your answer is yes then the only place where you could be certain to buy a genuine watch would be from a MD. Similarly if every watch is 'moody' unless verified by a MD it should be almost impossible to sell your watch to anyone outside the MD network.
Great work Paul! Your efforts will come to fruition! Thanks for caring!
What has happened to the World that you can’t own an expensive car or watch without fear of being attacked or robbed.
It’s always been like that. Robbery is nothing new. Sadly.
Great video again Paul. I've decided not to wear my Rolex in public anymore. It's sad because you can't have anything anymore but my life is more important. I will only wear it when I think it's safe but won't even let it be seen in public again. 😤
Steven Taylor exactly the same after Chris story it’s proved no matter of your carful behaviour still risky
Depending where I go I feel comfortable wearing my Tudor in many places though I wear a Seiko when I know that I need to be prudent but I only wear my better pieces out when I’m going somewhere with valet parking or I know has security or going to a friend’s home. I won’t let the world stop me from enjoying watches but I’ve adapted. The fact is that when I was young I was actually mugged for an Armitron and the cash in my wallet.
You're the voice of experience my friend. Thanks for sharing. Best regards from Adrian in Sheffield South Yorkshire 😆😺
Thank you…As always Paul, another interesting video that is hugely well informed, lots of good advice and very much appreciated content.👍🏻🙌🏻
Great content Paul. Thank you so much for the education.
It seams to me that if Rolex chooses to no longer keep a "lost or stolen register", then they are actively participating in the stolen Rolex market. I say this from the stand point that it is now safe to send in a Rolex with questionable origin to get serviced. Previously Rolex would flag the questionable watch and return it to the legal owner. Rolex in essence has increased their market in servicing Rolex watches, where previously people would need to find alternative means to get their watch serviced.
I don't think it's a good idea for them to return it to the original owner, what if it was a gift from a relative? See how logically that wouldn't work? You take your watch in for service suddenly it's gone somewhere else think how you would feel?
The register still exists. The problem is access for the common vs the dealer.
I like your videos, informative and enlightening.
Hey Paul, love your vids...keep them coming.
Is there a website where the average consumer can go to check if a watch being sold from an online dealer is legit? How can the purchaser make sure the watches being sold are not stolen or fake...perhaps something for one of your next videos.
Paul, did you ever get your Rolex watch back from Rolex that you reported to us last week where they contacted you directly?
Spot on again! Importent that you sett focus on these crimes Paul! Police and juditiary system needs to step up effort!
Paul, thank you for the outstanding service you are doing to the watch community. Thank you for keeping us informed, and most importantly to try to keep us safe. I have been robbed in Brazil at gunpoint, and they took the Milgauss I got for my 18th birthday. Since then, I have always recommended to anyone to simply not wear your pieces. Anywhere that you deem dangerous. It’s the only to keep us safe at this point, sadly to say.
Just don't go to scummy countries
Brilliant video Paul! Totally answers a comment I left on another recent video of yours. Cheers! Keep up the good work!
So I take it that the days of when a guy would sell a hot watch hanging from the inside of his coat are over lol.
Unfortunately if the law starts targeting watch crime the criminals will move on to something else to steal.
Thanks for taking our side! a lot of love back to you!
I just wanted to show my appreciation that someone discusses this topic since nobody seems to care.
Strong message. & nice jacket by the way.
Ted black wanted to see if anyone else noticed :)
I really don't understand why Rolex wouldn't want the lost and stolen registry to be available. I don't own a Rolex I simply can't afford one but if I could help lobby Rolex I am willing to do so. I collect low end dive watches, not really anything anyone would want to steal but the entire collection could fetch $10,000 or so and I would hate to lose it so I truly appreciate how you feel. Some of my Seiko's and Восток Амфибия's I rebuilt the movements just as a hobby, I have more invested in them than they're worth by far, but they're mine and I enjoyed working on them. Sometimes it's not about money it's things that mean something that can't be replaced.
@@PerthLuxury I can't argue that, it's good logic.
FYI I am dodgy Jimmy but I don't work on any high end watches. Want me to scerew around with Cheap throwaway I do it just for fun, a Watchmaker I'm not. Lots of fun to have a junk yard full of movements and fix things for people. If you have something nice I'm not your man.
Thanks Paul, always enjoy your content.
Great video that covers a topic I'm sure we've all wanted to know about.
Pete I don't understand why the big players don't make stolen list to verification of the stolen ID number. They doesn't seem to be fair to who got ripped off , when it wasn't known it was serial number stolen. Those are thieves and the police has to be notified. I think I rember you saying you had a watch stolen. A thieves is a thief. Why Rolex would keep the watch to the rightly ownership. It should be open to checking for stolen watches. I think they keep the watch because the numbers of stolen watches. That's sad for right full owner gets screwed for sure. Keep it up brother. Neal
Thanks for the video Paul. A solution could be to NEVER buy without box and papers. Some can make fakes one, but still.
That's a bit extreme. Vast majority of watches don't have box and papers unless they're very very new.
@@joesnapple83 not if you take care. Several resellers I know have this policy.
@@julienbenoit4511 If you're buying any Rolex that's more than 10 or 15 years old, 90% won't have papers. I just don't think that's realistic. Modern Rolex sure, but not if you want a non ceramic sub or GMT.
@@joesnapple83 true. I will try to pick one in the 10%. At a higher price, but risk is then minimal.
I knew a fella who used to sell super clones as “genuine” but stolen. So he’d sell a £500-£600 super clone for £6000-£7000. 😂 he saw it as stealing from the dishonest. And who are they going to complain to? Are they going to risk getting it authenticated? If anyone found out it was a fake he’d apologise and refund them then flog it to someone else. Not sure how I feel about it. Seems iffy AF.
Thank you for the public service information. Wish there was more proactive policing.
Bad things happen to Good People. Some-one once told me that there are no innocent victims. Meaning that People do things which put themself's in Danger. Unfortunately, wearing a nice Watch nowadays is one of these things. Which, thanks to you Paul, I am aware of. And you are 100% correct in saying that Police and Courts need to do their parts if we going to have a chance at reversing these crimes.
Last month, I brought a couple of watches (Tag aquaracer and Tag Carrera Cal 1887 ) from a police auction ( stolen and forfeited items) I brought the aquaracer to the Tag repairers to get a battery.. Jesus they jumped so far up my ass when they checked the serial numbers it wasnt funny.. I had to show them all kinds of proof i brought them before they decide im the new legal owner of them..
Hi Paul, great vids as always really enjoy them. My question has always been can we trust dealers such as Watchfinder when they are selling recent or nearly new models when they don’t have papers or boxes? Should our community blank such watches? I personally would not purchase without box and papers unless the watch is vintage. It just seems fishy when nearly new don’t have them, how do they check they are not stolen? All the best Tony
To be fair the vast, vast majority of watches with no B&P are just fine. In fact this week there's been a rash of switch thefts meaning watches WITH box and papers were stolen. Invest in the right dealer and you are safe either way. WF might not be my own personal cup of tea. But they are safe to deal with as far as stolen watches are concerned.
Hi Paul, as always you are a fountain of information. Love your videos.
Great channel Paul. Excellent content.
Keep up the good work paul !!!..thank you
Is it possible for Rolex to put a chip in the watch for tracking it I’m not sure if they are small enough but the registration system is amazing for the people buying a watch I’m hoping to get my first Rolex this year and feel reassured that there is a system in place if it gets stolen great vides.
Paul, Good video. your right on every point. Airports , another bad place to wear expensive watch. Theives size you up by your watch, and then steal your bag, wallet, purse, attache etc when your not looking.
Some go straight to the local pawn shop. I know this because I caught the guy who burgled my home at a pawn shop trying to sell one of my Rolexes. Luckily I got it back but he ran off and I never recovered any of my other watches.
Also, any online seller that blurs serial numbers (like Watchbox) isn't worthy of your business. They're hiding something.
After watching this and your other recent videos I’m wondering if I should sell my luxury pieces, and just own & wear my Steinharts etc, after all I get just as much pleasure in wearing a modest price watch., but one can always keep it up your sleeve & be very careful,but that’s a drag!
Good advice Paul. You could also argue that like other pieces of 'Portable wealth', they are originally bought to launder money!
nice video and useful info, as usual!
My kermit was stolen by a Serbian and Napolitano painter from my home in North Italy. Carabinieri was given his name, address, phone no THE LOT. 1 year later-“they’re still waiting for a search warrant” GO FIGURE! V555111.
If were you I'd be banging on the police's door until they do something or arrest you for harassing them.
If I were you me and some friends would have been down in person. Not your fault the police aren't doing shit. Time to take it into your own hands
Great work Paul .
Paul, Thank you...I agree also that the spare parts market can be driving this. Does Rolex only sell parts to authorized dealers?. I've had lesser watches have problems getting repaired, as the repair shops can't get parts.
Many watches go out to more porous jurisdictions for order. China/Russia/Africa/middle east. Same with cars often stolen at the same time. The houses get burgled in London, Surrey and Bucks all the time and the premium goods are loaded into the boot. The cars are in shipping containers before the sun is up and traveling east where they will be sold for full price.
Checked into a hotel in Barcelona last year and the concierge told me not to wear my Rolex outside the hotel. Half hour later I witnessed a fella get decked and robbed. This definitely happens
Witnessed exactly the same thing last time I was in Barcelona. Also saw a woman there put her bag on the floor for 1 second at a metro ticket barrier and in that second someone snatched it and vaulted the barriers into the crowd. You're being targeted and stalked in all big cities
I avoided the metro in Barcelona and Parkee my hire car in a safe place. Not a safe place.
This is why private watchmakers are doing good business at the moment because of all the stolen Rolex going around and other makes ..
Paul, if I’m ever in a alley fight, I want you on my side. You serve up the truth with no bullshit.
Nice video Paul saw you in Brighton on Friday
In the 90's I worked with a bloke who had a nice gold Rolex he was carrying a box through a door and caught the bezel on the door frame and damaged the bezel, he took it to a Rolex authorised dealer for repair a couple of days later his front door was put through at 6am and he was dragged down to the local police station for questioning, the watch he took for repair had been stolen in a very violent jewelers shop robbery, but he had bought it from a jewelers the only thing that saved him was that he paid for it with a cheque, he was totally innocent!!
Hi Paul, very informative video, thanks for it
I gotta ask the question is how can I make sure that the watch im buying from someone or even online that its not a stolen watch?
Excellent video Paul. I think what you're saying here applies to so many other things also. I could never afford a luxury watch, but even if i could, i dont think I'd buy one because of this.
Hi. I always understood that if you buy a pre owned watch then you should insist on the box and papers to just limit this action
BOAT bad for bank balance , use someone else’s. Boat stands for Bust out another thousand. Steer clear.
Cheers Paul
Good content
Thanks Paul. Keep up the good work :)
We need a great site to verify the numbers of a watch in an instant to buy with piece of mind that a watch is authentic and not stolen property. That way we can buy with confidence.
Why would a victim not report it? Unless they are dead?
The answer tracker sensor 🤔
As you say Paul ,we need tougher sentences.The days of openly wearing high end watches just anywhere are over.Keep up the good work and stay safe.
Got to have honest motivated cops that actually engage and catch the crooks or death sentences for thief's will not deter! Socialized govt buys you what you have. Take your country back. Hold the cops accountable, hold the courts and the govt held accountable and make them do the will of the people. No more rob me it's OK I cant defend myself!
There are certainly places you can enjoy your hard earned watches; Zürich, Dubai to name a couple. But it’s such a shame that 99% of places you can’t. You are on the whole correct.
I think a large part of the problem is the PC world we live in and the authorities unwillingness to take action in case it’s politically risky. I have a relative in the Met Armed Response Unit, and they were called In by local police as they had intelligence that a luxury watch store in Knightsbridge was going to be attacked by armed robbers. When the ARU unit informed the locals that their mandate was to shoot to kill if the robbers were even thought to be about to use their weapons, they were stood down as that was seen as unacceptable. But ok for the shop workers or customers to get injured I guess.
Being from eastern europe myself( unfortunately). I know for a fact that some of the stolen watches end up here, in the hands of the rich business men( not talking about 100% legit business men) I’m talking about used, expensive ( even stolen)cars dealers, goods from Russia and Belarus exporters and etc.
My friend’s dad ( deals with all kind of goods) got offered Richard Mille for just of a fraction of the real price. My friend said he didn’t like it, so he passed. Said it was stolen too.
I think undercover police teams should wear replica rolexes in London and that way attract the criminals. Float the bait and wait with a team.
The Police are not interested..it’s too much hassle.
Hatton garden takes the most stolen watches in London 90% of the dealers
Seen it first hand, they somehow make matching papers for it
Mohammed Sahjan marching papers as in the plastic card?
Jay Jay yes both iv seen it all very easy
Ask them would they buy my Rolex watch here from the US
@Caseyjones4849
Excellent vlog, real food for thought I would never dream of spotters looking for drivers.
Good advice Paul, never wear my Oyster Perpetual when going out with the lads. Even on holiday I wear a lesser value watch.
Well said, thank you.
Excellent analysis.
Just wondering Paul ,do other luxury watch makers operate a lost and stolen register
Keep up the good work bud.
Hmmm, I guess a lot of them are broken up and sold as spare parts, as far as I'm aware, only the case and maybe the main plate are serialised and if the case is gold it could be melted down and weighed in as scrap.
I don't think Rolex helps the situation much by refusing to sell parts to the general public.
A damn good idea as when the watch needs a service there needs a steer towards someone who is authorised to service these type of watches where they can be checked, and then the watch can go back to its proper owner.
francesco deminelli Rolex uses 18k gold on the case and bracelet. On a full gold President there is approx 74.91 grams of gold. Most of the gold is on the bracelet, followed by the case ring, case back and then bezel. Total value of smelted gold is around $4673.94USD at today’s (23Sep20) price of $62.39USD per gram.
francesco deminelli that’s not correct. The cat converter from these are worth over $1000 dollars alone in scrap value n
Yes I do but do you know that the dial of Rolex is worth about £500 alone on the used parts market and that the price of a stolen watch is only going to be about 30% of it's value, the objective here is to make as much money out of it as possible without going to prison.
Yes I am aware of that but what is your point, as far as I'm aware, the bracelet and case ring are not serialised and if you where that concerned about the case you could use laser welding techniques to remove the old serial number and then reengrave the case.
So having a full set of 'papers' something that could help buyers ensure the provenance of the watch is not stolen or is there a better way a prospective buyer can check if a piece is lost or stolen before a sale?
There are 2 ways: one is going to watchrepair shops or watch chop shops where there are intermingled and offered as second hand refurbished watches : second is taken en gros and sent to asia and south america. Simple ! Easy peasy! Nobody's interest is returning to the owner. Not insurance company:not the police and not nobody. There is a great similarity in phone business. It would be a absolute easy task to block the chip of a stolen phone. Who wants that? Nobody , owner buying new one , conpany is thrieving like a pig , case solved! And last but not least , all the respect for you Paul , but you have either bad apples among your relatives . Cheers
There's no point buying a Rolex nowadays. The risk of getting stabbed , or having your house raided in the middle of the night is too high to enjoy having a Rolex. It's like buying a Ferrari but you can't drive it or be seen to own it in case you get attacked. What's the point?
They go back to the AD for resell lol
Good infomation.👍🏼
Paul, could the organised watch gangs strip a stolen watch down to sell for parts like the Bracelet, bezel, movement, crown etc or to rebuild a watch so it could be sold at a higher price? The case is the only part of the watch with the all important serial number?
It only needs a bent watchmaker!!
It happens all the time. Watches in poor condition are used to make frankenwatches. Swapping the movement from a non-sports steel model into a solid gold replica case is quite common. It is far cheaper than buying one from Rolex. It is apparently rampant in South Africa and China.
A guy on Quora claimed to have bought a gold Oysterquartz from South Africa. The supposed reference was never manufactured.
Bris Vegas I was thinking for example if you had a very poor condition Submariner and replaced the parts with original stolen ones you could improve the watches condition and make thousands of pounds in profit. Technically then your not selling a stolen watch and making a few bob in the process.
Hi Paul, greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪 part of which is under an occupation we never wanted as a people 👍
Mate you are off topic.. talking about stolen watches not stolen lands 😜
@@villageroma sadly Chris although I agree with what you're saying I'm not the one making this political, someone else is (ironically his politically charged posts get ♥ likes from Paul) I'm a genuine watch enthusiast but I'll give as good as I get if someone else wants to talk gip. Ireland ≠ England
thewolfetones I was a little ironical. As italian I see stolen land and fake empires as well as fake and stolen watches.
Not to be political just an honest external point of view.
great video as aways what do you think about chronext
Keep it the good work 👍
Never mind the knock on the door and loss of money, you're perpetuating the crime as a dealer to take them, dealers should know that, it's the same in several trades, car parts for example. Leave them changing hands with the scumbags for a lot less than their value until they resurface and are recovered.
The GPS is a good idea because if they can make them small enough to fit in your pet they can fit it to a watch but I always assumed the stolen watch will end up in a pawn shop or jewelry store in another state or city.
Hi Paul, is there a way to check if a Rolex is stolen without sending to service? I recently bought a Rolex, don’t think it’s stolen but would be ideal to check for piece of mind.
Also appreciate advice on how to prove ownership over a second hand watch?