Sorry for what happened to you and great job on finding your watches. Thanks for raising awareness on how things can go wrong when selling watches. The more we talk about these problems, the better. Hello from another Belgian guy (I'm from Liège too! :-) ).
Great/worrying story. Every time I hear these scam stories it confirms to me why I can’t be a flipper. Terrifying. I’d rather get ripped off by one of the big second hand resellers than go through this.
The morale of the story is: dont buy a pre owned watch from Hong Kong. The grey marker dealers dont even check if they are stolen or not. I go back to HK regularly and was even thinking about getting a preowned watch from these shops. Thanks you for the video, I dont think I will now.
As a HK resident as well, I would like to tell you all that most products you buy like mobile phones and electronics have 2 prices. One that is original product from the manufacturer from that country and the other price is for the product which is only made for HK market. Take that for what you want. Also there is a shopping mall dedicated for mobile phones in mong kok where phones are traded and price are cheap because some phones have aftermarket parts. I wouldnt be surprised if these watches have aftermarket parts in them. Just get them checked out yourselves before you purchase. It seems these grey market dealers over there dont care. I have a friend who purchased a rolex platinum daytona a few years back in Dubai from a reputable grey market dealer. He has purchased from them many times and not had a problem. He recently serviced that watch at rolex and he was told it was a stolen watch. It has been a year now, the watch had not been returned, and the grey dealer has not accepted responsibility. 50k down the drain.
What a crazy story. It's a good thing you have your watches back. I think it's good that you can put it all into perspective, that's good for you. There are indeed worse things in life but for a watch geek this is a nightmare. I hope you can get your money back from these thugs. I wish you all the best Eric From Belgium
Excellent perspective on the fiasco...You handled it better than 99% of the people walking the earth...kudos to you! I'm quite sure you have good things coming your way.
man .. very sorry to hear . about this . I feel the pain .. And thanks for sharing this with your viewers , a lot of people will benefit . Wishing you all the best always 👍
Thanks for sharing this mate. In particular, the cheque machine deposit scam with the main bank. Awful that you’re out of pocket despite the recovery of the watches. The JLC is a beautiful piece...
Glad you got your watches back. I got scammed of my Tudor earlier this year in the UK, and for me, it was an unhappy ending and it's gone. Been grieving every day since. I completely understand how you felt. Most importantly, I'm glad you're ok now.
Damn. You were very lucky with this!!!! So happy you got your watches back..The wait for the collection of the watches must have been stressful to say the least.
That was scary 😱😱😱 but thankfully HK police was able to help you get them back. If it happened in my country, there is absolutely no way to get it back. Great detective work by you too.
Wow! Glad that you got them back. But all that extra expense and trouble... An expensive lesson to be sure! 😱😱😱 On a lighter note, I can't help but remark on a HKG police officer owning a Patek?! What kind of payscale are those officers on?! And where can I sign up?! 😁😁😁
I'm pleased you got your watches back. These scammers are discusting people. Also, I didn't know AD's try to charge extra for the spare links. When buying a car here in the UK, they charge you extra for the car mats. That's like saying the wheels are going to cost you extra. What happened to good customer service?
About the links, it’s secondhand dealers that do that, not ADs. It’s always good to ask if they have all the links on recent models otherwise they’ll keep them to resell.
This is why buying from a private seller is risky. Even if they have the paperwork, the watch could be stolen and when discovered, the original owner will get it back leaving you out of pocket. I’m glad you got your watches back. I think you should keep them, they look great on you.
Well, in this case, if not for Upticks detective skills, you could as well have bought the stolen watch from pre owned dealer. As Paul Thorpe pouts out frequently, Rolex used to have a “lost/stolen register”, which they killed for unexplainable reason. It was a great tool, especially for the dealers.
Christian Weimer true, but at least if you unknowingly buy a stolen watch from a reputable dealer you’d get a refund when the rightful owner came knocking.
Horrifying story. You having to bail out your own property from the watch dealers. The fact that they can simply accept illegal goods without any due diligence knowing worst case they can get a free payday when the owner comes looking, is not right. And the police advising the crime victim to ransom out their goods, deterring with threats of long uncertain legal procedures. Corrupt from bottom to top. Good work from your side I guess and ofc glad the watches came back, but there is no justice in this story.
Well the dealers lost money. So on the Milgauss the dealer paid $6400 and I paid half back for example. So they take a risk on each purchase. Where both dealers put their reputation on the line is that the ID used by the thief is fake and the birth year is way off. I took a pic of it myself and although I didn’t pick up on it at that moment I think they should have. The kid was in his early twenties and the ID birth year was 1981. Honestly I think they run minimum checks and hope to resell quick knowing there’s little chance Inspector Uptick will come by looking. I had a decent case for Court but the police knew it could sway the other way no matter what.
Thank you for the full story, what a bad experience! Definitely learned something and glad I watched the video. A pity that you had to buy them back :(
Great crime thriller! Glad you got your watches back. If I were the main detective I’d be suspicious too, given the vast sea of watch shops in HK. My question: Since you had to buy your watches back, on net, would you have been better off just selling to a dealer at the beginning? Feel free to account for lost time, since your time is valuable. I imagine having both the interpreter and the evidence manager be watch guys helped, since surely there was chit chat in Cantonese where the detective expressed skepticism, while the HK locals said something like “Oh, this gweilo is legit, he’s a real watch expert and collector.” Note that I don’t know what the equivalent of gweilo is in Cantonese.
Bloody hell, mate. What an ordeal. So happy you got them back. Shocked about having to pay the shops to get them though! Utter BS. Shouldn’t they be insured against that type of thing? What’s to stop them being in on the crime? Edit: you’d have thunk the police would have gone round the the watch dealer shops like you did to find them instead of you having to do it 🙄
I think you conspired with the thief to have a great story to tell and boost your UA-cam stats. What a shame. Just kidding! Wow. What a story. Thanks for sharing! I hope you had a good birthday this week! That Milgauss looks awesome, glad you got it back.
"The dealers give you that service." (Buying from criminals and selling.) Perhaps the 'courier' (thief that actually stole the watches from you) worked for the dealer. The dealer got your name on the papers, but didn't get the name of the courier? The dealer didn't contact you to see if you didn't sell the watches, or to ask you to check your bank? I think the dealer knew about this practice and was negligent-if not the master of this theft.
Now you convince me to buy my first luxury watch from the local AD. Thinking to get a Tudor BB58 but still deciding on the Black or Blue. The Blue is never seen in an AD sadly.
Good that it ended up well for you, I almost got scammed myself when I was selling my Rolex a few months ago. I hate those scumbags that practice these kind of scams! One day they should find someone who gives them what they deserve! Unfortunately "kids" nowadays have too much experience with technology and if somebody who sells is not savvy enough he will ended up hurt...
@@christianweimer6124 I could, although to go into details it would be a long message (I don't have a UA-cam channel to make a video about it...). It also depends on which Country you live in for you to understand. I explain: here in The Netherlands there is something called Tikkie which is very used to transfer money. If you are curious about what happened to me, you can just Google: Tikkie Scams and I'm sure you will be able to read some articles on Dutch Newspapers - in English.
Interesting stolen property law...... you end up paying 80% for your own watch that has just been stolen. I guess dealer reputation doesn’t count for much over there ! And they even steal a link...... jeassuz ! These dealers have no downside if they don’t take any pain for buying stolen watches.
They both lost money but let’s just say I won’t go shopping at Swiss Watches in HK again. I had actually offered them to buy a watch from their stock if I recovered my watch. That was before I knew I’d have to pay to get the watch back. It’s ok, if the pandemic lasts they won’t be around for much longer. The other shop is a family run shop and I wish them well.
A story that is hard that you must be a victim. Rushing the streets to find your babies back. Next to your found JLC, at the left, the great Longines Lindbergh. Waiting for a HK civilian to be bought. Like an orphan, mother Longines is hoping for a letter from faraway. My Lindberg met his designer, and it was cool to talk with him. And when you filmed the window with submariners, i saw you take the Hulk in a close up. Any plans to buy a Hulk? Crime, i am not a fan of it. When the police officers are watch enthusiasts, stolen watches can be found back faster. Watch shops can also be victims of crime, and the best thing is to hold ref numbers, warranty cards, special marks, pictures, dates, and other valuable administration in storage. Thinking about insurance, vaults, and secure handling. Secure handling like avoiding creepy sections of places when you wear for example an AP Royal Oak Off shore in white gold. Take a Casio. Do not wear a Rolex when taking the metro. Take a Rado.
So the combo price for both watches I was selling was $18k. The dealers each paid about $6500 to the thief. My cost to get the watches back was about $8300... aouch.
Cash is king, sell the watch at your bank, deposit the money, hand the watch over. Could have been worst, it could have been one of your PP's or Lange. Expensive leason (shit happens).
I know that you can actually get stolen luxury brand watches from ADs in Thailand. Price they sell at is ridiculously low and are certified real by the ADs themselves, but they won't give you a certificate.
Ah man, I hope both watches shoot up in value so you can have the last laugh. Sad story and disappointed you had to pay extra money just to get your own watches back. Can the shops not claim via their insurance so you don’t have to pay extra? That process seems wrong. Great work finding them I must say, kudos to you.
Thanks Mark. Shops say they’re not insured for such a case but rather for violent theft. I think the JLC is worth more in gold now than as a watch. The Milgauss has also gained a lot in value while this lasted (July-November). I might break even ;-)
I am in the exact same scenario now. The scam tactic they used was identical. Interestingly is that they actually caught the guy and recovered the watch on a pawnstore. The police recommended I settle 50/50 but the pawnshop rejected this. I don't want to pay 30k for a 50k watch which I lost to begin with... So the police says this may go to court. Not sure what happens next.
Sorry to hear that. It's amazing how HSBC is still accomplice to these scams daily. If they caught the guy then it should be easier in Court to force the thief to pay the money back. Let us know how it goes.
Yes I will but the scammer is a repeat offender and apparently has no money. So... But what I found crazy is I was sitting there and I also took a picture of the guy, believe it or not, because something felt off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time.
JLC: the shop gave about 54k to the thief so basically trying to double. I had to drop over 40k to get my watch back so yeah, I’ll never buy a watch from Swiss Watches... The other shop paid a fair price for the Milgauss and operated on a tighter margin. Nothing unusual because the Rolex market is a lot more active.
Also, if you do that “consolidation video”, I’d really love to know, which 3 you’d be keeping, if it was the maximum you could keep. I know it’s a hard one considering your enormous collection. But that’s the whole point of the exercise.
By consolidation I think more in the lines of replacing many of the watches by a couple of heavy-hitters while keeping the classics. Keeping 3 out of my collection is near impossible.
I understand. Still would like to know, which of them you could not pair with, even if it’s more than 3. Regarding upgrading I understand, as it seems to be the normal way of developing. Please don’t maneuver yourself in the same position as Archie, where he basically found out what he really likes and now has 5 of the same :)
You had to pay twice for the watch that fucking sucks i hate thieves more than anything, if id ever cought someone especially who stole something of such value i would literally cut their finger off on each hand
It's hard to stop a selling process while yre in it and even if you have some warning intuition because one hand you need to hear them to protect you but on the other you need a minimal dose of trust when you do that to not be completely paranoïaque Glad to hear that finally you could get them back although you you had to pay for it Cheers mon ami
Depressing tale about humanity -- but great detective work which resulted in you tracking down your watches. I agree with other comments here that it's probably better to take a hit with a main dealer.
Wow, those 2 shops (po tat in MK and swiss watches in tst) are places that I go to frequently to look for watches.... Prob will avoid those 2 shops....
Did you have to pay the shops anything? They were too happy to buy stolen property with no ownership provenance. If HK entertains buyer claims it only furthers the scam system. These shops would be in a no lose situation if the worst that happens to them is getting their money back. In the US we've learned from watching Pawn Stars that there is a mandatory waiting period before resale. The same should apply to those wild and wooly HK dealers. They bought from a sketchy character and had them for sale straightaway. If they had sold immediately you'd have never had a clue. Those dealers reveal their basic disreputable nature by acts, removing links and pocketing boxes.
Sorry for what happened to you and great job on finding your watches.
Thanks for raising awareness on how things can go wrong when selling watches. The more we talk about these problems, the better.
Hello from another Belgian guy (I'm from Liège too! :-) ).
Sorry that happened to you. Very happy you got the watches back. Excellent police work by you finding them!
Great/worrying story. Every time I hear these scam stories it confirms to me why I can’t be a flipper. Terrifying. I’d rather get ripped off by one of the big second hand resellers than go through this.
I agree.
The morale of the story is: dont buy a pre owned watch from Hong Kong. The grey marker dealers dont even check if they are stolen or not. I go back to HK regularly and was even thinking about getting a preowned watch from these shops. Thanks you for the video, I dont think I will now.
As a HK resident as well, I would like to tell you all that most products you buy like mobile phones and electronics have 2 prices. One that is original product from the manufacturer from that country and the other price is for the product which is only made for HK market. Take that for what you want. Also there is a shopping mall dedicated for mobile phones in mong kok where phones are traded and price are cheap because some phones have aftermarket parts. I wouldnt be surprised if these watches have aftermarket parts in them. Just get them checked out yourselves before you purchase. It seems these grey market dealers over there dont care. I have a friend who purchased a rolex platinum daytona a few years back in Dubai from a reputable grey market dealer. He has purchased from them many times and not had a problem. He recently serviced that watch at rolex and he was told it was a stolen watch. It has been a year now, the watch had not been returned, and the grey dealer has not accepted responsibility. 50k down the drain.
What an amazing story. So pleased for you. Many people would have given up. Well done 👏
I got my 16622 scammed this year in Feb with the same way in Hong Kong, I still haven't got my watch back. :(
What a crazy story.
It's a good thing you have your watches back.
I think it's good that you can put it all into perspective, that's good for you.
There are indeed worse things in life but for a watch geek this is a nightmare.
I hope you can get your money back from these thugs.
I wish you all the best
Eric
From Belgium
Excellent perspective on the fiasco...You handled it better than 99% of the people walking the earth...kudos to you! I'm quite sure you have good things coming your way.
So sorry to hear that this happened to you, Uptick :(
Glad your watches were recovered!!
Amazing you got those watches back. You are one lucky person.
Wow, this is quite the story! Sorry this happened, but a great lesson for us all. Thanks for sharing.
man .. very sorry to hear . about this . I feel the pain .. And thanks for sharing this with your viewers , a lot of people will benefit . Wishing you all the best always 👍
Thanks for sharing this mate. In particular, the cheque machine deposit scam with the main bank. Awful that you’re out of pocket despite the recovery of the watches. The JLC is a beautiful piece...
Happy to hear you got your watches back.
Better investigative skills than the Detective. What a hassle but I'm glad you got them back.
Glad the pieces are back in your posession. Sad that this affair goes on, and so many untrustworthy buyers. Glad it all worked out.
Glad you got your watches back. I got scammed of my Tudor earlier this year in the UK, and for me, it was an unhappy ending and it's gone. Been grieving every day since. I completely understand how you felt. Most importantly, I'm glad you're ok now.
I’m really sorry to hear this buddy 😢
Was it a similar scam?
Nasty people out there, some unwanted experiences along the way, but pleased you got them back.
Damn. You were very lucky with this!!!! So happy you got your watches back..The wait for the collection of the watches must have been stressful to say the least.
Man that was a great story . Glad you got it back and boy you are one lucky lad . 👍
Sherlock “Uptick” Holms !🤣
Amazing story. In my opinion the best way to sell is through consignment with a reputable second hand watch dealer.
Good story. Thanks for sharing. Glad you finally got your watches back and didn't have to wait the two years you were told might take.
Wow, I'm glad you were able to get your watches back safely. Crazy story
Glad you managed to get back your watches even though you had to pay for those. Stay safe...cheers!
That was scary 😱😱😱 but thankfully HK police was able to help you get them back. If it happened in my country, there is absolutely no way to get it back. Great detective work by you too.
Wow! Glad that you got them back. But all that extra expense and trouble... An expensive lesson to be sure! 😱😱😱 On a lighter note, I can't help but remark on a HKG police officer owning a Patek?! What kind of payscale are those officers on?! And where can I sign up?! 😁😁😁
I’m happy that you got your watches back. I would suggest you get your watches, get them insured immediately.
Happy for you to retrieve back the timepieces upon your own detective work based on your knowledge of the HK market and locations.
Wow Uptick you are the terminator! Thats amazing you found them, congrats!
I'm pleased you got your watches back. These scammers are discusting people. Also, I didn't know AD's try to charge extra for the spare links. When buying a car here in the UK, they charge you extra for the car mats. That's like saying the wheels are going to cost you extra.
What happened to good customer service?
About the links, it’s secondhand dealers that do that, not ADs. It’s always good to ask if they have all the links on recent models otherwise they’ll keep them to resell.
@@UptickWatchReviews ok cool, thanks.
Grab a beer? Well it's only 5:40 am, but ok. you're the boss
👊
This is why buying from a private seller is risky. Even if they have the paperwork, the watch could be stolen and when discovered, the original owner will get it back leaving you out of pocket.
I’m glad you got your watches back. I think you should keep them, they look great on you.
Well, in this case, if not for Upticks detective skills, you could as well have bought the stolen watch from pre owned dealer.
As Paul Thorpe pouts out frequently, Rolex used to have a “lost/stolen register”, which they killed for unexplainable reason.
It was a great tool, especially for the dealers.
Christian Weimer true, but at least if you unknowingly buy a stolen watch from a reputable dealer you’d get a refund when the rightful owner came knocking.
Send it away, if it comes back to you...it’s true love. Looks like true love!
Great ending and really happy for you. I definitely learned something today. Thank you
Entertaining story with a wonderful ending! Glad that you got your watches back safe and sound! Sorry that it had happened.
If I ever lose a watch I will hire Uptick to hunt it down.
Crazy story! So happy you got your watches back 👍🏻
I noticed from other youtubers like yourself, the more experience people have flipping watches, the less careful they get.
Great video. I enjoyed it very much keep up posting such interesting videos. Will be back to watch more in the future
Thanks for sharing, the fact we use cheques here in Hong Kong is so annoying for such a financial city. Sorry you lost out.
Horrifying story. You having to bail out your own property from the watch dealers.
The fact that they can simply accept illegal goods without any due diligence knowing worst case they can get a free payday when the owner comes looking, is not right. And the police advising the crime victim to ransom out their goods, deterring with threats of long uncertain legal procedures. Corrupt from bottom to top.
Good work from your side I guess and ofc glad the watches came back, but there is no justice in this story.
Well the dealers lost money. So on the Milgauss the dealer paid $6400 and I paid half back for example. So they take a risk on each purchase. Where both dealers put their reputation on the line is that the ID used by the thief is fake and the birth year is way off. I took a pic of it myself and although I didn’t pick up on it at that moment I think they should have. The kid was in his early twenties and the ID birth year was 1981. Honestly I think they run minimum checks and hope to resell quick knowing there’s little chance Inspector Uptick will come by looking. I had a decent case for Court but the police knew it could sway the other way no matter what.
Thank you for the full story, what a bad experience! Definitely learned something and glad I watched the video. A pity that you had to buy them back :(
Archie must have learned pinching 🤏 links from from a shop like that!
Great crime thriller! Glad you got your watches back. If I were the main detective I’d be suspicious too, given the vast sea of watch shops in HK. My question: Since you had to buy your watches back, on net, would you have been better off just selling to a dealer at the beginning? Feel free to account for lost time, since your time is valuable. I imagine having both the interpreter and the evidence manager be watch guys helped, since surely there was chit chat in Cantonese where the detective expressed skepticism, while the HK locals said something like “Oh, this gweilo is legit, he’s a real watch expert and collector.” Note that I don’t know what the equivalent of gweilo is in Cantonese.
Great story…wish I’d seen this 3 months ago when several of mine were stolen in Hong Kong.
Well done investigator Conan and thanks god you got your watch back
Bloody hell, mate. What an ordeal. So happy you got them back. Shocked about having to pay the shops to get them though! Utter BS. Shouldn’t they be insured against that type of thing? What’s to stop them being in on the crime?
Edit: you’d have thunk the police would have gone round the the watch dealer shops like you did to find them instead of you having to do it 🙄
The universe gave you message. Appreciate them.
Great story, thanks for sharing
Those dealers are shady. Pinching links, extortion for returning stolen goods.
You wonder whether the dealers are in on it as well? 🤔
I think you conspired with the thief to have a great story to tell and boost your UA-cam stats. What a shame. Just kidding! Wow. What a story. Thanks for sharing! I hope you had a good birthday this week! That Milgauss looks awesome, glad you got it back.
"The dealers give you that service." (Buying from criminals and selling.) Perhaps the 'courier' (thief that actually stole the watches from you) worked for the dealer. The dealer got your name on the papers, but didn't get the name of the courier? The dealer didn't contact you to see if you didn't sell the watches, or to ask you to check your bank? I think the dealer knew about this practice and was negligent-if not the master of this theft.
The cops wearing the nice watches might be involved too.
Haven't watched fully yet, but man so good that you got them back :)! Dropped a like already :)!
Nice sharing! Hope you could retrieve the losses soon!
Now you convince me to buy my first luxury watch from the local AD. Thinking to get a Tudor BB58 but still deciding on the Black or Blue. The Blue is never seen in an AD sadly.
Good that it ended up well for you, I almost got scammed myself when I was selling my Rolex a few months ago.
I hate those scumbags that practice these kind of scams! One day they should find someone who gives them what they deserve!
Unfortunately "kids" nowadays have too much experience with technology and if somebody who sells is not savvy enough he will ended up hurt...
Can you share your story?
@@christianweimer6124 I could, although to go into details it would be a long message (I don't have a UA-cam channel to make a video about it...). It also depends on which Country you live in for you to understand. I explain: here in The Netherlands there is something called Tikkie which is very used to transfer money. If you are curious about what happened to me, you can just Google: Tikkie Scams and I'm sure you will be able to read some articles on Dutch Newspapers - in English.
Can't wait for the Uptick sting operation video where he catches the thieves red-handed.
Thought about it...
Interesting stolen property law...... you end up paying 80% for your own watch that has just been stolen. I guess dealer reputation doesn’t count for much over there ! And they even steal a link...... jeassuz ! These dealers have no downside if they don’t take any pain for buying stolen watches.
They both lost money but let’s just say I won’t go shopping at Swiss Watches in HK again. I had actually offered them to buy a watch from their stock if I recovered my watch. That was before I knew I’d have to pay to get the watch back. It’s ok, if the pandemic lasts they won’t be around for much longer. The other shop is a family run shop and I wish them well.
The Explorer is comforting after an experience such as this. Less is more.
If I had to have just one watch, this is it for sure.
A story that is hard that you must be a victim. Rushing the streets to find your babies back.
Next to your found JLC, at the left, the great Longines Lindbergh. Waiting for a HK civilian to be bought.
Like an orphan, mother Longines is hoping for a letter from faraway. My Lindberg met his designer, and it was cool to talk with him.
And when you filmed the window with submariners, i saw you take the Hulk in a close up.
Any plans to buy a Hulk?
Crime, i am not a fan of it. When the police officers are watch enthusiasts, stolen watches can be found back faster. Watch shops can also be victims of crime, and the best thing is to hold ref numbers, warranty cards, special marks, pictures, dates, and other valuable administration in storage.
Thinking about insurance, vaults, and secure handling. Secure handling like avoiding creepy sections of places when you wear for example an AP Royal Oak Off shore in white gold. Take a Casio.
Do not wear a Rolex when taking the metro. Take a Rado.
Thank you for another great video
What a story!
Thank you for sharing it.
Out of curiosity: what was your asking price for the Milgauss?
So the combo price for both watches I was selling was $18k. The dealers each paid about $6500 to the thief. My cost to get the watches back was about $8300... aouch.
7500€ +\-, reasonable price in germany. Thank you
Reason I will never buy a modern watch used or new without papers.
Good story for all to learn from....sorry that it happened. Nvr want that to happen to anyone, as a collector it's scary out there.
Cheaper to put a contract on the thiefs head.....
Cash is king, sell the watch at your bank, deposit the money, hand the watch over. Could have been worst, it could have been one of your PP's or Lange. Expensive leason (shit happens).
I know that you can actually get stolen luxury brand watches from ADs in Thailand. Price they sell at is ridiculously low and are certified real by the ADs themselves, but they won't give you a certificate.
Ah man, I hope both watches shoot up in value so you can have the last laugh. Sad story and disappointed you had to pay extra money just to get your own watches back. Can the shops not claim via their insurance so you don’t have to pay extra? That process seems wrong. Great work finding them I must say, kudos to you.
Thanks Mark. Shops say they’re not insured for such a case but rather for violent theft. I think the JLC is worth more in gold now than as a watch. The Milgauss has also gained a lot in value while this lasted (July-November). I might break even ;-)
I am in the exact same scenario now. The scam tactic they used was identical. Interestingly is that they actually caught the guy and recovered the watch on a pawnstore. The police recommended I settle 50/50 but the pawnshop rejected this. I don't want to pay 30k for a 50k watch which I lost to begin with... So the police says this may go to court. Not sure what happens next.
Sorry to hear that. It's amazing how HSBC is still accomplice to these scams daily. If they caught the guy then it should be easier in Court to force the thief to pay the money back. Let us know how it goes.
Yes I will but the scammer is a repeat offender and apparently has no money. So... But what I found crazy is I was sitting there and I also took a picture of the guy, believe it or not, because something felt off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time.
Could you advise what percent is their profit for each watch? If they're selling the JLC was 108K, how much did they buy it from the scammer?
JLC: the shop gave about 54k to the thief so basically trying to double. I had to drop over 40k to get my watch back so yeah, I’ll never buy a watch from Swiss Watches...
The other shop paid a fair price for the Milgauss and operated on a tighter margin. Nothing unusual because the Rolex market is a lot more active.
Also, if you do that “consolidation video”, I’d really love to know, which 3 you’d be keeping, if it was the maximum you could keep.
I know it’s a hard one considering your enormous collection.
But that’s the whole point of the exercise.
By consolidation I think more in the lines of replacing many of the watches by a couple of heavy-hitters while keeping the classics. Keeping 3 out of my collection is near impossible.
I understand. Still would like to know, which of them you could not pair with, even if it’s more than 3.
Regarding upgrading I understand, as it seems to be the normal way of developing. Please don’t maneuver yourself in the same position as Archie, where he basically found out what he really likes and now has 5 of the same :)
Bunch of crooked thieves. I'd never buy a watch from anyone in Hong Kong. The dealers are just as much a theif as the guy who stole them from you.
You had to pay twice for the watch that fucking sucks i hate thieves more than anything, if id ever cought someone especially who stole something of such value i would literally cut their finger off on each hand
Terrible man...
It's hard to stop a selling process while yre in it and even if you have some warning intuition because one hand you need to hear them to protect you but on the other you need a minimal dose of trust when you do that to not be completely paranoïaque
Glad to hear that finally you could get them back although you you had to pay for it
Cheers mon ami
Dame you were lucky
The Explorer in a great watch! 😃
Glad you got them back :)
Depressing tale about humanity -- but great detective work which resulted in you tracking down your watches. I agree with other comments here that it's probably better to take a hit with a main dealer.
Wow, those 2 shops (po tat in MK and swiss watches in tst) are places that I go to frequently to look for watches.... Prob will avoid those 2 shops....
Thank you for the entire story. Glad to hear that you’ve got them back!
Did you have to pay the shops anything? They were too happy to buy stolen property with no ownership provenance. If HK entertains buyer claims it only furthers the scam system. These shops would be in a no lose situation if the worst that happens to them is getting their money back. In the US we've learned from watching Pawn Stars that there is a mandatory waiting period before resale. The same should apply to those wild and wooly HK dealers. They bought from a sketchy character and had them for sale straightaway. If they had sold immediately you'd have never had a clue.
Those dealers reveal their basic disreputable nature by acts, removing links and pocketing boxes.
Won't do that again wil ya.
Bien joué mec 👍🏻
:)
11:44 That a nice “full set” JLC
LOL