No apology necessary. It's always a learning process. As I said, let's see how it plays out. Stranger things have happened and it's always good hear about things like this.
I'm glad you asked and reminded me! My funky schedule did not allow us to meet the other day but I have a new plan of attack that will hopefully work for the both of us.
I do hope it is real as you said it would help your mom out. We all do things for our moms as they are precious to us. If it doesn't pan out, at least you tried.
I would be waiting at that jewelers door the next morn,,,,,,waiting for them to open so they can authenticate it!!!
Take some pictures of it with the crown unscrewed and post them here. People here may not be able to authenticate it without actually seeing it but if it's a fake there are usually signs.
I've been in every Rolex shop I've come across globally. I've only ever seen ONE Leopard Daytona (that's what people usually call this watch). It was at an AD in Maui. Pretty, my wife tried it on, said no way in hell. Anywho, I'd be curious to know if it's authentic or not! Let us know man!
The friend I mentioned is stopping by in the morning to check it out, fingers crossed, so I'll report back with the results soon afterwards. Just for grins I called a local authorized Rolex dealer and spoke with the watchsmith and he said the Leopard Daytona's did not have the "Dayton 24" on the back face, underside, of the watch but I'm still holding out hope.
My friend lives in my neighborhood just five houses down from my house and I see him drive by almost every morning so it is not a inconvenience for him, he is a car guy aswell . My digital camera was stolen so all I have is my cellphone and the pics I did take are very low quality with no detail and not worth posting.
Wait. Do I have this right? You have a friend who is a watch/jewelry specialist who lives five houses away. You are sitting on a watch that you are soliciting offers on to the rest of us, that stands to mean a significant money to you, and have not walked over to his house and asked him to verify it's real? If I am not missing a major piece of the puzzle, something is not adding up. To put it in perspective: I have a major watch dealer 3 blocks away. We are friendly but don't hang out socially or anything. I wouldn't casually refer to him as "my friend." If I had a watch that I thought might be worth $3k, before I even breathed a word of it to anyone, I would be knocking on his door at the stroke of 9a on Sunday morning.
Gregg, Why didn't you go to an authorized Rolex dealer to have them authenticate the watch? It takes less than 5 minutes to authenticate. They open the back of the case and look at the movement. They flash a bright light on the dial and look at the luminance of the markers. They run a couple more tests that take seconds. And when they are done, they will give you a sheet of paper on their letterhead saying it is an authentic Rolex watch. They will even appraise it for you. 5 minutes and you would know if it is real. The only reason not to do this is if you fear the watch was stolen and you are in posession of stolen property. If this does turn out to be an authentic watch I couldn't keep it from the family that sold it at a garage sale. I would be honest with them. Can you imagine a member of your family selling grandpa's $10 watch and in reality it is worth thousands? God is giving you a test to see how honest you are. When we pass God's tests he blesses us with an abundance.
If it's real, there's certainly that moral dilemma. However, this is one of the reasons I'm highly skeptical. A showpiece Rolex, tool watch origin or not, has a heft and finish quality that's definitely up there with other high end watches. A Leopard Rolex would be pretty outstanding in person. I just can't see someone being ignorant of the potential value of a Rolex by its brand, the finish quality in their hands, and with so many diamonds. Even if you don't know a Rolex, diamonds are diamonds, and you'd have to wonder if they weren't real and get it checked out yourself. You'd have to be pretty clueless as a seller not to make sure that it was a fake before letting go of it.
