Found a Rolex years ago. What to do with it now?

Free things can end up being very expensive.

 

Guy get's drunk and loses his ass at Casino De - Monte Carlo . Leave's to walk home / hotel ? Stumbles and the watch gets caught on something and snaps the band pin's . To drunk to even think about the watch . Also really the only way a numeral would fall off if it was a really hard drop , or FAKE , (still amazing how the #1 digit isn't visible) . What a story this is and congrats!

 

You can get a one year warranty extension and a soda - maybe.

 

Any update? I would love to see the pictures after service. What a find.

Edit: It likely won't be back for another 4-8 weeks right?

It's worth it when it's an +80k watch.

 

By a strange coincidence I also found a Rolex lying in the road near my home the other evening. It looked like it had suffered some impact damage, as if it had been dropped from a car, as there were some scratches on the glass and the bracelet, and a couple of the dial markers had become detached, and were loose inside the watch.

It's a GMT-Master II, so I rang the local police and asked them whether I should bring it to them. They said they weren't willing to store lost property, so I asked if they'd had any reports of a lost watch. They checked back to 9 May and said no.

However, I've concluded that it's almost certainly a fake. Firstly, I'd expect a genuine Rolex to be tough enough to absorb the impact from being dropped from a car without the markers becoming detached. I don't know how they're fixed on a real one, but I'd expect with a screw, so that they couldn't detach, no matter how hard the impact.

Secondly, if it is genuine it's extremely odd that it's not been reported missing. A used one in good condition is selling in the UK for around £13k (around $16k) so if someone had lost one I'd have expected them to try and find it, which would include telling the police (though I guess if it belonged to a local drug dealer he might not want to bring his ownership of an expensive watch to their attention!)

Even though it almost certainly is a fake I have to say that to my untrained eye (and the eyes of my equally untrained friends) it's a pretty good one. There are certainly no really obvious indicators that it's fake. No doubt if I could get the back off it might be a bit more obvious.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what to do with it. I quite like it as a decorative item, and wouldn't mind wearing it occasionally, but I can't really take it to a reputable watch repairer to get it fixed, and I don't know any disreputable repairers!

Anyone want to buy a fixer-upper fake?

 

I'll give ya $10 for it.

 

Post pics! Honestly, I would love to see it! And I may be interested in buying it. I have a couple of fakes that I intermix with my real ones. My favorite fake was a gift from another F-chatter. I have had that watch almost 10 years and have had it serviced and repaired a few times now. It works fairly well, but is just in the rotation these days.


PDG

 

Awesome! Have to laugh at the dealer saying one Daytona was a big ask, two extremely difficult...and the white face was in stock. lol

 

Awesome and great ending for you. Just read through the thread quickly and you must have gone through quite an ordeal at the beginning. Glad that you brought it back to the AD. The photos at the beginning of the thread does show that the watch is authentic. I have two similar Daytonas in black dial, one in WG and another YG and these are discontinued models.

Luck must be really on your side exchanging it with two SS Daytonas. Enjoy your new watch!

 

Such an awesome thread. Enjoy!

 

Nicely done Jay! I would have had to have thought long and hard about giving up that Sodalite Daytona though.


PDG

 

Boy that Watch has Presence!! I don't know that I could let it go. GL

 

Completely 100% understand! I am certainly glad this story played out like it did for each of you.


PDG

 

I have no idea what the original watch is worth, but I'm a big fan of stainless steel sports watches, so I think you made a great trade! Enjoy!

 

The original owner of the watch was someone that lost the watch in a game of poker to a classmate of mine from boarding school. His wife told him that he had a gambling problem and he had the choice of her or gambling. She then told him that he can show her the choice by keeping the watch and lose her or throw the watch out the window as they were heading back to Lyon. His family owned a ski resort in the French Alps NE of Lyon. I can put you in touch with Rudy if you want me to do so.

No, this isn't a fake story. I heard this story years ago when I went to a reunion and we talked. His wife was laughing when he told the story. She then joked that he has a fast car problem and she wanted to know if he was going to keep her or the Ferrari. He started to say that he would sell the car. She stopped him and said that his giving up gambling was more than enough. He sold his F355 anyways. She bought him a couple of sports cars since but he sold them and bought himself the only thing worse - an airplane - a Piper Mirage.

He is currently flying it around the world with his wife. They plan on stopping in Tully, Queensland to visit his sister in about a month. He plans on flying north from there to Alaska, down the west coast of the US and to Mexico. I am meeting him in Cabo San Lucas and will be flying with him to Ushuaia, Argentina, back up through the Caribbean, the East Coast, across Greenland to Iceland, and to his home in Geneva. Today he owns a private plane charter company based in Switzerland.

 

MY best guess would be an angry girlfriend or wife through it out the window of a car.

If I Were given that watch and wasn't that into the style of it, I Would sell and get something else that I really wanted.

If I were to hang on to it, I would keep my eyes peeled for the steel bracelet and buy when a deal pops up. I Would also change that band to a black or dark blue nylon. That way you have dress and casual.

 

If true, this would be a remarkable story.


PDG

 

I like this watch and appreciate that it is different. I Can't get past the blue crocodile strap though lol. It just screams Russian mafia too much for my taste.


Did Rolex give you any compensation for the damaged dial? I would think that even in its condition it would have to be worth something.

 

And I am amused that exotic Italian cars cost xx,xxx.00 in maintenance....

 

Wait'll you price the maintenance of exotic Italian women with watches.