Riot Stolen watches

Possession of stolen goods is a crime almost everywhere.

Matt

 

I don’t understand your question too well. What do you mean what’s with the looters? They’re either going to keep the watches or sell them. Even if they’re stolen there’s still a market for that, unfortunately.

 

Exactly. Who knows how many hands will have touched that watch in a year. There might be some unsuspecting Joe buying a watch off Craigslist who thinks he's getting a pretty good deal. Then 5 years later he takes it in for servicing at Rolex and BAM! they hold the watch because it was reported stolen. There is no downside for the guy that stole it, unless he gets caught.

 

Yeah, there are independent servicers. When you hear about black markets (cough Russia cough) there must be a way to move them undetected.


Now whether these ****heads can make those connections, who knows.

 

Sending watches or jewelry to Russia is very difficult from what I know. Most stolen watches are either sold at a discount to buyers who know (either in the US or overseas) or to customers who don't know (likewise, also to US or overseas buyers).

 

Protesting is very different from rioting and looting. Unfortunately, sometimes they go hand in hand. The rioters and looters are the opportunists. They want to cause trouble, damage/destroy things, and steal things because of the opportunity caused by the protests. Some have the motivation to steal and make a quick buck off the flip. Others steal for their personal use. Whatever the motivation, those are ill gotten gains.

AFAIK, there is no such database for watches.

 

https://www.thewatchregister.com/
the FBI also has a link for stolen high end watches www.jewelerssecurity.org

 

Some of the 'Watch' youtubers have covered this topic (Paul Thorpe comes to mind) including interviews with the Watch Register, and the challenges they face with keeping such a database. IIRC some of the manufacturers do not cooperate/share info.

 

It appears Omega does not keep track of that when a watch is sent in for service. https://omegaforums.net/threads/omega-stolen-watches.41617/#post-487878

Omega is probably not among the "high end" watches being mentioned in this thread, but some models do exceed $20k USD although uncommon.

Funny thing though that Omega will not service my watch as it's custom/franken but would a stolen one apparently...

 

Watch makers really don't care. They worry more about a replica. A stolen watch is not a lost sale. Its going to someone who wasn't going to buy one anyway.

In fact its replaced by another to the dealer's inventory who probably got the money from insurance to buy a new one.

 

It will be interesting to see how many insurers invoke the “Civil Unrest” clause and refuse to pay out.

 

Have you ever seen that “clause” as an actual exception or exemption to an insurance claim?

Matt

 

Not for watches, but My neighbor is my attorney. He is currently dealing with it for commercial clients related to warehouses. He is doing preemptive work currently in preparation. So far no insurers have denied claims.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login So I just got my “updated” and “new and comparable” policy from American Modern. Guess what clause is in it... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Lol that's quite the doomsday policy!!