Bad sign, serial number issue :(

[Mr. K]

Ken, great news. Glad it worked out. Although a huge hassle.

[londondude]

Great news! Really happy it worked out as well as it could given the circumstances.

[madsitalia]

Awesome news.

[SudiYunus]

Originally Posted by KenV

Hi,

The Munich dealer said they will give me a full refund. I received the police seizure report from my local AD last week and that was sent to the Munich dealer. I am hoping to get a refund within a week or so.

I will update once the money has arrived in my account. It is looking good so far.

Ken

Fantastic

[enjoythemusic]

Sorry to hear of the troubles, great to hear the dealer will do right by you.

[NAUI1982]

Originally Posted by KenV

Hi,

The Munich dealer said they will give me a full refund. I received the police seizure report from my local AD last week and that was sent to the Munich dealer. I am hoping to get a refund within a week or so.

I will update once the money has arrived in my account. It is looking good so far.

Ken

Really hope you do! Unfortunate for the headache you’ve endured, but making it right will be the capstone to the migraine.

[KatGirl]

Originally Posted by KenV

Hi,

The Munich dealer said they will give me a full refund. I received the police seizure report from my local AD last week and that was sent to the Munich dealer. I am hoping to get a refund within a week or so.

I will update once the money has arrived in my account. It is looking good so far.

Ken

That’s good news. I hope you can find a new watch that you love. Perhaps you can get a CPO piece, at an AD. You are exactly the right customer for that program. Good luck to you and your wife.

Kat


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[Boopie]

Great news! Thanks for the updates.

I was wondering if you insured your watch…my insurance company asks for the model and serial number…I presume my insurance carrier has access to some database to determine if the watch is stolen. Otherwise, they’d be insuring a stolen watch. Can anyone verify if insurance carriers run a serial number check?

If you did insure your watch, and you gave the insurance carrier the serial #, I d be curious to see their reaction to the determination that your watch was previously reported stolen.

[georgekart]

Originally Posted by KenV

Hi,

The Munich dealer said they will give me a full refund. I received the police seizure report from my local AD last week and that was sent to the Munich dealer. I am hoping to get a refund within a week or so.

I will update once the money has arrived in my account. It is looking good so far.

Ken

Congratulations. That's about as good of a resolution for the situation as it can get.

[1William]

Good news. Keep us posted.

[alphadweller]

Excellent! Glad to hear you're getting your money back. One of the pitfalls from buying preowned, unfortunately.

[Runfar]

essshhh not good at all sorry to hear that and glad they did right by you after that experience

[KenV]

I received a full refund this morning.

I bought the watch in November 2019, so I had it for coming up to five years. Fortunately the dealer was still in business and gave a refund.

So, what did I learn?

• Even though Rolex papers can be forged, I think the papers add one more level of security to the purchase.
• I would not buy from an unknown private seller since there would be little recourse in the event of an issue
• I should have had the watch serviced by Rolex soon after buying it. I would rather find out it was stolen not too long after the purchase. I did take the watch into my local AD in December 2021 due to an issue with the clasp. They fixed it and returned it. I guess it is only for an internal service that the AD may contact Rolex.
• I think a healthy secondary market is good for Rolex. A secondary market allows people to easily trade or sell their watches and helps maintain watch values. This in turn may encourage someone to buy new if they know it can be easily sold if required. Rolex should allow registered aftermarket sellers access to their stolen/lost watch database. I am sure these dealers would be willing to pay an access fee since it would make their purchases safer. If dealers could check the serial numbers before they buy a used watch it would allow them to reject stolen watches. If a thief can not easily flip a stolen watch then maybe there would be less theft since it is not easy cash.
• The Rolex stolen/lost database seems to be the definitive database. The Watch Register database may be large, but my watch was not listed there. If I had a watch stolen I would definitely register the theft with Rolex. I did not even know there are other databases.

The watch needed an 800 Euro repair and in the past, the AD said that the fix they did on the clasp was the best that could be done, and if the issue happened again, then a replacement band would be required. Since this was a two tone, I would guess that would not be cheap. So maybe I saved some Euros on current/future repairs.

So, where to from here? My wife and I went to the local AD to pickup the seizure report and said we are interested in a blue steel Sky-Dweller. Maybe he felt sorry for us, but he did register my name and said it should be possible to get one within a year. Time will tell.

Thanks for all the responses to this thread.

Ken

(The look we gave the AD when asking about the Sky-Dweller)

[madsitalia]

Awesome. I’m so glad it turned out good after all of your troubles.
Thank you for posting your story and keeping us updated. I think a lot of us cheered for you.

All the best, and keep in touch when you get the call

[brandrea]

Glad it all worked out for you in the end

[londondude]

Good to hear you got your money back. In my opinion this really highlights the risks of buying a second had watch. I really wish Rolex opened up their stolen register so that people could easily check whether a watch is stolen or not. I guess that’s not in their interest, especially now that they are offering their very own CPO program.

[1William]

Glad that this worked out. I like your commentary and some of that would work.

[NigeG]

A great ending to what must have been a difficult, frustrating and stressful 10 weeks. Good that the dealer you purchased from supported you correctly.

Initially I was really quite excited about the prospect of the CPO programme until I saw the prices being charged by WoS group here in the UK. Whilst they’re priced at these levels I’m never going to buy anything. £14K + for GMT Master 16710s and plenty of them. Seen lots of others between £8 - £10K several with boxes and papers at a variety of well established bricks n mortar sellers.

I bought my 16610 privately. The previous owner had taken it to St James RSC and purchased a new link for the bracelet. I have the invoice for that with the serial number of the watch printed on it. I thought it’s quite a robust way of checking it’s not on Rolex’s stolen watch database. Whether you can get that into a condition of sale with an independent dealer I don’t know but I would certainly try.


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[KatGirl]

Great news! I hope your AD gets you that Skydweller sooner, rather than later. I’ve seen both the blue and green in person, and both are stunning.

Kat


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[worldofoyster]

glad it works out in OP's favor.

[Cambo]

Great news!

[alphadweller]

Thanks for sharing your experience and glad to hear about the positive outcome and the lesson learnt. Good luck with the blue SkyD.

[77T]

Originally Posted by KenV

I received a full refund this morning.

I bought the watch in November 2019, so I had it for coming up to five years. Fortunately the dealer was still in business and gave a refund.

So, what did I learn?

• Even though Rolex papers can be forged, I think the papers add one more level of security to the purchase.
• I would not buy from an unknown private seller since there would be little recourse in the event of an issue
• I should have had the watch serviced by Rolex soon after buying it. I would rather find out it was stolen not too long after the purchase. I did take the watch into my local AD in December 2021 due to an issue with the clasp. They fixed it and returned it. I guess it is only for an internal service that the AD may contact Rolex.
• I think a healthy secondary market is good for Rolex. A secondary market allows people to easily trade or sell their watches and helps maintain watch values. This in turn may encourage someone to buy new if they know it can be easily sold if required. Rolex should allow registered aftermarket sellers access to their stolen/lost watch database. I am sure these dealers would be willing to pay an access fee since it would make their purchases safer. If dealers could check the serial numbers before they buy a used watch it would allow them to reject stolen watches. If a thief can not easily flip a stolen watch then maybe there would be less theft since it is not easy cash.
• The Rolex stolen/lost database seems to be the definitive database. The Watch Register database may be large, but my watch was not listed there. If I had a watch stolen I would definitely register the theft with Rolex. I did not even know there are other databases.

The watch needed an 800 Euro repair and in the past, the AD said that the fix they did on the clasp was the best that could be done, and if the issue happened again, then a replacement band would be required. Since this was a two tone, I would guess that would not be cheap. So maybe I saved some Euros on current/future repairs.

So, where to from here? My wife and I went to the local AD to pickup the seizure report and said we are interested in a blue steel Sky-Dweller. Maybe he felt sorry for us, but he did register my name and said it should be possible to get one within a year. Time will tell.

Thanks for all the responses to this thread.

Ken

(The look we gave the AD when asking about the Sky-Dweller)

I am relieved to hear the refund was made. Your other advice should serve others well in my opinion.


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