Armed Robbery Today At My Dealer - I Just Missed It !!!!!

[Welshwatchman]

No Bull,

Took my wife and two kids to London to combine picking up my new watch and doing a bit of shopping.

Anyway arrived at my specialist dealer (can't state publicly who it was at this time) a little later than arranged due to delays my end.

The window is smashed, the door is busted and the display of vintage Rolex and other high end jewelry are empty.

An armed gang of 6 cleared the extremely valuable lines in less than 60 seconds, at 10am in the morning with a cafe FULL of people opposite.

A rough estimation of just under a million pounds worth gone, Vintage Newman Daytonas (plural), double reds, 1680 reds, vintage milgauss amongst the loot.

No-one hurt, thankfully and they did not try to get to the diamonds as they would have had to have been there a lot longer to do that.

If I had been on-time with my early morning plan I would have been in the mix with my two young daughters and wife.

The staff were shaken up, the place was a crime scene so I was taken elsewhere to complete my trade. My new watch was not expensive enough for the robbers.

A couple of quick and dirty photos of my new addition, at last a Daytona back in the collection.

[Blue Bull]

Originally Posted by Welshwatchman

No Bull,

No Bull ... ? I promise I wasnt there ...

Glad you missed it.Hope the dealer is well insured.

[Solo118]

Horrible story, But a sweet ending, That Daytona is stunning!!!!! WG?

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by Solo118

Horrible story, But a sweet ending, That Daytona is stunning!!!!! WG?

No the YG so called "modern newman" dial on a strap. The lighting is a bit shite so that's how the pic came out.

I will do a couple of decent pics (for me, at least) in the daylight.

They are insured and no one tried to play the hero, so no blood needlessly spilled.

[RT]

Welshwatchman:

Are those the pictures of the gold Daytona that you picked up from the jewelry store which was robbed this a.m.? It is a very pretty watch.

Gee, I thought strong armed robberies like that rarely happened in London. I used to live in West Malling, Kent and traveled to London a lot and never experienced or even heard of such a violent crime. I am glad that you and yours missed the " unwanted excitement".

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by RenoTommy

Welshwatchman:

Are those the pictures of the gold Daytona that you picked up from the jewelry store which was robbed this a.m.? It is a very pretty watch.

Gee, I thought strong armed robberies like that rarely happened in London. I used to live in West Malling, Kent and traveled to London a lot and never experienced or even heard of such a violent crime. I am glad that you and yours missed the " unwanted excitement".

Yes Tommy,

I picked the watch up from the room behind the main display area. My contact was very shaken but still dealt with me professionally. I came up from Cardiff especially to get the watch at a pretty special price (even JJ would approve).

The last time I bought a watch there it was ready waiting for me in the display area. So either this time it was kept elsewhere or it was not on the robbers "nick list".

No mention of it on the local radio when I was traveling back. If there's not dismemberment or death involved it's not newsworthy these days, unless Paris Hilton, Pete Andre, David Beckham or Jade Goody have changed their hairstyle.

[Dan Pierce]

Wild story, beautiful Daytona.
dP

[watchnut]

Some guys just cannot wait their turn for a new Rollie!

[mike]

Congrats on a fantastic watch! The important thing is you and your family were not hurt!

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by mike

Congrats on a fantastic watch! The important thing is you and your family were not hurt!

Cheers Mike

It has sent shivers down my spine. I don't give a fook about me, I have seen many a nasty sight and predicaments in my time but my kids being in harms way I cannot bear thinking about.

[Teofilo]

Paul,maybe the robbers heard that the gold ingot train was coming up from the Valleys ?
Cracking new watch !!!!

[Solar]

Congrats indeed, and glad that you and your family (or anyone else this time) weren't hurt. The Daytonay's a beaut.

And when someone offers you a good price and a hot Rolex, just remember that there's very little "victimless" crime in this world.

In my opinion.

Chris

[Solar]

Duplicate

[JJ Irani]

Congrats on the new Daytona, Paul....but your timing at the scene of the crime was terrible. Think of all the "hot" action you missed!!

[Tools]

Quick, look around.....maybe hey left a trail of goodies :)

[RT]

Originally Posted by Welshwatchman

Yes Tommy,

I picked the watch up from the room behind the main display area. My contact was very shaken but still dealt with me professionally. I came up from Cardiff especially to get the watch at a pretty special price (even JJ would approve).

The last time I bought a watch there it was ready waiting for me in the display area. So either this time it was kept elsewhere or it was not on the robbers "nick list".

No mention of it on the local radio when I was traveling back. If there's not dismemberment or death involved it's not newsworthy these days, unless Paris Hilton, Pete Andre, David Beckham or Jade Goody have changed their hairstyle.

************************************************** ********
luckily the police allowed the store employee to finish you business. It'd be a real "bummer" if you'd have to return to London some other day for the pick up. I was stunned as to how expensive the (train) fares were nowadays in the UK. Perhaps I was brought up when a couple of "bob" was considered "big money". I missed the old currency, I missed those (train) cars which had a door for each compartment to allow passengers to enter and exit directly onto the platform. Those were probably way before you time.

Also, you were lucky that your watch wasn't one of the stolen, or there goes your "good-buy". If I were the robber, I definitely would have taken your watch.....it is soooooo beautiful!!!

[Steven79]

dang, glad you're okay and safe. it's you, the children and wife that matters most.

glad everything went okay on your end.

[montecristo]

Any pics of the smashed up shop?

[Mrdi]

Clean Daytona!!

[C.J.]

Congrats on the Daytona, and I'm glad you and the family weren't caught up in the troubles

[davor]

congrats ...happy that nobody got hurt

[sub2004]

Forget the watch, glad your family is safe mate

[Edensknight]

Originally Posted by mike

Congrats on a fantastic watch! The important thing is you and your family were not hurt!

Wow! What an amazing and attractive Daytona! The black leather strap and clasp are both eloquent and elegant features that compliment the black dial face superbly! Thank you for sharing the pics of your latest Rollie, my friend! Simply stunning!

[Uncle-AJ]

Thank goodness you were late for your appointment Paul. I had a similar incident in Manchester but my appointment was the day after the robbery. I was surprised just how quickly the shop had been refitted.

That Daytona is a beauty, well worth the train fare.

[Fitchy]

Originally Posted by RenoTommy

Welshwatchman:

Are those the pictures of the gold Daytona that you picked up from the jewelry store which was robbed this a.m.? It is a very pretty watch.

Gee, I thought strong armed robberies like that rarely happened in London. I used to live in West Malling, Kent and traveled to London a lot and never experienced or even heard of such a violent crime. I am glad that you and yours missed the " unwanted excitement".

I work in South London and yes its a very violent place, car jackings, violent street robberies, murders, all on a daily basis, when travelling to work i see many different yellow boards asking can you help with any of the above.

I think that its not reported in the news to keep the tourist coming, i've felt safer wandering around NYC at night, at least they have a zero tollerance policy.

[coltex]

Although one may like to think differently, London is like any of those large cities around the world but more often heard of in the USA and Canada where violent crimes occur on a daily basis.
The shop will have insurance, but my heart goes out to those innocents who may buy these stolen watches in the future, only to have them seized when the watches are found to be stolen.

[AdamB]

Paul, from your description I assume it is the place just off Bond St, bad news :(

These guys are bold, I use two AD's inside a shopping mall, both have been done recently. One had a sledge hammer put through their window and a load of watches grabbed, the other had a gun pulled on him and the guy snatched three watches he had asked to see from the window.

Both robberies, inside an enclosed shopping mall, the suspects then made off through the mall!

Glad you're safe and your family managed to avoid it!

[RT]

Originally Posted by Fitchy

I work in South London and yes its a very violent place, car jackings, violent street robberies, murders, all on a daily basis, when travelling to work i see many different yellow boards asking can you help with any of the above.

I think that its not reported in the news to keep the tourist coming, i've felt safer wandering around NYC at night, at least they have a zero tollerance policy.

************************************************** ********

Perhaps this is another case that "the grass is greener on the other side".

I had no trouble being alone by myself in the "Tube" changing train at midnight (we stayed at Earls Court), but I certainly wouldn't do that in NYC. Come to think about it, I did many stupid things in London and from looking back, I was lucky not getting killed. One day, I went to an open market in Greenwich and saw this woman merchant had a beautiful ring on. I inquired as to where she got it. She called another seller over and this rather rough and tough middleaged guy made a phone call and told me to follow him. I was stupid enough to follow him to this basement apartment where we had to go through 3 doors to get in. Boy, I am telling ye, I had never seen so much gold in my life. It was like entering into King Salamon's(sp?) Treasure Trove. Apparently that apt. was some sorta wholesale distributor where local gold jewelers came to restock their stores. No one was allowed to enter unless accompanied by someone they knew. I was lucky that the biz was legit or I would be floating face down on the Thames right now. To this date, I still ask myself why I was so stupid. However, I felt that all the merchants at that open market seemed to be very honest and righteous. There was another incident happened in the market made me feel that way, but I am NOT going into that now. I should be more careful next time. Whew!!!! By the way, that open market was near Thamasmead Estates ......you might have been there before.

[Alex Stylianou]

Nice Daytona , Love The Clean Look and Glad Your Family Were not hurt in this tragedy

[Governor]

London is at least cultured, cosmopolitan and less violent than some places where a robbery might have involved shootings.