Robbery Robbed of Rolex Day Date 40 228206 in Southern California

[Polyesterpig]

I appreciate you posting this unfortunate event. I learned a few things from it. I also realize this situation could be reversed. Going to buy a watch off of someone and getting robbed of money. Hope they get him and your watch back.

[LFFL]

Sorry to hear about this, I hope that the police apprehend this loser and the watch returned to you unscathed. I'm glad that you made it out safely after the altercation because things could have easily gone sideways really quick.

[Stephe]

Very sorry to hear this, it is appalling. Could happen to anyone.

[Ichiran]

OP I'm sorry you have to go through such an ordeal for just trying to sell a watch, and wish you all the best in recovering your watch.

[wrxsti]

Sorry to hear this, take to heart that you were not seriously injured. I have made many deals but nowadays I don’t even sell phones face to face as people have been held up at gun point.

Hope the Cops catch this awful excuse for a human and recover your watch.

[inadeje]

OP it’s so saddening to read of your misfortune. It’s atrocious what is happening in this world, both the robberies from wrists and advents like that which you was subjected to.

I sincerely hope they catch this guy. It sounds like he may have given too much away this time and could get caught.

[Modiferous]

Danny83 so you are in the Bay Area? Which means he was willing to meet in Northern Cal too.

[thecrownprince]

this story makes me sick. I know the feeling of that intuition but sometimes we don't follow it for whatever reason. Really sorry to hear this happen to you. Hope they catch this guy. This story along with other stories of people switching envelopes at banks, etc. shows how much people are after these watches in todays climate.

[Calatrava r]

Why was the jewelry store supposed to lock the door? They were open for business, I assume.

This just underscores never to do a face-to-face watch sale/purchase with a stranger. It's just too easy to end up meeting "face to face" with a scammer/criminal and that never turns out well. You are lucky you were not hurt.

[Modiferous]

Here are some pictures of the watch.











Had some scratches around 12 o'clock on the smooth bezel.

It did have box and Rolex manual. NO warranty card. so if someone offers for sale one of these with no warranty card, it is probably mine.

Rolex Platinum 40mm Day Date President MOTIF ice blue dial
Ref. 228206
(2015 year)

[fskywalker]

Originally Posted by Modiferous

Here are some pictures of the watch.











Had some scratches around 12 o'clock on the smooth bezel.

It did have box and Rolex manual. NO warranty card. so if someone offers for sale one of these with no warranty card, it is probably mine.

Rolex Platinum 40mm Day Date President MOTIF ice blue dial
Ref. 228206
(2015 year)

Glad you are OK, no object is more valuable than your life, good that you kept your promise to your wife. Suggest you add serial number to the information being provided above. Also report it to Rolex (you will also need to provide S/N to them too).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[KY..]

Originally Posted by DocHorton

This was the watch you had listed in the classifieds for $75k for the last 4 months? And no insurance? D'oh.
Sorry man, it sucks being robbed, but you obviously did not set yourself up for success either. Meeting a stranger at an unfamiliar location with no back-up, no security, and a "forum member" who has never posted.

Originally Posted by Bstewart

How was this guy supposed to pay? You were going to accept (and count/verify) $70,000 in an unfamiliar jewelry store?

Very valid points for sure!
Sorry OP and sorry to hear this is happening out there.

[thai watch]

Sorry to hear about that.

[~JJ]

Plaster this thread with the serial # so it gets indexed and may pop while getting sold at some point. Good luck, OP

[PatekSF]

Never accept a cashiers check: they can easily be faked or cancelled after issue.

Cash or Federal Funds wire transfer, only.

Or, just sell to a TS for the piece-of-mind.

[2loaded]

Name the jewelry store

[joli160]

What a horrible experience. Luckily you did not get hurt.

Easy to say now but for this reason I never deal with private persons.
I am not so desperate to get top dollar and gladly settle for less money or pay more by dealing exclusively worry free with pro’s.

[TheHulk]

I’m sure the trusted sellers are sitting back saying…….

[Jfullm42]

This totally sucks. I almost had a watch stolen by this individual who wanted to meet just outside of SF a few months ago. Please contact me via pm for information if you’d like to add it to the police report. I have a picture of his drivers license, although I’m sure it’s not really him. Regardless I’m so sorry for you loss of the watch, but glad you are ok

[Rolextellstime]

Sorry to hear OP and glad you are ok. I have met many, many times in person both as a buyer as well as a seller, most times at a Starbucks and/ or bank to exchange the funds and I always preferred F2f meetups and it was always fun to meet and talk watches with another collector. One condition I had is that the person had history and a lot of positive feedback and that was enough for me.
Meeting someone without any feedback on the forum, and/or not verifying their identity through LinkedIn etc is much more risky.

I hope the police will put in the effort to find this person but from what I have heard and read, these kind of incidents don't get enough time allotted to find the culprit. Police resources are limited and this type of crime is not a high priority for them. Given that your watch is pretty expensive I hope the police will allocate resources to find the criminal.

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[NachoNeal]

I just wanted to say thank you for attempting to personally stop this crime.
It's what I would have done too. And stupidly obviously at great personal risk. But I respect that. It's instinctual.
Just think of what a happy ending this could have been if you had caught the guy, beat the crap out of him, and recovered your watch.

[Netminder1]

Like everyone else, I'm appalled and thankful that you are alright. Just wondering if you posted the watch anywhere else besides TRF? (Of course, I know our listings here are picked up by aggregators). Perhaps he could be baited to bite again?

[7enderbender]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mehr

Hope this criminal is caught and severely punished

No chance. Not in California.

[Modiferous]

Originally Posted by NachoNeal

I just wanted to say thank you for attempting to personally stop this crime.
It's what I would have done too. And stupidly obviously at great personal risk. But I respect that. It's instinctual.
Just think of what a happy ending this could have been if you had caught the guy, beat the crap out of him, and recovered your watch.

Seriously if I had caught him in the first 15 seconds my adrenaline was pumping and I was SO enraged that I would have pounded on him to no end without regard to anything. It would have been ugly. The only reason I didn't catch him in the first few seconds is I had to leap over two railings to get to him and he had a head start. I still did catch up to him at one point and got a hold of him, but he broke loose and kept running.

The guy wasn't a big guy at all, maybe a little stocky, but actually probably not over 5'10" As I told the police, he had provided a fake ID to state that he was 6'0" so I expected that, but he was more like 5'10" if that.

However, after my senses kicked in and I remembered my promise to my wife to let it go if anything like this happens, I eased back and still chased him, but not as hard. I wanted to catch him, but I wasn't 100% as committed to catching him, and he got away.



There were a couple of posts about how the money would have worked. I would have no problem with counting out 70 grand anywhere, but let's face it, a thief would never come with 70 grand. He would come with at BEST gypsy rolls of dollar bills surrounded with 100 dollar end pieces.

In my case I was not expecting cash - we were supposed to go to the bank together, stand side by side at the bank teller window, and have the cashier's check handed to me. Obviously this guy has never gotten to that stage before, because he can't figure out a way to fake the payment end of the scam.

[kl2244]

I hope the guy gets caught soon, sorry for your loss.

[SS Oyster]

Good luck! I only buy from ADs and trusted sellers. I once sold a SD43 to a LAPD Officer recommended by a well established TRFer. Even though I had credentials and reference, it still felt weird until it was over. My wife went with. I met the police officer, who showed me his badge and CA DL; I showed him my CA DL also. He got to see the watch inside the bank, where he held an account. He got withdrew the total in cash, which the teller counted twice on the machine and then handed directly to me. I then handed him the watch with all the box/papers. I happened to bank there as well, so I immediately deposited the cash before walking out of the bank back to my car. He left with the watch. I left with a deposit slip. Both happy and safe.

[rolexgs]

Originally Posted by SS Oyster

Good luck! I only buy from ADs and trusted sellers. I once sold a SD43 to a LAPD Officer recommended by a well established TRFer. Even though I had credentials and reference, it still felt weird until it was over. My wife went with. I met the police officer, who showed me his badge and CA DL; I showed him my CA DL also. He got to see the watch inside the bank, where he held an account. He got withdrew the total in cash, which the teller counted twice on the machine and then handed directly to me. I then handed him the watch with all the box/papers. I happened to bank there as well, so I immediately deposited the cash before walking out of the bank back to my car. He left with the watch. I left with a deposit slip. Both happy and safe.

but the police officer won't be sure if the watch is authentic.

[1665fan]

Originally Posted by TheHulk

I’m sure the trusted sellers are sitting back saying…….

Yup…. There saying this is why I charge 10k premium lol

[IamJacky]

This is terrible, I hope you'll be able to get your watch back OP; good that you weren't hurt or anything, best of luck!

[LA_LEC]

Originally Posted by 1665fan

Damn dreadlock loser gonna buy a platinum DD…. What were you thinking????