Looted watches from stores in NY and other locations

HDMI

This is the watch forum so I don't want to get dragged into a discussion about what's currently happening over here in the US. All I will say is I feel sickened and saddened watching the news live at night. A jeweler not too far from where I am took what he could from his store and put the rest in the stores safe, the looters took the safe.

So I'm just the average Seiko buyer but I see the Watches of Switzerland store in Soho NY was one of those that got looted. I have seen a value of $2.4 million quoted stolen but some say it's unlikely that much would have been on display. I'm sure you of you NY visitors might have popped into the store and will have first hand experience.

So any of these watches that were stolen will obviously have their serial numbers in a database, when these eventually start hitting the market I'm sure they will find homes. When they eventually end up at Rolex or Patek for service in years to come will the companies be allowed confiscate the watches?

Watches of Switzerland carry some really big hitters in the watch industry.

"The stately new SoHo boutique stocks the usual mix of high-end watch brands—Patek Philippe, Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Breitling, IWC, Jaeger- LeCoultre, Hublot, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, TAG Heuer, Tudor Bremont, and Longines, included—within 8,000 square feet of selling space."

To quote some idiot from CNN "Looting stuff that can be replaced is not looting"

Del2005

People have had cars they bought taken off them when they are later found out to be stolen and have to live with the loss of their money and car. Someone always owns property so if the shop has insurance it will belong to the the insurance company if no insurance the watch will still belong to the shop. If the watch goes for a service and is found to be stolen it'll go back to the owner.

893bet

One of the cases when it would be great if they would just release the model numbers and serial numbers so that they can be searched and identified by the public.

Of course if they did that the fakers would then use the genuine numbers as the odd person who searches the number and found it to be real but stolen wouldn’t give a **** and would just be delighted it is “real” and cheap. Meh. This **** would deserve the fake watch for buying a knowingly stolen one IMO.

Some scum bags. Some of the videos I have seen on twitter made me stop looking. Ultra violent.

Cyclingtourist

Anyone with the money can buy a Rolex but these are 'a part of American history' and should command a premium in years to come.

OldBean

I was thinking it was very strange (read dumb) they'd have left anything out on the floor, most of Manhattan sent their stock into warehouses at the start of the pandemic, along with boarding up their doors.

Theres a hell of a lot of disinformation about it looting going on in the US. This article from the Post sums it up pretty well...

893bet wrote: »

Some scum bags. Some of the videos I have seen on twitter made me stop looking. Ultra violent.

Yes, the videos of the police forces across the US have been shocking.

banie01

Cyclingtourist wrote: »

Anyone with the money can buy a Rolex but these are 'a part of American history' and should command a premium in years to come.

Worked for those bits of "distressed" reinforced concrete I flog as part of the Berlin wall

unkel

Curfew in New York because of all these scum bag looters. First time in nearly 80 years :mad:

Thirdfox

Del2005 wrote: »

People have had cars they bought taken off them when they are later found out to be stolen and have to live with the loss of their money and car. Someone always owns property so if the shop has insurance it will belong to the the insurance company if no insurance the watch will still belong to the shop. If the watch goes for a service and is found to be stolen it'll go back to the owner.

I'm not so sure of that legal point - in law (and contract law particularly) we have a principle called "bona fide purchaser for value without notice":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_purchaser

without getting into the nitty gritty of the law (and how it may differ in US vs UK vs Ireland - which I have no clue of) - if a guy walks up to you offering to sell you a €1,000 bicycle for €20 - you'll probably have no grounds to claim BFP - but if someone offers a genuine Rolex at market prices and you buy it - I doubt Rolex can claim ownership (because it would be shop's legal title anyway unless selling on consignment). Lots of legal variables...

TLDR: - if you buy something "that fell off the back of a truck" - you're not protected, if you buy something seems legit (or even a reasonable bargain) then you *should* have good ownership claims.

As always check out my signature about legal advice :pac: - it's worth exactly what you paid for it

Rodney Bathgate

I wonder whether he looted those Air Jordan’s.

banie01

Thirdfox wrote: »

I'm not so sure of that legal point - in law (and contract law particularly) we have a principle called "bona fide purchaser for value without notice":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_purchaser

Was just coming to post the BFP caveat.(does apply in Ireland/UK and US apart from Louisiana I think)
It won't be an issue for NY watches anyway as Watches of Switzerland confirmed they had no stock in the store.

Cyclingtourist

Were they 'looted' or 'liberated' ?

Bit like those German watches the GI's brought back from Europe after WWII.

4068ac1elhodqr

All this looting boils down to an economics issue (the 1% vs the 99%), not a racial factor with closer percentages 10/20/30/40% vs the 'whites'.

Chiparus

Bit like the looting in Dublin in 1916.

Cyclingtourist

Chiparus wrote: »

Bit like the looting in Dublin in 1916.

Interesting article here on looting in 1916. https://comeheretome.com/2015/10/04/the-denizens-of-the-slums-and-looting-during-the-easter-rising/

As regards watches it seems McDowell's on Sackville Street now O'Connell Street was an early casualty and gold watches were on sale for a few shillings from street urchins.