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miramogge
·This is madness. Where do people find the energy or will to run a scam like this. It’s much easier just being honest
Horology House / Chris Essery - Scam
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Dedalus05
·Reading through the thread it gets really ugly. If he started out legit, and then went rogue he must have felt really cornered to do what they're saying he did. After justice is done, I hope he gets the help he needs - because his choices sound like the symptom of some kind of sickness.
Anyway, the aggrieved are out for blood. They've effectively killed his YouTube channel which was monetized, his watch selling/trading sideline, and are also alerting media to his antics around using the Australian bush fire disaster for personal gain. They're also going after his LinkedIn contacts trying to alert his employers to his shenanigans - apparently his nine-to-five is in a decent role with a large Aussie employer. They really want to make him Public Enemy #1.
If he is lucky his wife will stick by him, cause it sounds like he is in big, big trouble.
Anyway, the aggrieved are out for blood. They've effectively killed his YouTube channel which was monetized, his watch selling/trading sideline, and are also alerting media to his antics around using the Australian bush fire disaster for personal gain. They're also going after his LinkedIn contacts trying to alert his employers to his shenanigans - apparently his nine-to-five is in a decent role with a large Aussie employer. They really want to make him Public Enemy #1.
If he is lucky his wife will stick by him, cause it sounds like he is in big, big trouble.
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Lazy_Lightning
·Videos like this only add to the insanity.
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base615
·Reading through the thread it gets really ugly. If he started out legit, and then went rogue he must have felt really cornered to do what they're saying he did. After justice is done, I hope he gets the help he needs - because his choices sound like the symptom of some kind of sickness.
Anyway, the aggrieved are out for blood. They've effectively killed his YouTube channel which was monetized, his watch selling/trading sideline, and are also alerting media to his antics around using the Australian bush fire disaster for personal gain. They're also going after his LinkedIn contacts trying to alert his employers to his shenanigans - apparently his nine-to-five is in a decent role with a large Aussie employer. They really want to make him Public Enemy #1.
If he is lucky his wife will stick by him, cause it sounds like he is in big, big trouble.
I think most of that is a secondary concern to his forthcoming problems with the ATO. He's been charging 10% GST (Goods and Services Tax) on his transactions despite not being registered for GST. You have to register for GST when you're bringing in more than $75k per annum in revenue so he's not passed on any of those GST receipts and I highly doubt he's declared much of the income he's brought in from this enterprise. He's already due in court in February apparently and I don't think he's going to have much fun for the next couple of years.
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Dedalus05
·I think most of that is a secondary concern to his forthcoming problems with the ATO. He's been charging 10% GST (Goods and Services Tax) on his transactions despite not being registered for GST. You have to register for GST when you're bringing in more than $75k per annum in revenue so he's not passed on any of those GST receipts and I highly doubt he's declared much of the income he's brought in from this enterprise. He's already due in court in February apparently and I don't think he's going to have much fun for the next couple of years.
Yikes!!! And looking at his videos you'd swear butter wouldn't melt. He comes across all doe-eyed and innocent.
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ama98
·We won't see him anymore in the watch community. He is done in many ways.
His contents were decent though. Crazy.
His contents were decent though. Crazy.
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KingCrouchy
·Crazy story, I liked some of his content on YouTube, but he's in some deep shit now.
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Njnjcfp88
·
What’s scarier is that most of us need macro pics to discern the difference between then without a face-to-face and a loupe ...even then. These fakes are getting better and better. I wonder how long it’ll be before the fake movements themselves bear up better during an inspect...
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janice&fred
·Yikes!!! And looking at his videos you'd swear butter wouldn't melt. He comes across all doe-eyed and innocent.
I agree and I wouldn't have suspected anything nefarious about the guy as well. Despite the old saying we were taught as kids "don't judge a book by it's cover", I still rely on appearances when meeting someone although I must admit most of the time my initial reactions are wrong.
However this guy's spectacular downfall reminds me of that well-respected-but-eventual-scammer Steve Mulholland. Steve was practically the word of God on forums and watch meetups for years. Online we never really saw eye-to-eye but no biggie. We were tolerant of each other. Then came a chance opportunity to meet him in person. We were visiting my wife's parents up in Benedict Canyon and Steve posted that he was also in L.A. for a brief visit. We PM'ed him and made arrangements to meet down on Sunset for coffee and chat. He was wearing a very loose unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and my wife remarked that he had a lot of ink. Since she has a couple tatts herself he showed his off and I spotted a swastika. I kept my cool but knew at that point and despite all the glowing reports and gushing followers on TRF and elsewhere the guy was scum. A couple years later the shit hit the fan. To me it was obvious with Steve but with this Aussie guy I would have fell for his line of shit easily. Guess it's 50/50 when it comes to judging a book by it's cover.
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Evitzee
·By reading through the various threads on TRF I learned a lot, especially about the security features of the Rolex Warranty card which I was completely unaware of. I am not a Rolex collector but did recently acquire a ceramic Daytona from a dealer friend who said he got it from an AD in a complicated trade, and he offered it to me at a 'reasonable' price. All looked legit, and I trust my dealer, but after reading about Essery I pulled out the warranty card to check the security features. It had the Rolex microprint, the correct printing style, and it did have the Rolex mosaic only visible under UV light (had to use my Ultraman UV light to verify). So all good. The Rolex world is crazy with $2,000 to $3,000 fakes that are almost undetectable from the real thing. It's scary and getting scarier. Almost all grey market Rolex sales have an element of risk these days, it really is 'buyer beware' and 'buy the seller' and even that may not be enough.
Edited:
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Deafboy
··His Holiness Puer SurdusInteresting they can make such a fakeproof warranty card and yet the watch is "fakeable". I wonder if such identification technology could be embedded in the watch itself.
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Lazy_Lightning
·What’s scarier is that most of us need macro pics to discern the difference between then without a face-to-face and a loupe ...even then. These fakes are getting better and better. I wonder how long it’ll be before the fake movements themselves bear up better during an inspect...
Sadly, that day is here.
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BenBagbag
·I think one lesson I'm taking out is that one shouldn't ever send money to a dealer, or anyone, who won't be sending you the watch that day or at most week. Then, if they start playing games - speak out immediately.
He had a few months where he's probably been able to take money from Peter to pay Paul.
He had a few months where he's probably been able to take money from Peter to pay Paul.
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Ssunnylee24
·Buy the seller?
No, pay +3%.
No, pay +3%.
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reverbtime
·There was always something about Chris that I thought was off, but could not put it. Perhaps his extreme stoic character in videos, no smile nor laugh..not too much in his expression to the best that I recall. This article in which he gives fives tips on buying watches adds to madness of all of this. http://www.executivestyle.com.au/five-things-you-need-to-know-before-buying-a-vintage-watch-h1e9d4
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Evose
·Been tracking this since it was initially posted on Rolex and reddit. What a messed up situation.
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JwRosenthal
·Buy the seller?
No, pay +3%.
I have never purchased a watch worth more than $2k sight unseen, so am not buying on this level, but when I did buy my last Rolex, I paid via PayPal and did all the prior checks before sending payment (asked for selfie with DL next to his face, asked for shots set to a specific time, etc). I know many of the sellers here insist on bank wire when they sell becuase they have been burned by PayPal- and they most always side with the buyer which is problematic when you get a shady buyer, but as a legitimate buyer who can’t afford the possibility of losing $2k+, it’s the only way I feel comfortable unless I actually know the seller.
And agree with who posted earlier- if I have $60k to blow on a watch, I can afford the airline ticket and hotel to actually pick up the watch and do a P2P exchange.
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base615
·Maybe escrow is the way forward
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osc
·The small % free from Chrono24, Paypal, etc is worth the piece of mind to combat situations like these. Of course, this is not to be the only measure.
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