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Horology House / Chris Essery - Scam

Evitzee
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Even on cruise ships you will find Rolex 'Certified' used watches in the shops, but you really have to know what you are buying as they tend to be over polished, and who knows what kind of parts have been swapped in and out. Rolex is a golden name among the public, most people think they are top-of-the-line, and many can be talked into one of these Rolex's as they are cheaper than a new one. They are often steel/gold Datejusts, often with aftermarket diamond bezels and such.
 
MPWATCH
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Deal with someone with an actual reputation with happy customers instead of the cheapest possible price....Everything is cheap for a reason.
 
Evose
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MPWATCH MPWATCH
Deal with someone with an actual reputation with happy customers instead of the cheapest possible price....Everything is cheap for a reason.
Can’t speak for everyone but the difficulty lies in hard-to-acquire models. For instance, a well known and established AD will never be able to get me a Batman GMT. Why? Because as I was told yesterday, very candidly, they have 3 generations of customers that have spent 100k+. So when that rare timepiece makes an appearance in their showroom, it’s already allocated to the 999 people waiting in line before me. Rightly so. It’s all about relationships.

For some, the only way to purchase is through Grey and people like Chris. Otherwise, I’m sure people that are spending 29k on a Daytona could spend a little more for an authorized BNIB piece.
 
stevec14
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Evose Evose
Can’t speak for everyone but the difficulty lies in hard-to-acquire models. For instance, a well known and established AD will never be able to get me a Batman GMT. Why? Because as I was told yesterday, very candidly, they have 3 generations of customers that have spent 100k+. So when that rare timepiece makes an appearance in their showroom, it’s already allocated to the 999 people waiting in line before me. Rightly so. It’s all about relationships.

For some, the only way to purchase is through Grey and people like Chris. Otherwise, I’m sure people that are spending 29k on a Daytona could spend a little more for an authorized BNIB piece.
Agreed - there are reputable greys however and trusted sellers who have been doing business for years. I guess you just need to understand who you are dealing with.

most greys you wire the money to buy the watch on stock. Not upfront hoping they will get it....
 
Meme-Dweller
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Evitzee Evitzee
Life is stranger than fiction. About 25 years ago when I was living in northern NJ I became aware of an antique clock dealer in Springlake, NJ, down on the Jersey shore. The owner had built a two story neo-classical building to house, display and sell antique, European clocks. It was magnificent, with clocks going up to the $300,000 range by Breguet and other European masters. He was considered the top antique clock dealer in the US. I have about five clocks from him. He was the nicest guy, always willing to help you learn about antique clocks. He was a senior VP in charge of marketing for a large multi-national chemical firm and this was just his hobby he told me. His wife and son-in-law were also in the business. Then the news broke, he had financed his operation by embezzling over $12 million dollars over a period of years from his employer via fake invoices which he was authorized to approve. He was out of the office one day when one of the fake invoices came in, an audit ensued and the scam was exposed. Obviously he was fired immediately, and his company didn't want the bad publicity, they just wanted their money back. All his clocks were sold at two auctions at Sotheby's, one in NY and one in London. About $13 million was raised which went back to the company. His court appointed psychiatrist determined he knew he was doing wrong but he had such an impulse to 'save' these clocks that he couldn't help himself. Right. He spent 18 months or so in prison making license plates. The Feds got him on two charges: wire fraud and not declaring the money on his income tax returns (same thing as Al Capone). There are scamsters and crooks all over the place, just watch an episode or two of American Greed to see how smooth some of them can be. In this case the clocks were as advertised, they were just illegally obtained.
A year of labor for a multi-year 12 million dollar loan is pretty reasonable, especially compared with current loan interest rates LOL
 
M
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Evose Evose
For some, the only way to purchase is through Grey and people like Chris. Otherwise, I’m sure people that are spending 29k on a Daytona could spend a little more for an authorized BNIB piece.

As you say, we can’t just go into an AD and buy a Daytona. That 29k Daytona has an RRP of $18500 in Australia.
The behaviour of dealers saying they’ll only sell you you buy X first is actually illegal under consumer law in Australia, of course the ACCC’s interest in enforcing it would be zero.... Rolex enforcing a zero discount policy would also be illegal if it could ever be proved - the Australian head of Swatch Group blew the whistle on them (Swatch, not Rolex) when he was outed (which I believe then blew up in his face for various reasons to do with inappropriate pictures on a work computer.....)
 
JwRosenthal
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M MickyD
.....for various reasons to do with inappropriate pictures on a work computer.....)
And now he is head of Invicta....they like his style 😀
 
janice&fred
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M MickyD
blew up in his face for various reasons to do with inappropriate pictures on a work computer.....)

good thing I'm self-employed 😁
 
yande
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Been reading a lot of Posts, threads, forums, YouTube vids etc about this guy today.. I have to say, comparitively, Omegaforums is a nice place. Personally, I feel sorry for his family, if not somewhat for him, after all it is only money. The things people are saying, I just hope it does not end tragically. The guy is human, we all *uck up, to greater or lesser degrees. Something not good has caused this to happen.
 
Njnjcfp88
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yande yande
Been reading a lot of Posts, threads, forums, YouTube vids etc about this guy today.. I have to say, comparitively, Omegaforums is a nice place. Personally, I feel sorry for his family, if not somewhat for him, after all it is only money. The things people are saying, I just hope it does not end tragically. The guy is human, we all *uck up, to greater or lesser degrees. Something not good has caused this to happen.

“After all it is only about money”. Really? I think it’s a little bit more nuanced. Maybe throw in words like “broken trust” and “emotional pain“ into the story as well. We are talking about real people getting hurt and (some) damage to the integrity of watch collecting. Makes this whole thing less fun too.
 
BlackTalon
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Only money... Tens of thousands of dollars. Potentially several years of savings for some. There is zero excuse for EVER stealing money from others.
 
STANDY
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yande yande
Something not good has caused this to happen.

Greed my friend, greed done this. May have been for money or for status but greed is the sin.
 
Uniqez
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STANDY STANDY
Greed my friend, greed done this. May have been for money or for status but greed is the sin.
I just don't understand how he was planning to get away with such a scams. People from OF (@guaranteed.rohu ) were able to bust scammer on the different continent for less money.... Something just doesn't make sense here...
 
MTROIS
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Uniqez Uniqez
I just don't understand how he was planning to get away with such a scams. People from OF (@guaranteed.rohu ) were able to bust scammer on the different continent for less money.... Something just doesn't make sense here...
...all the more since you can bet that a buyer who has been waiting for more than 2 months for his big prize will undoubtedly inspect it with a microscope before directing it.
Yes, it makes no sense, but when people are up against the wall, and deep in their lies or their own world, things make sense to them and they make mistakes due to their oblivion. Sad.
Edited:
 
Als 27
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yande yande
Been reading a lot of Posts, threads, forums, YouTube vids etc about this guy today.. I have to say, comparitively, Omegaforums is a nice place. Personally, I feel sorry for his family, if not somewhat for him, after all it is only money. The things people are saying, I just hope it does not end tragically. The guy is human, we all *uck up, to greater or lesser degrees. Something not good has caused this to happen.
Yande It's only money you say.. .Thats a very broard statement to make...
He's got a family, the guy is human, we all make mistakes.( your words )
some how i don't think he was to concerned or worried when finances & payments were being received into his bank account.
A prominent figure across many social media platforms ( i won't bother listing them all )
A so called expert in showing & detecting fake & counterfeit item's of a high end market brand ( Rolex )
Assisted by other people involved on another buy sell swop forum deleting any Criticism or questions of his practices....
He deserves every thing that is coming his way & more besides ....
He has brought it on himself.....& in doing so
Caused a great deal of damage & mistrust across many sectors.
I haven't mention all the rest of the bull or drama this guy has put out ......
 
redpcar
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Als 27 Als 27
Yande It's only money you say.. .Thats a very broard statement to make...
He's got a family, the guy is human, we all make mistakes.( your words )
some how i don't think he was to concerned or worried when finances & payments were being received into his bank account.
A prominent figure across many social media platforms ( i won't bother listing them all )
A so called expert in showing & detecting fake & counterfeit item's of a high end market brand ( Rolex )
Assisted by other people involved on another buy sell swop forum deleting any Criticism or questions of his practices....
He deserves every thing that is coming his way & more besides ....
He has brought it on himself.....& in doing so
Caused a great deal of damage & mistrust across many sectors.
I haven't mention all the rest of the bull or drama this guy has put out ......

I was trying to read this as a poem. Kinda laid out that way 😀
 
Tony C.
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redpcar redpcar
I was trying to read this as a poem. Kinda laid out that way 😀

Oh, Chris Essery
the trust built up over time
now left in tatters
 
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