Major theft on vintage and modern Watches: calling all forum members.

That's why you get one that can't be ignored. When I tested mine I wore in-ear plugs AND over-the-ear muffs, and still had to leave the house. I asked my neighbor to sit in his living room inside his house 100ft away but wouldn't tell him why. I set off the alarm for about 20 seconds, then went back over and knocked on his door. He answered with "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!"

I wouldn't be surprised if they do but the ones we've had are such an intense noise that you "feel" it as much as you hear it. Of course, Health and Safety at Work regs apply ... you're not allowed to use a noise that is actually capable of injuring a burglar.

Where I live a 12ga is allowed. Burglars are presumed to present a mortal threat.

Well heck, we're the nicest people you'd ever meet......just don't screw with us.👍

One time I got stopped by the state police for nudging over the speed limit, he asked if I had any firearms in the car. I said yes, I have one in a shoulder holster under my jacket...would you like to see it, Sir? He said "Sure, whatcha got?" We spent the next 30 minutes talking about smith and wessons and our favorite revolvers. Quite frankly, by that time I think he forgot what he stopped me for and just said have a nice day.

So sorry to hear! Especially with vintage watches🙁🙁😡

Any update on this? Any recovered? Any scrotes banged up? Been wondering.

I bought a cheap tac light awhile back and when it went out while I was flipping a circuit breaker one night I forgot for a moment how powerful these are and actually looked straight into the lens while shaking it. When the battery pack made contact I got a blast of light that in a fraction of a second blinded me completely for several minutes and left a very slowly retracting after image that obscured the center of my vision for hours.
Luckily no permanent damage was done but I have much more respect for the power of such a bright light to disable an attacker.
Whenever checking out noises in the back yard at night I make sure not to shine the light directly at an animal's head. Wouldn't want to blind even a raccoon or bob cat accidentally, much less a stray pet.

Morning Neil

Many thanks for asking and for your continued interest ,Sadly the update is all bad and although financially the loss was and still is difficult to cope with I think the wider implications for everyone are a stark warning .

I am the first to admit that i hind-site I had become a bit to relaxed regarding the value of items but I still had an insurance rated safe with red care police monitored alarm and even an insurance company assessor had confirmed to me I was a low risk ,my business is online with no office address published in short I thought I had done enough ,however I now know different !

The police in the UK are in the whole decent people trying to do a job the best way they can and I harbor no ill will to them ,sadly though years of under funding and far to much paperwork has resulted in a completely inept system where the unofficial comment from my "investigating" officer was "the only chance of ever getting anything back is if we bust someone for something else and he still has some watches in the bottom of his wardrobe !"

The vultures in our insurance industry I have completely different feelings for ! I insured some risk through a large company AXA who I was told by my broker are a good company i complied with the security requirements on my policy and yet they have spent the last 8 months investigating every aspect of my personal life in an attempt to avoid paying the claim ,fortunately as you know I have manged to stay in business but not through any help from the insurance company or the police,

My advice to anyone is try to keep as much of your collections off site and if possible like me keep them divided between as many locations as you can as no one place is 100% secure and as for insurance ,pay your premiums if it helps you sleep but I hope you fair better than me

All the best

Tony

Hi Tony,

You know what? I feared that might be what has happened (or not happened). What a state we live in.
Hope you at least get some financial recompense soon.
Best wishes, Neil.

please update us on the list of watches. OF can get on the case!

Hi Tony
Firstly of course, sorry for your loss. I’ve a little experience in how this works as I’ve been working on a digital solution in this space and it sounds like the officer might have been a bit glib.

What actually happens is that all police reports of stolen watches in the UK are (eventually) digitised and stored in a database. Similarly, any watches which are subject to an insurance claim are also on this database.
When buying a used watch, a dealer or pawnbroker must demonstrate that they have taken reasonable measures to avoid handling stolen goods. This means taking the ID and address of the seller and then checking the serial number against the stolen watch database. If you have given serial numbers and descriptions to the police or if your insurance company has paid out, the watches shouldn’t then find their way back in to the system without being caught and returned to you. I understand that watches can often take several years before attempts are made to reintroduce them.
The system is far from foolproof but if you want to private message me a few serial numbers and references I can check if they are indeed on this stolen watches database already.