With increased local armed robberies, I’m no longer wearing Rolexes

Omegafanman

Ms Hayward said the New York had a 37 per cent fare evasion rate on its buses, compared with 2.4 per cent on London buses. On the New York Subway, 13 per cent of fares were dodged – compared with 4.9 per cent on the London Underground.

airansun

Well, it’s finally happened. I’ve stopped wearing Rolexes.

In my local area (SF Bay Area), there’ve been at least five reported armed robberies of Rolexes every week. Some are ‘follow homes’, others are parking lot confrontations or sidewalk hold ups. Occasionally, people have been robbed while eating at restaurants, or waiting in their cars at stop lights. Typically, three or four individuals confront the victim(s) with guns. Although actual shootings are still rare, pistol whippings are the common result of any resistance. The news media all specifically identify Rolexes as the targeted watches, but none are more specific about which references.

I have no idea how much such these thieves know about watches, let alone vintage watches. I know that those Rolex crowns at the top of the dial can be particularly easy to spot. And certainly, I have no interest in risking being a victim of a violent crime simply because of the watch I’m wearing. As well, I hate being self-conscious and anxious because of what’s on my wrist. I’d be mortified to lose one of my favorites.

I assume that because chronographs can be so easy to spot, any Omega Speedmaster might be a target too.

So, instead, I’m wearing these two, which is no hardship to me. Both recent acquisitions, I love looking at them.

(I am a notorious black dial freak.)

I hate this development, but it’s not foreign to me, having grown up riding 1970’s NYC subways daily. Still, it sucks.

Anyone else put their Rolexes away due to the recent trend?

mehqwatches

Similar stuff happening in Miami these days, a lot of dates/escorts/whatever are drugging men and stealing their watches. Along with the run of the mill robberies

kippyk

I know of a few stories about these type of scams. Criminals have attractive women (often Russians/Ukrainians) looking for men in upscale hotels/bars in big cities. There is always a ruse to get the marks to leave the original destination to go to another club or party spot where the crime occurs. I suspect the bartenders are in on the scam. There may be younger men with the girl or girls as well.

This happened to me in London at an upscale boutique hotel that was owned by Russians. Two hot girls and a dude tried to convince my friend and me to go out to a club that he "owned". At the time, I thought the scam was they were going to overcharge us $1,000 at the club, but the intent may have been more sinister.

Nothing more suspicious than young people trying to go out and party with middle-aged dudes. I also know of a guy who hooked up with a party group at an upscale SF hotel bar. The next day he missed his business conference, and he was located in a local hospital with a beat up face and robbed. This guy was a known alcoholic and drug user so poor life decisions did not surprise anybody.

Evitzee

I'm sorry, if you are soliciting dates/escorts (i.e. hookers) for entertainment AND wearing an expensive watch, and probably carrying a wallet full of credit cards, and carrying an expensive phone, and probably having had too much to drink, you aren't thinking life through. And don't be surprised if you wind up minus the watch, the cards, the phone, and maybe wind up in the hospital. For God's sake, think and take control of your life. Use some common sense.

rob#1

So apparently the trick is not to wear your Rolex or Patek out between 11 Pm and 4 AM Fridays and Saturdays…

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ions-to-lure-criminals?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Good to see the Met doing something about these thefts.

pdxleaf

@Makesbelieve, I don't feel unsafe but there is crime. In the last 20 years, these have happened:

My house was burglarized.

Several cars have been ransacked (maybe 8 times)

My truck was stolen out of a parking garage at work(recovered in a few days, probably joy riding)

My father in law had two catalytic converters stolen.

My father in law's handicap van was stolen and recovered but had to be scrapped due to missing parts and needles and trash throughout.

Visiting San Francisco, my family was assaulted by a street guy on drugs (we walked away but it was on the edge of getting physical.)

I had a coworker die of a murder suicide (her husband shot her first.)

Someone tried to steal the battery out of our Nissan Leaf that was parked in our driveway. In the morning, the car clunked when shifting so I took it to the dealer. The bottom cover had been removed amd a bolt taken out. They didn't get further probably because the battery pack was too heavy. I installed more lights and cameras afterwards.

For about a year, my next door neighbor was selling meth. They had small children in the house and there was activity at all hours. We met with police, long story, but at one time the police raided the house and I grabbed my daughter to shelter in the basement when I saw the AR15s swinging around and the bullhorn telling the occupants that they knew they were armed and to come out with arms raised. They are gone now and two architects from Brooklyn live there now.

The most recent was the shooting and attempted robbery of a drug deal a couple houses down with the dealer hiding in our bushes next to the sidewalk.

My friend's watch shop was broken into and he had to replace the doors and lost a few display items.

We actually live in a desirable part of town next to a large park with single family homes and pretty big lots for the city. There's lots of pedestrian traffic and recreational activity (bikes, joggers, hikers, dog walkers.) No homeless camps near us. But there's still crime. We don't think about crime but we are aware of our surroundings. It's a pretty area and we like visitors 😁