Patek Philippe

Fallanden.ch
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Stolen watch database- Doesn't exist!!!!

I had a Patek 3940 perpetual stolen in 1996 from my home. I know who took the watch as there was a repair person in the house that day and he had access to the place where my beloved watch was resting. It actually was hidden, but you had to pass through my home office to get to where he needed to work and with all the books, magazines, price guides and so forth, I guess it wasn't difficult to figure out it was worth snooping around a bit.

Long story short, the police also agreed this person took the watch, but there was simply nothing that could be done. They searched his home with a warrant, but no watch. For those who understand a bit of law, no watch, no arrest period.

I reported the watch stolen to Henri Stern watch agency in New York and was under the impression this information would be entered into a database, at least together with the factory in Geneva. I happened to call the other day, just to update my phone number and was very upset with what I learned. Stern had it listed in their database, but this information was not shared with Geneva. I contacted Geneva today to ad my watch to their list as well, but I'm shocked this was never done before.

I'm sure this watch has traveled the world and who knows where it is living now. If Patek had a world-wide database, I would have had a good chance to see my watch again. I'm sure over the past 13 years, the watch has been repaired, serviced, or brought to an AD somewhere. With modern computers, all Patek or any other watch company would need to do is have a computer database at all their AD's world-wide, so when a watch came in for service the repair department could just enter the movement number to make sure the watch was not stolen.

Why they don't do this I simply don't understand! Not only would it help to return watches to their rightful owners, but it would also help put a scare into the grey market they are so worried about. Sure the watch is new with box and papers, but how do you know it wasn't stolen? This way, if someone purchased from a grey market dealer and did in fact get a stolen watch, they would be out of luck when it needed some type of service in the future.

My watch may have been serviced many times, who knows, the only thing I know is it wasn't sent to Heri Stern in New York. It could be in Hong Kong, Europe, or anywhere for that matter. Again, if there was a world wide database, I would probably see my watch again.

Without one, I have little chance.

Fallanden.ch

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