Watch to measure time or as simple jewelry?
Today is the day, everything has changed, in big cities like London, Barcelona, Rome, NY, etc, the gangs dedicated to the theft of watches are already more common than the usual assault. The fashion of appearing and having a rolex, an AP or a Patek takes its toll on the true fans of watches, that without effort we can buy a good piece, because thieves do not distinguish between rich or poor, they only see the watch on your wrist. Already apart from the ultra-inflation of prices that suffers the market because of so much purchase by status, we have the added problem of theft, and it is not so much that only Rolex or Omega prices rise, but more normal brands like Longines, Hamilton or Certina, jump on the bandwagon of the annual increase in prices ... where are those days of a hamilton khaki field mechanical for 300 euros / dollars, now is at 800 and the watch has not changed anything!!! Prices rising 300% its value and the possibility of losing it just for taking it out of the house... which leads me to ask myself the following question... do you wear your watches proudly on the street? Have you had any problems or attempted assaults for your watches? I answer for the moment that I wear them with pride, since they are not excessively expensive but if they were other watches I would think about it.
I am a young watch lover based in spain 🇪🇸
I live in a fairly big city that has a well known "Criminal element" my watches may not be expensive for a lot of people here but for me they quite are, all of them meant months of planning and sacrifice of little things to even start on the path of saving for it, that being said, I wear them with pride and joy, if a dumb MFer wants to come for them then let him come haha (I'm also HUGE by the standard of my city, state and country so that helps lol).
Also, people think that wearing "expensive things" calls attention to themselves, and well...not really. YOU call attention to YOURself, if you are a person that mostly flyes under the radar then you are A-Ok buddy, don't even worry, if you are somebody that calls attention to yourself (that being intentionally or unintentionally) then you might need to worry a bit, but most likely you would be on the bigger and stronger side and that just balances things out.
Criminals prey on the weak.
Get a gun. Be a man. (this is a TikTok reference BTW, total joke)
I wear my SMP pretty much everywhere. It’s on rubber too so doesn’t gain any unwanted attention.
I’m a bit more careful with wearing my Santos and have recently acquired a DJ. For both of these, I will still wear them out and about but it would be careless of me to not consider my surroundings before doing so.
I live in a rough part of East London so I’ve grown up around street crime/theft/violence and maybe I’m a bit more immune to it now. Nevertheless, it’s still my responsibility to protect myself and my possessions.
Did you just get mugged? Are you alright?
This is what happens when we create a fake flexing culture on social media.
I said this many times here. Robberies happen every minute in poor neighborhoods and no one cares and does not make the news. Police does not care as much about a robbery and their hands are pretty full.
Ignoring those issues in disadvantage neighborhoods the criminals will WILL start doing bigger licks/jobs moving to rich neighborhoods and targeting people in social media flexing and sharing their location.
For the people in not so nice areas I recommend stay off homages, and replicas of very expensive watches just not worth risking your life.
I think we need to start holding eBay, Pawnshops and other websites that support and thrive on theft. They would not be doing the robberies if they knew no one was buying. If companies are going to quadruple their pricing they can go and die using their own sword. There's millions of microbrands hungry and happy to sell you a watch under 500 for something being sold for 2,000.
Did you just get mugged? Are you alright?
Not to me, I am an under the radar seiko owner but it has happened to a family member.
Disclaimer: I live in the US so in some ways regardless of where I might be, and in a good number of states due to reciprocity and having the patience to jump through state legalities at previous duty stations, I have options for preventing this kind of theft, namely CCW and the training to back it up.
In places where I do not wish to carry, I still have other edged items or blunt force options.
But even if you do not carry any type of self defense I repeat what I've said before on other posts.
Pay attention to your surroundings, the crowd behavior (this is key, watch body language and the mood), time of day and common sense. Also don't wear the over the top bling to the back alley speakeasy club at 0200 in NYC?
Listen to your instincts, God gave them to us for a reason. Getting that itch in your shoulder blades like someone is staring you down, or hairs on the neck standing up. Stop for a second and watch/listen.
Predators/Bad Guys/Zombies like easy prey. Why work for it when you can find an easier target. If you are a harder target, and look like your paying attention, for the common mugging scenario more likely than not you will be passed over for easier pickings. Most of us here don't have famous enough mugs to be worth the extra work. If you are one of those famous enough, you should have security.
Waaaay to many variables to talk what ifs, but depending on proximity of BG's/zombies, number, location and who was with me (family vs. self vs. peers) I'd cooperate, try descalation, yelling really loud, running to lit areas, using a flashlight, turning my camera on, etc. As a last resort and to protect my family's or friends life I would put the threat(s) down.
https://www.watchesofespionage.com/blogs/woe-dispatch/cia-case-officer-s-everyday-carry-edc
Much comes down to common sense, the number one rule when travelling and I have done much travelling all over the world without a problem - the key is not to draw attention to yourself.. If you obey this rule then there is a high chance nothing will happen your watch as nobody will see it - on the other hand if you are looking at it every 5 mins doing the Instagram things, well..
I live in NYC and wear my watches proudly. With that being said, I am aware of my surroundings. I grew up in NYC during the 80s-90s when the city was filled with crime before being “cleaned up”. Being around that environment, you learned to be aware with your surroundings. I have some watches that would be labeled as targets, but no one really notices. I’m also not traveling into East NY or Jamaica, Queens with my timepieces. Just be aware of your environment and you’ll be fine.
This is what happens when we create a fake flexing culture on social media.
I said this many times here. Robberies happen every minute in poor neighborhoods and no one cares and does not make the news. Police does not care as much about a robbery and their hands are pretty full.
Ignoring those issues in disadvantage neighborhoods the criminals will WILL start doing bigger licks/jobs moving to rich neighborhoods and targeting people in social media flexing and sharing their location.
For the people in not so nice areas I recommend stay off homages, and replicas of very expensive watches just not worth risking your life.
I think we need to start holding eBay, Pawnshops and other websites that support and thrive on theft. They would not be doing the robberies if they knew no one was buying. If companies are going to quadruple their pricing they can go and die using their own sword. There's millions of microbrands hungry and happy to sell you a watch under 500 for something being sold for 2,000.
I remember reading about that incident. It is sad and unfortunate. I used to work in the music industry and it is a huge flex culture, everyone faking it till they make it. This is an example of trying to keep up appearances, which unfortunately did not end well.
Head on a swivel. Situational awareness takes practice, and is sadly a dying art.
I remind my family members that stuff is just stuff, mass produced for sale, is commerce. Don’t be stupid but don’t act like a potential victim either. Lately I am more mindful when I step out to perform errands often wearing one of my Tudor watches fitted with one of their fabric straps or the Ranger which I bought to wear as a timepiece that is nice to have on but not the end of the world if a criminal decides that he wants my watch. I guess all of my Tudors work that routine for me.
I remember reading about that incident. It is sad and unfortunate. I used to work in the music industry and it is a huge flex culture, everyone faking it till they make it. This is an example of trying to keep up appearances, which unfortunately did not end well.
The flex culture got out of control in my opinion. Here in L.A I see young kids maybe 23 max driving Hell Cat's or 100k plus cars. I get kinda upset because you know they got screwed so hard at the dealership and why are the banks even allowing it. 2008 part 2 here we come.
Not to me, I am an under the radar seiko owner but it has happened to a family member.
Are they okay? 😔
I live in a city called Kuching. There are no watch muggings because everything here is a knock off so they wouldn't make a profit from it. They commonly go after laptops or gold neck chains.
As the hype grew over watches so did the theft. It just makes sense that now that we have social media putting thinks on blast and showing the value of everything out on display criminals are able to be motivated to steal. I think we should also be increasing the punishment for such crimes.
Theft is really getting out of hand, just a few weeks ago someone stole my fathers daytona, fortunately he is ok, but gosh! I found a platform that was made to report stolen watches, it’s called JoinTrack.org I hope this helps a bit.