Rolex watches are expensive luxury items that are often targeted and stolen by thieves. Here are important steps to take to increase the chances of recovery.
What to do when your Rolex got stolen?
- Check the model and serial number.
- File a report with the Police
- Contact your insurance company
- Contact Rolex
- List the watch in online databases as stolen
1. Check the model and serial number
If your Rolex got stolen, the first step is to check the model and serial number. If you still have the documents of the watch, this will be easy to find. Some Rolex watches are bought and sold without box or papers. Hopefully, you wrote the serial number down somewhere.
2. File a report with the Police
The next step is to contact the police. They will help you file a report and start an investigation of the theft. You will need the watch model and serial number for the report. A police report is a document written by a police officer to document an incident. The officer starts the report with the date and time of the incident and then details the circumstances, such as where it happened, who was there, what was stolen, and what happened. A police report can be used in court as evidence against someone accused of a crime.
3. Contact your insurance company
The next step is to contact your insurance company if your watch is insured. The assurer will ask you for the police report to exclude insurance fraud and to open a claim. If the assurer would pay you, it is very important to verify or discuss what would happen if the watch will turn up later. Some insurance companies pay out the assured but reserve the right to claim the Rolex when it would turn up again later. Often, the watch increased in value over time…
4. Contact Rolex
Rolex used to offer a service that allowed collectors to check whether a watch was reported as stolen in their internal database before purchasing it. Rolex has discontinued this practice, but will still inspect a watch for theft when it is brought in for service. If the watch is not reported stolen, it will be returned. But, if reported as stolen, the watch is held for the authorities. Therefore you must contact Rolex and report your watch as stolen.
5. List the watch in online databases as Stolen-Watches.com
Even if the police are investigating the crime, and even if your assurer paid you out for your loss, you should still list the watch in an online database as Stolen-Watches.com. You will increase the chances of ever recovering the watch, but you will also increase the chances to prevent the watch would be bought and sold in the future.
How big are the chances of recovering a stolen Rolex?
Let’s be honest. The majority of stolen Rolex watches do not get recovered. Therefore it is important to prevent your watch of getting stolen as much as possible and get good insurance coverage.
Nonetheless, a minority of stolen watches do get recovered. By police forces, by Rolex, and because of due diligence by buyers and sellers. Therefore it is very important to always follow the steps above to increase the chances of recovery. If you don’t follow any of these steps, it is 100% sure your stolen Rolex is not likely to turn up.
It is also very important to take these steps as soon as possible. Most countries have a legal principle of “buyer in good faith” in their laws. This means that when the acquisition (of a stolen Rolex) is free of any defect, the buyer can keep the goods in certain circumstances. Imagine a purchaser who does not know the watch got stolen. Often this legal principle is elaborated with a time period. Therefore it is important to be able to claim your watch back within a certain period.
