Was in Westfield Stratford earlier tonight browsing the roles section at an AD while my wife was shopping. A guy comes in who seems to be known to the AD with a SS Daytona and says he's just bought it for £15k from a jeweller in Hatton Garden.
The AD takes it into the back to have a general look and take off the bracelet etc and comes back with an awkward face.
1. Old style warranty card which doesn't match the year printed on it.
2. Bezel isn't correct for that year of Daytona
3. Chrono hand doesn't reset to 12
4. One sub dial and hand are very scratched and looks like a bodge job
5. Another hand for a different sub dial doesn't look genuine.
6. Something about random serial when that era should or shouldn't have a random serial and this was "generic" which was a bad sign. Couldn't hear that part properly.
Looks like the guy has a buy back promise from the place in Hatton Garden which is what convinced him to buy it but I don't know how easy it will be to get them to honour it.
What a nightmare. He was in total disbelief. As much as people moan about greys places like Blowers etc surely they are worth it when spending £15k on a Daytona. My god. FWIW the place in Hatton Garden isn't bricks and mortar. It's some tiny office in a large building.