closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 27 of 27

Thread: Watches as currency?

  1. #1
    Apprentice
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Bristol UK
    Posts
    50

    Watches as currency?

    Given the residuals on some watches and their ease of transport and selling I’m hearing they are now being used as currency.

    If someone gets caught with £15,000 cash then many questions will be asked. If you are wearing a ceramic Daytona who notices?

    Also, that recent case are watches being bought and sold, even ones not stolen, to “clean” ill gotten gains? Buy a watch with cash then sell it to a dealer to clean the cash.

  2. #2
    Master MarkO's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    21.7738° N, 72.2719° W
    Posts
    3,313
    Easy money laundering and even make a profit on the exchange rate if you are lucky.

    Speaking as the TZ resident money laundering, profiteering expat.

    Now if I could just get my hands on something to buy/sell.

  3. #3
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    uk
    Posts
    2,118
    So are you saying that anybody wearing a Ceramic Daytona is a thieving money laundering scumbag, precisely why I wear vintage.

  4. #4
    I suspect that’s not anything new, I suspect that’s the case for a lot of luxury goods.

  5. #5
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Southampton
    Posts
    776
    Which is why watch dealers like watchfinder now require anti-money laundering documentation if a watch is acquired and then sold in a short period of time

  6. #6
    Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Stockport, UK
    Posts
    2,689
    When I worked in Sheffield I used to visit a gold and jewellery dealer quite a bit for a coffee and chat. They told me they had regular trade in construction workers bringing Rolexes from Africa. They’d buy them for cash and wear them on the plane on the way back, posting the papers and box, as a way of effectively exporting money when the currency couldn’t be converted. I assume there was more to lose in trying to change money than bringing back watches that could be sold on for close to rrp.

    Ant

  7. #7
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Wirral - North West England
    Posts
    15,264
    Quote Originally Posted by bobdog View Post
    So are you saying that anybody wearing a Ceramic Daytona is a thieving money laundering scumbag, precisely why I wear vintage.
    Vintage is even worse, think of the enormous quantities of cash that can be turned into a Red Sub, gilt dial or pre Zenith Daytona etc

    Your activities are under careful surveillance Bob

  8. #8
    Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,785
    "The ambassador used two Iraqi mediators, both Sunnis. They visited the Qatari foreign minister, asking in advance for "gifts": $150,000 in cash and five Rolex watches, "two of the most expensive kind, three of regular quality". It's not clear if these gifts were for the mediators themselves or were to grease the kidnappers' palms as the talks continued"

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44660369

    Currency of Terrorists

  9. #9
    Apprentice
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Bristol UK
    Posts
    50
    Quote Originally Posted by bobdog View Post
    So are you saying that anybody wearing a Ceramic Daytona is a thieving money laundering scumbag, precisely why I wear vintage.
    Not saying that at all just using that as an example of a watch with guaranteed residuals.

    Couple of my mates are CID and they are saying that luxury goods including watches, handbags and jewellery are often in the possession of scrotes they arrest.

    Their view is that this not new but becoming more common.

  10. #10
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    uk
    Posts
    2,118
    Quote Originally Posted by Wallasey Runner View Post
    Vintage is even worse, think of the enormous quantities of cash that can be turned into a Red Sub, gilt dial or pre Zenith Daytona etc

    Your activities are under careful surveillance Bob
    Can’t get anything past you Ken, lol.

  11. #11
    Grand Master MartynJC (UK)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Somewhere else
    Posts
    12,336
    Blog Entries
    22
    Quote Originally Posted by 1680 View Post
    If someone gets caught with £15,000 cash then many questions will be asked.
    .
    Why ‘so many questions’? Since when is it illegal to carry £15K cash? Why would you get ‘caught’ carrying cash - if you were caught carrying a knife then yes I understand. So say it was £10K, £6K where is the line.

    anyway - money laundering is not a new game - probably as old as money itself.
    Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 12th January 2019 at 17:41.

  12. #12
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Southampton
    Posts
    776
    Quote Originally Posted by MartynJC (UK) View Post
    Why ‘so many questions’? Since when is it illegal to carry £15K cash? Why would you get ‘caught’ carrying cash - if you were caught carrying a knife then yes I understand. So say it was £10K, £6K where is the line.
    I guess if you were stopped for some other reason eg suspicion of drugs and you had that much cash on you then the police may want you to explain the source of the cash. However, there would have to be a good reason for the police to stop you. If you walk down the streets waving a large sum of cash around (despite being very foolish) they couldn't just stop you for that as far as im aware

    Also there are limits on the amount of foreign currency cash you can travel to and from the country with.

  13. #13
    You can carry hundreds of thousands, with good reason. You can travel through country emigration as long as you advise them you are carry the amount - again you’d probably need a good reason, or be able to prove ownership.

    In almost every border seizure I have seen, the money is returned upon proof of ownership. It’s no big deal. The dogs are trained to smell bundles of monetary notes too.
    It's just a matter of time...

  14. #14
    Grand Master MartynJC (UK)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Somewhere else
    Posts
    12,336
    Blog Entries
    22
    Smarten up guys! They are onto us!!!

  15. #15
    Master smalleyboy1's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Northern Ireland
    Posts
    1,073
    I thought money laundering was more likely to be for significant sums and not £15k. Yes a £15k watch can be easily moved about but if you had, say £5M of “dirty money” to launder, then it would take several hundred years to accumulate enough Daytona’s based on current waiting list times.

  16. #16
    Grand Master Chris_in_the_UK's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Norf Yorks
    Posts
    42,918
    Buying and selling of high end goods to launder money is age old.
    When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Gerald Genta View Post
    Which is why watch dealers like watchfinder now require anti-money laundering documentation if a watch is acquired and then sold in a short period of time
    Be warned this is not just for money laundering, this is also to catch people buying and selling for profit and taxing them accordingly on that unearned income. You have been warned...

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by 1680 View Post
    Given the residuals on some watches and their ease of transport and selling I’m hearing they are now being used as currency.
    Why do people even use that stupid term 'residual', residual from what? It's just the value of the watch.

  19. #19
    Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Here and there
    Posts
    7,948
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by langdalematt View Post
    Be warned this is not just for money laundering, this is also to catch people buying and selling for profit and taxing them accordingly on that unearned income. You have been warned...
    And getting a tax credit when selling for less than they paid? Twaddle.

  20. #20
    Master murkeywaters's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Near the sea
    Posts
    7,122
    Quote Originally Posted by 1680 View Post
    If someone gets caught with £15,000 cash then many questions will be asked. If you are wearing a ceramic Daytona who notices?

    Also, that recent case are watches being bought and sold, even ones not stolen, to “clean” ill gotten gains? Buy a watch with cash then sell it to a dealer to clean the cash.
    I have said for a while now that Rolex is a new currency, bit like gold..

    Regarding the cleaning cash by selling to a dealer, this would not really work as anyone investigating with half a brain cell would ask the question where the watch that was sold came from in the first place, its not as easy to clean criminal money as people think although the more of it you have the easier it is to pay people to look after it..

  21. #21
    Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,785
    Quote Originally Posted by murkeywaters View Post
    I have said for a while now that Rolex is a new currency, bit like gold..

    Regarding the cleaning cash by selling to a dealer, this would not really work as anyone investigating with half a brain cell would ask the question where the watch that was sold came from in the first place, its not as easy to clean criminal money as people think although the more of it you have the easier it is to pay people to look after it..
    "cleaning criminal money"

    Isn't that what Banks have done for years?

  22. #22
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Wirral - North West England
    Posts
    15,264
    Even if you remove the dirty side of things, how many times have we seen people post that their money is better off in a Watch rather than rotting in a bank account gaining sod all, especially if you have been lucky enough to buy one of the hot watches at list.

    But remember: watches are not an investment

  23. #23
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    Stoke on Trent
    Posts
    94
    I'd guess bullion or diamonds would be easier than watches?

  24. #24
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Wirral - North West England
    Posts
    15,264
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonesinamillion View Post
    I'd guess bullion or diamonds would be easier than watches?
    They go up and down in value, a Ceramic Daytona only goes up.

  25. #25
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    Stoke on Trent
    Posts
    94
    Quote Originally Posted by Wallasey Runner View Post
    They go up and down in value, a Ceramic Daytona only goes up.

    Watches have serial numbers, bullion & diamonds don't.

  26. #26
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Manchester
    Posts
    552
    Quote Originally Posted by Omegamanic View Post
    You can carry hundreds of thousands, with good reason. You can travel through country emigration as long as you advise them you are carry the amount - again you’d probably need a good reason, or be able to prove ownership.

    In almost every border seizure I have seen, the money is returned upon proof of ownership. It’s no big deal. The dogs are trained to smell bundles of monetary notes too.
    Any evidence for that ...?


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

  27. #27
    Master WatchIng's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Rural Suffolk
    Posts
    1,238
    That would be BeatCoin!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information