Purchased watch flagged as stolen

BrookesAndrew

Hello,

 

I purchased a watch from a company in July of this year. I had the watch for a few months and then decided to sell it. The company that I sold to have advised me that it has flagged up on the watch register as stolen in October 2023. When I brought the watch the company provided me with a Watch Register certificate to show it hadn’t been stolen so something has happened between July and now.

 

I have been in contact with the company that sold me the watch and they are dealing with a person at the watch register and have provided them with details of the person who sold the watch to them. I am obviously a bit worried about this and I don’t want to be left out of pocket.

 

Is anybody able to advise where I stand legally with all this and what my options are? I have asked the company I brought the watch from what will happen if the watch needs to be returned back to the person who marked it as stolen and they have advised they don’t know.

 

I did buy the watch on finance so I am paying monthly for it but did put down a 50% deposit so wondering if I would be able to go to the finance company or the ombudsman if need be?

Mark_d

If company A sold you, in July, a watch that was stolen then you should be able to recover any costs from them.  How you do so depends on what happens now and where the watch is.

Aylesbury_Duck

Doesn't the chain just get unwound?  So you have to refund your buyer whatever they paid, and you then obtain whatever you paid from the person that sold it to you.  What happens beyond that doesn't matter to you, as long as you're back in the position you were in in July, before you bought the watch.

Grumpy_chap

Where is the watch now?

This may need some time to unravel.

I am not sure how quickly insurance works, but it seems plausible to me that the watch could have been stolen in the summer, sold via (innocent) dealer in July and then registered in October once the insurer processed everything.

It is also possible that the watch was sold to the (innocent) Dealer while "clean" and sold to the OP in July, then *someone* reported the watch stolen once enough time had passed for the watch to be moved along.

voluted

Grumpy_chap said:

Where is the watch now?

This may need some time to unravel.

I am not sure how quickly insurance works, but it seems plausible to me that the watch could have been stolen in the summer, sold via (innocent) dealer in July and then registered in October once the insurer processed everything.

It is also possible that the watch was sold to the (innocent) Dealer while "clean" and sold to the OP in July, then *someone* reported the watch stolen once enough time had passed for the watch to be moved along.

It does sound a lot like the scam with mobile phones where someone buys a phone, often an "unwanted upgrade" and after enough time has elapsed that a PayPal or eBay claim will fail due to the time passed, the phone gets blocked and it turns out it's been reported as stolen.