Friday: The Day When It All Started
On an ordinary Friday, two prospective clients reached out to us on WhatsApp inquiring about the Patek Philippe 5711. The duo then came to the WatchMaestro showroom with a clear focus at the 5711. While browsing through all the watches displayed in our showroom, they kept coming back to the Patek. They asked all types of questions that a client would ask starting from asking about the purchase year to a discount on the price. The air was charged with the promise of an imminent purchase. However, the drama was yet to unfold.
The Appointment and Red Flags
The next day, the prospective buyers contacted our team, expressing their desire to finalize the purchase on Sunday. WatchMaestro is usually closed on Sundays and we are always ready to open on appointments. However, something just didn’t feel right. Why? Because they first insisted that we bring the watch to them in their hotel. Which is a very unusual request coming from a first-time client. For some reason, things just did not feel right. We passed on the opportunity and requested them to visit us on Monday if they are really interested in picking the watch up.
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Monday: The Day They Were Eagerly Waiting For
Monday arrived, and our sales team was definitely excited as January was coming to an end, and selling a Patek would have led to a great close of the month. The two individuals came to the showroom in the evening at around 6pm with two Louis Vuitton shopping bags, showing how serious shoppers they were. Claiming to have ready cash in their bag, they then set the stage for what we would have never expected to happen. Before closing the deal, they wanted to look at some other options. These other options were nothing but a distraction for the WatchMaestro team.
The Swap
As the WatchMaestro team was constantly helping them out, still believing that they were our clients, the criminals seized the right opportunity. One of the individuals managed to distract our staff and the other one quickly swapped our original Patek 5711 for a fake one. In a blink, the authentic Patek Philippe 5711 was swapped with a convincing counterfeit.
One thing they failed to realise is that our team is very experienced. As soon as we picked up the fake Patek, we knew something was wrong. It was not just the WatchMaestro team that became alert, it was also the criminals. They knew that we had sensed this, and they were now in trouble. In order to avoid getting into trouble, they quickly swapped the fake one back for the real one. As soon as we had the original one back in our possession, we knew its our time for action.
They failed to anticipate the tight security
The auto-locking doors were already activated as always. The building security, alerted by the urgency of the situation, responded within a matter of 1 minute. With the attempted heist in progress, WatchMaestro quickly reported this to the Dubai Police. The police arrived within 5-10 minutes and took control of the situation. The criminals were then taken away by the police and were charged with an attempt to rob.
We Still Stand
The team at WatchMaestro is always cautious and acts swiftly in any situation like this. Combined with the best building security at our disposal made things for us a lot easier. The fact that our showroom is set up in the safest city in the world was also proven right as we heard the knock on our door by the Dubai Police within 5 minutes of alerting them.
