‘Easy to sell off’ market value of Takefu’s luxury watch collection… Reason for the spate of luxury jewelry robberies.

On April 4, horse racing legend Yutaka Take, 55, found that his home in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, had been burglarized.

Between 11:00 p.m. on March 23 and 5:00 a.m. on the following day, March 24, several people broke into Takeshi’s home by breaking the window glass. They stole 22 brand-name bags, purses, and other items (worth approximately 750,000 yen). In addition, according to media reports, precious metals including luxury watches and cash were also stolen, with the damage possibly amounting to several million yen.

Mr. Take was not at home at the time, but his wife, former TV personality Quantum Sano (55), was. On April 4, Takeshi wrote on his official website,

My wife’s emotional shock is greater than the material damage, and of course I myself am in shock.

and he wrote that his feelings for Mr. Quantum were greater than the damage caused by the theft. The perpetrator has not been caught to date and is believed to be at large.

Mr. Takeshi wrote, “More than the material damage,” but the shock must still be great. He is known as a well-known watch enthusiast. He has purchased luxury watches at every milestone in his jockeying career, and I believe the price of his watches alone, which he has made public, is no less than several tens of millions of yen.

The collector keeps his watches together in a large special case, so it is highly likely that his entire collection has been stolen. The amount of damage is said to be several million yen, but it is conceivable that it could be as high as tens of millions of yen” (editor of a watch magazine).

So, when we look at the collections that Mr. Takeshi has disclosed in magazine interviews, we find that he owns a number of “Rolexes. On December 7, 2010, Mr. Takeshi was photographed at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong, wearing a ROREX Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona Everose Gold 116515LN on his wrist.

The price of a new watch sold at an authorized store is less than 4 million yen, but it is a rare gem. Mr. Takeshi himself said in a magazine interview that when he wore it to Rolex in Paris, it was the first model he had seen and talked about. The current market price for an unused watch is around 6.9 million yen.

Other than this, the value of the collection that Takeshi himself introduced in “FASHON BOX #TAKARAJIMA” (distributed on November 15, ’22) can be converted to the current market price at …….

The “ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona Ice Blue Pavé Diamonds 116506,” the first platinum model of the Rolex Daytona with diamonds scattered all over it, costs 24.5 million yen used (all prices below are current market transaction prices). ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona White Gold 16519NA A” is around 3.6 million yen.

Patek Philippe Nautilus,” which he bought when he rode Kizuna to the title in the Japan Derby in ’13, is around 10.5 million yen. The “BREGUET Tradition” he bought when he rode Kitasan Black to win the Tennou-sho in the spring of 2004 cost around 2.5 million yen. The total value of these five items alone amounted to 48 million yen.

When these watches are stolen, they are said to be taken over by another buyer or passed on to overseas buyers or private buyers within almost a few days.

On April 11, a pure gold tea bowl was stolen from the “Great Gold Exhibition” at Takashimaya Department Store in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, and the perpetrator was arrested on April 13, but the bowl, worth approximately 10 million yen, was sold that day for 1.8 million yen to a buyer in Koto-ku, Tokyo. On social networking sites, questions such as, “The buyer must be in on it, too,” and “How could he sell it without a certificate of guarantee?　How could they sell it without the warranty?

The store is rather a victim. The shop is rather a victim. As long as it is found that the goods are stolen, it has to refund 4.8 million yen to the purchaser. Stores will buy even if there is no warranty. That’s why this kind of crime will never go away.

Mr. Toru Yoshiyama, president of Yohkichi Group, Inc., a company specializing in the purchase of luxury watches with annual sales of 55 billion yen, said, “Jewelry heists are becoming more and more common.

It is quite common for antiques to be brought in that have no box or certificate of guarantee. It is very difficult to determine that an item is stolen from the large amount of art and jewelry brought in every day. Therefore, if it is genuine, it is quite common for most vendors to buy it despite their doubts.

However, the “Yohkichi Group” rarely buys stolen goods. The reason for this?

The Metropolitan Police Department sends us a list of stolen goods right away. However, there is inevitably a time lag between the time a theft is reported and the time the list is compiled. Therefore, if we suspect a theft, we always stop the transaction” (President Yoshiyama, hereinafter the company’s comment).

However, only about 2% of all buyers in Japan receive such lists immediately from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Only chain operators and companies like ours with large transaction amounts receive such lists. Most buyers receive the list of stolen goods much later, so it is difficult to prevent it from happening.

So will Takeshi’s watch ever come back?

“It’s very unlikely,” he said. It is very likely that the watch was sent overseas by parcel or other means on the day it was stolen. If the purchaser is an end user, it is unlikely to be found.

He then sounds this alarming warning.

The legal system has not kept pace with the antiques and jewelry trade,” he said. Even if it is a private business owner, the Metropolitan Police Department should send a list of all thefts immediately, and laws such as making it impossible to buy or sell secondhand goods without a warranty are necessary. Otherwise, both this type of crime and the damage to buyers will only increase.

For example, if a customer buys a watch worth 20 million yen and the watch is stolen, the police will confiscate it, even if it came from a dealer. In other words, the customer would suffer a loss of 20 million yen. However, if the dealer from whom the watch was purchased is a responsible company that is large enough and in compliance with the law to cover the loss, the 20 million yen will be returned and the customer will not suffer any damage. In other words, it is important where you buy from. We hope that everyone will buy and sell with caution.

Cheap! Even if you think it is cheap, we recommend that you take these precautions into consideration before making a purchase.

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