Christmas is the most magical time of the year; after all, we have all grown up listening to stories of Christmas miracles! A story has emerged on the internet that will have you believe in these mysterious, unexplainable miracles; a story that involves England, Dubai, a rare Richard Mille wristwatch, and …. reindeer – see the Christmas connection? Back in 2018, a wealthy watch collector in Northampton, a town about 100 kilometers north of London, lost his $215,000 Richard Mille timepiece, an RM 011. According to the anonymous watch owner, the watch was kept in a safe in his basement which was flooded after a water leak. He retrieved the damp safe and put its contents, including the watch, on a table to dry in his backyard. The watch was gone when he came back to check on it. The owner told the police that the possible explanation to the missing watch was that it might have been pinched by a reindeer had been causing trouble in his garden previously. “He said a large stag with antlers had been eating his flowers. He must have taken the watch and run off with it,” said Christopher Marrinello, CEO of Art Recovery International, and a leading legal expert on stolen luxury goods.
The stolen Richard Mille watch mysteriously turned up in Dubai this year and was identified after its new owner sent the timepiece to Geneva to be serviced and its serial number was marked as stolen. The case was taken up by Art Recovery International and the investigation led to a dealer in Hong Kong who told Mr. Marinello he’d bought the watch in Dubai. “I asked if he had any paperwork and, of course, the paperwork was scant,” Mr. Marinello said. “Unfortunately dealers who should know better, and collectors of these types of watches, are doing very little due diligence. Had he checked he would have been informed almost immediately that the watch was stolen.” The watch was retrieved and it’s up to the owner if he wants to take possession of it or not because the insurance company has already made the payout. Could it be a case of insurance fraud? Well, let’s stick with the Christmas miracle story!
[Via:Watchpro]