A. Lange & Söhne

... as I had my TWO Lange stolen, I may have to deal with these situations..... Antiquorum has been my least favorite auction house - based on experience dealing with them, even when I won.... Sorry to hear that and I hope my Lange be not auctioned at Aut... 

I've heard or read one too many dodgy stories about AQ. These guys are glorified crooks. For what it's worth: If I am not wrong, HK laws and legal system are similar to Singapore's (a former British colony and a member of the Commonwealth). Singapore has ... 

The watch may have gone through many layers before reaching Antiquorum. It\'s terrible to know how they handled the situation through asking for real ownership evidence of the watch and does nothing although realising they are auctioning a stolen timepiec... 

I sincerely hope this gets sorted out. Seems like daylight robbery to me, and as stated - "too easy" for them just to get away with this. Regards, skyeriding

I do hope that this turns out well eventually. These guys seems to be no different from any other crook, only that they hide behind a lot of legal fine print designed to allow them to make the most money out of dubious trades. I\'ll be sure to share this ... 

Nico, here is a citation to a NY case where Christies was enjoined from transferring an item whose title was in dispute. Of course, it\'s possible that HK or Swiss law may apply,but there is an argument that NY law could apply, and if so, Antiquorum shou... 

To sum it, in case of conflict of title, the " victim owner " is the one who has to get the watch back. Thanks for your helpful informations, Descartes. Best, Nicolas

And this kind of behaviour explains why the fame of Antiquorum is quickly fading. When you lose the trust from the collectors, it is the beginning of the end. Let's hope that you will get a positive outcome but things will be complicated. The most disappo... 

This thread needs to get posted on the Patek forum. Let's hit AQ where it hurts. Get it on the Patek forum and the Rolex forum. Those are the brands AQ really sells a lot of. Get it on multiple sites...the more good people that hear of this tragedy will v... 

I posted the link to your original post on the Purists' Patek and Rolex forums. The number of viewings nearly doubled after I did that... I'm sure there are other watch community forums besides TZ and Purists. I'd like to get this posted elsewhere, too. M... 

Nicolas, The only bright spot I can find in this entire sordid story is that someone at Antiquorum was stupid enough to do this to one of the watch world's leading opinion makers! If they have any business sense whatsoever the CEO will fly to Paris to pre... 

What an awful event to go through not once; but twice! I will refrain from restating what has already been said Nicolas, however I will follow in Robin's steps and take this fight to Twitter and IG. AQ shall feel the wrath of their shady dealings. Hopeful... 

And let them get to the bottom of it. I usually assume the best of people until proven otherwise. In other words, I'm assuming Antiquorum and the consigner did what they did in good faith, not knowing it was stolen. If so, once the police investigate, the... 

hands the watch back to the party that gave it to them, rather than giving it to its legal owner, or holding it until it's sorted out in a legal arena. And upon receipt of everything they asked for to prove that it is your stolen watch, they declare "ambi... 

I've never seen any thread on WatchProSite get 5,000 views in one day. Antiquorum may be acting like a$$holes, but you have A LOT of friends here! Salute! NickO

I would "lawyer up" as they say in the US and sue these guys to get your rightful property back. I would choose which ever country they have operations in and has the toughest laws on receiving stolen merchandise and sue them there.

Please let me know (by PM or email) if I can do anything to help with this in the U.S. Best, CaliforniaJed

your "precious watches", maybe they could be of some help regarding AQ answers given to you? What do you think about this option? I cross fingers for you and for a happy come back of your Anniversary Lange and all the others.... Patrickh

They didn't cover me because the door was not broken... Best, Nicolas

Hope friendship in southeast Asia and law will help here to find a solution. I wish you courage and hardcore determination Nicolas best François

Fx ...  

This is one of the most horrible stories I've heard. Shame, Antiquorum, shame!! How is it even possible that they could return STOLEN GOODS to the consignor, and not to the rightful owner????? It's absolutely unacceptable and unthinkable. I think they hav... 

Boycott AQ and Timezone. They are all scumbags. AQ should have at least reported this to the police that they were in possession of stolen goods. This whole story makes me disgusted as I had heard over the years that AQ was sketchy from several collectors... 

I hope that since you are a lawyer and famous in the watch world you will make them regret that unacceptable behavior. I certainly won't buy from them after that. Andreas

I hope you're able to get this watch back! -AT

So sorry to hear this story. Certainly a huge response here and Antiquorum would have to be deaf not to hear this.

this is an amazing ordeal..I hope you are above to recover what is rightfully yours...

i know my faith in the police is biased, but there must be someway they can get a warrant to force antiquorum to divulge the sellers details and get the bastard and of course get you your watch back. i wish you the best of luck, i personally wouldnt use a... 

Local solution, indeed. Thanks Graham. Good to hear from you, my friend. Best, Nicolas

This is insane. There must be someone who is liable for this insanity. Best og Luck getting Your timepeice back, and in the meantime keep up the pressure.

And really pleased that the buyer did the right thing when he found out it was stolen. It all seems to be weighted on Antiquorums shoulders for doing the wrong thing... why on earth send it back to the seller? I don't think they should have sent it straig... 

I remember when this and other watches were stolen from you. Unfortunately, there are others factors at work with that group that led them to disregard your undeniable proof. The seller is probably well-connected with the owners, and they don't want to lo... 

It is a more than sad story for you my friend And looking at all the replies, there is not much to add. I dearly hope that Antiquorum gets their act together, and get the police involved to do the right thing for once. To ensure that you get the watch bac... 

How AQ treat you with this issue .. That\'s very unprofessional of them to do so. I can only hope that the consignor would do the right thing to you. I will also share this issue to my circle of friends so that they will be aware of this issue and the unp... 

Hi Nicolas, I am terribly sorry to read what has happened and moreover that you were not able to retrieve your watch back. It is the nightmare of every watch lover/ collector. It makes you think what would have been the appropriate way to act once one dis... 

He did the right thing, refusing a stolen watch. He would have kept the watch, it would not have been good for him. While it would have been good for me, indeed. As he is a gentleman. But he would have been in trouble with Antiquorum. Or Antiquorum would ... 

this at least provides us some insight how to possibly act the next time someone would come across such a situation, as I know now much better how to respond. This is an extremely added value of the community… to not only show your pieces, but to share ex... 

Shame on Aq for not doing what a professional auction house ought to have done 1/ enquiring about this particular watch at AL&S and on the internet 2/ returning the watch to the consignor in a hurry when it knew that the watch had been stolen from you I h... 

I think you mentioned in another post that some watches were stolen, but I wasn\'t aware of the extent of robbery. On top of this , the experience of your watch showing up on an auction and the very disappointing behaviour of Antiquorum. At least they cou... 

It seems to me, applying logic as only a non-lawyer might, that the consignee has now been legally informed that the watch's provenance has been undermined. Having received notice of that, he has two options: Try to resolve it, or try to hide it. If he ig... 

The new buyer couldn't ignore the illegitimate origin of the watch. So the consignor is stuck with this watch. He cannot sell it, he cannot send it for a service to Lange, he just can keep it with him. IF he is of bona fide... What I curiously still don't... 

that the current owner did not come forward yet… Perhaps the feeling of losing his money, besides the watch, is weighing very heavily and therefore still contemplating…. However, I can imagine this is insured, but then again, I don’t know whether the insu... 

and I meant "consignor"--the current owner who sent the watch to Antiquorum to be sold. I did not mean Antiquorum's buyer who researched it, notified you, and then returned it to Antiquorum based on what he learned--he is blameless. And I did not mean Ant... 

It's helpful to continue to think about the current possessor's position. I think there should be two foci. One is the one you describe -- on the current possessor. It would be wrong for that current possessor to hold the watch silently or to try to sell ... 

There is one Langematik Anniversary for sale. This would be a compensation, I will send them my box and papers. The other solution I would welcome is to receive my watch... Best, Nicolas.

Go to your local police department and file chargers against them. As the are in a foreight country I suppose that this will be taken to Interpol who will inform the Honk Kong police about the matter.

Dear Nicolas, First of all, I want to express my deepest solidarity. I can imagine how much agonizing all of these very sad facts are for you. I'm sure you'll try in every way to promote an international criminal investigation, since the facts you've repo... 

I deal a fair bit in antiques and this sort of thing is rather common in that trade and at auction (as Mark alludes to in one post above about a certain auction house). One does what due diligence one can but as a buyer one generally feels there is a leve... 

This has become a topic on Watchuseek and IWL Fora. It has also surfaced on TZ-UK, which I guess is separate from Timezone; the British participants seem quite critical of Antiquorum. Finally, when you google "stolen langematik anniversary watch" my post ... 

I've written to the New York Times and Watchtime Magazine. Should I hear anything I'll let you know. Also, at the suggestion of our friend cee are I registered for Watchnet but my post never got aired-and I've been permanently banned from the Forum! Can y... 

dear nico, sorry to hear about this case. this is just simply outrageous ! a good citizen would just hand it over to a neutral party (eg police) to mediate until the case be resolved for the new year, I wish that the watch will find its way back to your h...