Headlines

Jeweler Targeted at Store and Robbed of $150K Watch at Home in Pennsylvania

The store had recently posted the Patek Philippe timepiece on Instagram.

Published

1 month ago

October 21, 2023

INSTORE Staff

The owner of a jewelry store in Philadelphia was followed home and robbed of a high-end watch.

The watch was a Patek Philippe worth between $150,000 and $170,000, WPVI-TV reported. The store was not identified in media reports but is located in Center City on Philadelphia’s Jeweler’s Row.

On Sept. 11, a man entered the store shortly after it posted a video on Instagram advertising the newly acquired watch, the Jeweler’s Security Alliance stated in a bulletin.

According to JSA:

After the video was posted, the suspect arrived at the store wearing a Covid mask.

Surveillance video later revealed that after he left the store, the suspect got into a 2020 black Avalon Toyota (pictured above) parked behind the store in which there was another male. They waited there for three hours until the store owner left.

The owner had walked in and out of the store a few times during that period and he believes the suspects determined that he was wearing the high end watch. The suspects followed him from his store in Philadelphia to his home in Bucks County where the two suspects with handguns took the high end watch and his cell phone. If you have information, contact JSA at 212-687-0328 or jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org.

JSA offered the following recommendations for jewelers:

When driving home or to any other location, check to be sure you’re not being followed.
Be prudent about wearing high-end jewelry and watches outside your store.

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When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”