Sixteen high-end watches — all Rolexes but one — were sold last month in an online auction that also featured a Birkin handbag by Hermès, women’s shoes from Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo and even La Prairie cosmetics. But this was not a simple matter of owners disposing of some unwanted luxury items.
The goods had been seized during raids on the homes, businesses and storage sites of people suspected of obtaining the items through criminal activity — either by stealing them outright or purchasing them with money made through other crimes, like drug dealing for example.
Once the High Court determined they were the proceeds of criminal activities a four-day online auction was staged by Wilsons Auctions on behalf of Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, best known as CAB.
By the final fall of the hammer on Dec. 2, all 130 lots had sold, raising 216,190 euros ($222,115). “Not bad for a morning’s work,” exclaimed Michael Gubbins, the chief bureau officer in charge of its operations.
Ireland is just one country where law enforcement entities are authorized to auction confiscated goods. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, about 300 auctions are held annually throughout the United States and Puerto Rico to sell property obtained because of federal law violations. And in December, for example, the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control held its first auction to dispose of 32 confiscated bottles, including some rare bourbons.
The Irish auction was the second staged by CAB, a law enforcement agency formed in 1996, which operates independently of the police. The bureau is solely concerned with assets, investigating suspects’ financial accounts to determine whether they have the legitimate income to afford luxury goods.
Most of the goods that it seizes are from criminals involved in the drug trade, but some have been convicted of theft, burglary, fraud and money laundering.
Auction proceeds are added to the Irish Exchequer — and in 2023, the bureau reported that it realized €8.6 million.
Range of Prices
“The Rolex Daytona sold for €26,000,” said Chief Officer Gubbins, 55. He was referring to Lot No. 60, a Rolex Daytona model 116505, which produced the auction’s highest single price even though one of its chronograph pushers was broken.
The watch — a chronograph, which operates like a stopwatch — featured a 40-millimeter case and bezel in Everose Gold, Rolex’s proprietary 18-karat pink gold alloy; champagne and black subdials; rose gold hands and a screw-down crown.
According to WatchCharts Analytics, an online watch valuation site: “Rolex Daytona watches cost about €30,000 on average, though prices range from about €6,000-€211,000 depending on the exact model.”
Johnny McElherron, an independent watch specialist and reviewer from Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, noted the Daytona when he examined online photos of the watches before the auction. “That will probably attract reasonable attention because of what it is,” he wrote in an email at the time. “But I see it has a broken chronograph pusher and that could be an expensive fix.”
He also mentioned a bimetal Rolex Submariner that “looks pretty reasonable and in order.” (It sold for €11,250.) But he described a Rolex Datejust as “grim.”
“Lot 90 — that’s a bit of a horror show,” he wrote. “A 1969 reference case, with a movement from 1972, topped off with a bracelet which was introduced in 1982. Plus the seconds hand is detached and loose under the crystal. There’s an expression in the watch game called ‘Frankenwatch’ and that qualifies easily.” (It sold for €1,480, the auction’s lowest price for a watch).
Mr. McElherron noted that anyone should be wary of purchasing an expensive timepiece at auction without examining it first: “The problem is we don’t know what condition these watches are in and the images are really poor.”
Dirty Laundry
A month before the auction, several officers gathered around a conference table in Chief Officer Gubbin’s office in Dublin to unpack some designer handbags, shoes and watches connected with cases that were still going through the courts. (As soon as assets are seized, they are valued by independent experts and then put into storage to await final judgments, he said.)
A diamond-studded Cartier watch, for example, was valued at €8,000 to €15,000. But Chief Officer Gubbins noted that it would be difficult to estimate an auction price because the gems were added after its initial sale — “iced out,” in hip-hop slang — which actually would reduce the watch’s value.
And there was a Rolex Datejust with a diamond-pavé dial that dazzled so brightly, it was difficult to read the time. If the diamonds had been added in the factory, the watch likely would sell for more than €100,000, Chief Officer Gubbins said. But “it’s not the real deal,” he continued. “The movement and the crown are by Rolex, but everything else seems not to be.” (It was valued at €3,000.)
The officers noted that, at least in Ireland, few criminals had such pricey accessories until recent years.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, I don’t think I ever saw bling on criminals,” said Detective Sgt. Tony Brady, 55, who joined the agency in 2002 and now oversees its Asset Management Office. “The most you’d see would be a fast car, but there were never fancy haircuts, cosmetic surgery, high-value clothes, jewelry and watches.”
Then social media arrived and, Detective Sgt. Brady said, “brand awareness and that Instagram perfect vision” created what he called “Insta-criminals.”
Now, “it wouldn’t be unusual to go into a house where there’s more than one high-value watch,” Chief Officer Gubbins said. “There’s obviously the ‘his and hers,’ but there could be a collection. It’s kind of their getaway money. It’s probably not going to lose money, if anything, it’ll increase. And it’s easy to secrete out of the country.
“Actually, ‘secrete’ is probably the wrong word,” he said with a laugh. “They can wear it on their wrist.”
During raids, officers often find items of value hidden in unusual places, Detective Sgt. Brady said: “freezers, ovens, hay barns, under floorboards, even sewage pipes. And the watches are often rolled up in socks.”
Bureau Officer Detective Garda Michelle O’Leary, 41, an investigator in one of CAB’s seven teams, added: “And they love hiding them in the dirty laundry!”
More than once, the officers said, they have removed watches from wrists and slipped engagement rings from fingers. “We’re not callous,” said Detective Sgt. Brady, noting that officers would never take what he called a “normal” engagement ring. “But if it’s a big rock that looks like €20,000 and they’re on the dole, we’ll ask them to hand it over.”
Criminals’ watch of choice? “Rolex,” Detective Sgt. Brady said. “Rolex watches are a currency in their own right now.”
There are the occasional Breitlings, Patek Philippes and Hublots, Chief Officer Gubbins said, “but it all goes back to Rolex though, it really does.”
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