Timely Alternatives : Spooked by Recent Thefts, Wary Rolex Owners Trade Down to Other Brands

What you didn’t see, but could have, on the annual in/out lists last Jan. 1:

In: Peace of mind.

Out: Rolex watches.

Victoria Shemaria put her watch away this summer after reading grim tales of gun-toting Rolex bandits.

Mary Sweeney locked hers up when she realized she was spending more time trying to hide it than enjoying it.

Hilary Kornbluth, who had yearned for a gold Rolex for a long time, sold hers this year. It just wasn’t worth the worry.

And Carl Marcus, a Santa Ana jeweler, switched brands this spring after a thief relieved him at gunpoint of his $22,000 Rolex. He was just stepping into his Rolls-Royce outside the Westside Pavilion when he felt a gun against his head and heard a voice say, “It’s Rolex time, (expletive).”

Not anymore it’s not. Not for a lot of people.

“I am besieged with calls from people who are afraid to wear their Rolexes,” said Pepi Kelman, owner of the Beverly Hills jewelry store Pepi. “We have had an unusual number of people coming in and saying, ‘My husband doesn’t want me to wear my Rolex. I don’t feel safe at the market, or in the car, or shopping.’ Last week, I must have seen 10 women who were replacing their Rolexes.”

But they are not replacing their Rolexes with other status brands like Cartier, Audemars Piguet or Ebel. Instead, Kelman has begun recommending to her customers--most of whom can afford any watch they like--timepieces that cost a fraction of a gold Rolex.

Sweeney, Shemaria and Kornbluth all recently bought Sector brand watches from Kelman. Sector is a sporty, water-resistant, Italian-designed watch with Swiss movement. It has the heft of a Rolex but costs far less.

“We’re selling a lot of Sector Adventure models, which cost from $275 to $595, and the customers actually don’t care if they lose it,” said Kelman.

Other brands that are selling--some of which are known to watch buyers from magazine advertisements--are Tabbah, Heuer, Lucien Rochat, Revue Thommen, Alain Silberstein and Misani. The top price for such models is usually about $1,500.

Lance Thomas, who buys and sells vintage watches at the Watch Co. in West Los Angeles, said some of his customers are removing the gold watchbands from their Rolex Presidents and replacing them with less flashy crocodile or lizard bands.

Any gold Rolexes Thomas buys now are sold to East Coast dealers and not even offered to customers here. (Thomas made headlines last November after he shot and killed two gunmen trying to rob his shop. Police said the robbers were probably looking for Rolexes.)

Los Angeles-area police reported last month that Rolex owners were being victimized at the rate of one per day. Three people have been murdered this year in connection with Rolex thefts.

Last week, police detectives arrested a 25-year-old Los Angeles man they believe may be responsible for at least some of the Rolex robberies. Police said two attorneys reported receiving phone calls from a man who said he wanted help turning himself in on outstanding warrants. The attorneys were robbed of their Rolexes when they met the potential client.

For the most part, thieves seek out all-gold, President models, which sell new for $10,000 and up. But that doesn’t make owners of other models rest any easier.

“A lot of people don’t seem to fully realize what’s going on,” said Michael Taylor, a Los Angeles jeweler. “I wouldn’t wear one. I used to wear a Rolex two-tone (stainless steel and gold), but I put it away out of caution.”

Indeed, these days, caution and Rolex go together like armed and dangerous.

“I found myself pulling my sleeve down a lot,” said Sweeney, co-owner of Marix Tex Mex Cafes. “I’d worry about it when I was driving and I’d put my arm out the window. Or, if I didn’t have long sleeves on, I’d be trying to stuff my hand in my jeans pocket to conceal it. It was probably somewhere before the beginning of the summer that I just said, ‘No more.’ My Rolex is locked up now.”

Sweeney’s partner, Shemaria, arrived at the same conclusion.

“I didn’t even have one of the kind they were stealing,” she said. “I had a very ‘household’ model--stainless steel and gold. But your watch is the last thing you want to be worried about.”

But not everyone is switching brands. For Carl Marcus, the Rolex mystique has proven irresistible.

“A Rolex just makes me feel good,” he said, and admitted that he’s wearing one again. Not that he hasn’t made concessions. After he was robbed, he traded in his Rolls Royce for a BMW and made a beeline for a tailor.

“I went straight to a custom shirt shop and ordered three dozen shirts with extra long cuffs,” he said.

But for many Rolex owners, especially women, the only appropriate sartorial adjustment is to put the Rolex away.

“Because it’s such a hot item, I would probably put mine away for awhile,” said West Los Angeles Police Det. Ronald Phillips. He said the Rolex robbery rate in his jurisdiction has remained steady, with a total of about 36 this year. Many victims, he said, are cased before the assaults, frequently by someone who asks for the time on the street, then tips off an accomplice, who commits the robbery.

“Everyone who asks you the time of day is not a robber,” said Phillips, “but when someone walks up and asks the time, it should be a clue for you to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on around me?’ ”

Kornbluth, a West Los Angeles businesswoman, didn’t want to have to spend one minute worrying about her watch.

“When I finished graduate school, my family gave me a gold Rolex, which cost $8,000 or $9,000,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to get it. But the watch was more of a problem than it was worth. It lived in my safe deposit box. Now the watch I wear (a Sector) cost $350. It’s stainless steel, gold-plated and looks better than a Rolex. If I lose it or it’s stolen, it’s replaceable. It’s not worth risking your life over a stupid watch.”