Six days ago, watch dealer Anthony Farrer (a.k.a., the Timepiece Gentleman) posted his last YouTube video (The Timepiece Gentleman Quits, Heading for Jail). This after sending a self-serving, narcissistic, self-pitying email to customers whose consigned watches “went missing” (The Timepiece Gentleman – Road to Redemption?) That got me thinking…
Was Anthony Farrer robbed at the bar where the watches went walkies? I’d bet a Grand Seiko that no, he wasn’t. The timepieces the so-called gentleman “lost” were most probably sold, the money used to subsidize his slumdog millionaire lifestyle.
By his own admission, the Dallas-born ex-con spent loads of money on a Lambo, hookers and blow (in Vegas, of course). While we await his inevitable arrest for wire fraud, etc., let’s set the wayback machine to March 23, 2022. people.com tells the tale.
Early Wednesday morning, around 1 a.m. local time, Anthony Farrer‘s [Instagram account now private] Hollywood Hills, California, home was burglarized by four robbers, two of whom were armed, ABC 7 reported [page not found], citing the Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaking with reporters after the incident, Farrer said he was asleep in his home when the suspects broke in. “[They made] multiple demands of, ‘Give us the briefcase, give us the backpack,’ and I kept telling them, ‘Look, I don’t have anything here,’ ” he detailed, per NBC Los Angeles.
The robbers ended up leaving Farrer’s residence with an empty briefcase, a laptop and over $30,000 worth of jewelry and cash, the outlet added.
Thirty-grand worth of “jewelry”? That seems really low, given that Anthony Farrer claimed to have been wearing a Richard Mille watch and carrying $2m worth of timepieces at the bar where his horological haul “went missing.”
Be that as it may, other details of the story also raise red flags.
Farrer further detailed to reporters, “One of [the robbers] made the comment, ‘Should we shoot him?’ … One guy was like [the] bad guy, the other guy was like, ‘No, let’s just tie him up and let’s get out of here.’ “
Farrer said he was then bound with zip ties as the suspects went out his back patio door and told Farrer not to move for five minutes or they would return. After some time, Farrer then woke up his friends, who are living inside the home with him.
One assumes the police recovered said zip ties. If they didn’t, that would be very suspicious.
At the same time, one can’t help but wonder if one of bad guys genuinely threatened TPG with murder. That’s not the usual hot burglary modus operandi. At the same time, what are the odds that TPG’s four roommates slept through the incident?
Now, with security stationed outside of his office in Downtown Los Angeles, Farrer said he is offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to the arrests of the suspects. “Somebody put a gun to my face. That’s a fear that I hope nobody ever has to experience,” he said.
What makes the robbery believable is that a) an ex-con has ex-con “friends” prone to criminal behavior and b) if the robbery was an insurance scam, why would TPG claim just $30k worth of inventory was stolen?
So I’m not saying for sure that the LA rip-off was staged. But the fact that the police say there was no forced entry raises another theory about how and why the robbery occurred.
As a man with a self-confessed gambling problem, Anthony Farrer was likely to have to gambling debts. That kind of obligation can lead to a less-than-friendly visit from an unofficial collection agency. The kind of organization that make death threats with the same casual frequency as LA cops issue parking tickets. Also…
A million dollar reward from a man who pissed away some five million dollars of other people’s money? Not remotely credible. And not collected. Nor can I find any evidence that the robbers were apprehended, arrested, charged or sentenced.
Is it worth mentioning that Anthony Farrer’s business partner Marco was/claimed to be robbed at gunpoint of $1.1m worth of watches a year ago? A pattern for sure, but correlation doesn’t equal conspiracy – except when it does.
In any case, Anthony Farrer is a horological force no more. We welcome Mr. Farrer to contact us to provide a fuller explanation of recent and historical events. The chances of that happening are lower than the chances that his victims will ever see a penny from the timepieces they gave the “gentleman” to sell.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ferrar’s prideful Instagram “clips” account remains online, revealing the depth of his perfidy.
No he wasn’t robbed. He lied.
A logical conclusion