Per the lawsuit documents filed on February 11, 2021, Suzana Krajisnik, a former employee of C.D. Peacock, has filed a lawsuit against her former employer at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division. C.D. Peacock, a Rolex, and Patek Philippe authorized retailer has been accused by Ms. Krajisnik of allegedly engaging in racketeering and corruption. According to the documents from Case No. 1:2021cv00775, Ms. Krajisnik’s employment was terminated by her employer in retaliation for whistleblowing and refusing to engage in flagrant illegal activity that violated state and federal law.
According to Atelier de Griff —who first published the news about this— and the lawsuit documents we were able to find online, C.D. Peacock is being accused of allegedly engaging in the practice of selling Rolex and Patek Philippe timepieces to grey market dealers instead of final customers that are not in the business of reselling watches.
According to C.D. Peacock’s website, C.D. Peacock is an official Rolex and Patek Philippe dealer and has been the Chicago area’s premier source of fine diamonds, jewelry, and gifts. C.D. Peacock is also an authorized dealer for brands that include Tudor, Cartier, IWC, Chanel, Gucci, Montblanc, TAG Heuer, Longines, and Omega.
From C.D. Peacock’s website:
“Our position as a prominent International jeweler enables our access to the finest diamonds the world has to offer at the best value. We’ve based our reputation on it for over a century. We never mark up our diamonds in order to artificially “discount” them. We’re committed to giving every customer an honest value every day. So we offer only one fair price – the best price. We look forward to helping you find your perfect diamond, a treasure for years to come.”
We’ll have to wait and see what the final outcome of this lawsuit is and what are the implications in the watch industry for a practice that has pushed secondary market prices through the roof for brand new and used Rolex and Patek Philippe watches.
Hopefully, this will have a positive impact and Rolex watches will finally become readily available for ‘mere mortals’ at all the authorized retailers and at their retail price. It’s about time that we stop paying double or triple for watches that we love.
