Post by normdiaz on Jul 30, 2014 10:59:54 GMT -8
Posted by ClockBloke on SCWF; reproduced with permission:
Secret security marking - Protect those watches!
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I was just telling a member about a system I use to send antique clocks through the postal systems and thought it worth sharing with you all. I have also been doing this with any watches I send just as a matter of habit more than anything. This is the system I use:
www.alpha-dot.co.uk/
What it does is allow you to secretly mark items with the aid of a nearly invisible security dot. The dots are registered to me. If the item were to go missing in the post and then turn up some where it shouldn't be the post office run a scan and it'll pick up the identity number that's registered to me. Then they can return the item. Also the police scan everything for security dots. I use to use a pen that leaves invisible marks that showed under UV light but the alpha dot system is much more advanced and secure. Also they are so tiny that you cannot see them and they only reveal themselves under a scan not a UV light so the thief is none the wiser
I started using these on my motorcycles and actually it came good when a bike of mine was recovered but all the markings and serial numbers had been removed. I got the bike back and was able to buy it back from the insurance company for not a lot of money and it's the 1200 bandit I use now Back with it's daddy They actually recovered the bike from one bit I had marked that was sold on eBay!
So if you do send your watches by post it's a good way to make their journey as safe as possible. I've known some postal workers over the years and the stories they tell are scary some times when your sending valuable items through the post. You can also scan your own items and upload the data to the Internet to make sure everything is 100% which saved me a while ago when a guy brought a carriage clock from me and then swapped the movement out for another. I was able to tell him the error of his ways and get the movement returned with the threat of the police.
The only issue is some times it can confuse the post office scanning system and you end up having to wait a couple more days as their barcodes do not work and they end up having to use their eyes instead of machines to read your address! Nothing worse than that though.