Watch theft has been featured by many global news outlets this summer.
London's Metropolitan Police have recorded a 60% increase in robberies. There were 42 watch robberies committed over the period between April 26 and May 30 in the London region, which incorporates Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. A total of 67 of these offenses were subsequently recorded in the following four weeks from May 31 through to June 27.
That’s an increase of more than 60%. El Pais quotes figures published by Le Journal du Dimanche, reporting that the number of luxury watch thefts in Paris has grown by 31% since the beginning of the year.
According to data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department cited in the New York Times, there were 112 thefts involving at least one watch worth USD 5000 or more in the first six months of the year 2022 — that's almost 50% up on the same period last year, when 75 of these types of thefts were recorded.
Reporters at El Pais have analyzed the changing criminal landscape. Motorcycle gangs are operating in Barcelona. In Paris, Neapolitans hit the rear-view mirror to snatch a watch when the driver puts out an arm to readjust the mirror.
The Algerian method is to surround a victim on the street and joke with them. so that the owner only notices their wrist is bare when they've already left. A gang of Venezuelans operating in Madrid has struck watch owners on the head with the butts of firearms to steal their objects of desire.
The picture is even more intriguing in England, where a gang of Eastern European women called the Rolex Rippers are on the prowl. The British Metro newspaper reported the first conviction of a gang member in mid-July.
They’re thought to have already clocked up over 30 thefts. 40-year old Romanian Stefania Tinica moved in to hug and kiss her 75-year old victim on the street near the Parkstone Golf Club in Dorsett. It wasn't the beginning of a new love affair. Yet another watch vanished instead — a Rolex Submariner worth GBP 15,930.
Not all watch thieves are smooth criminals. A Swiss tourist in Naples who had her Richard Mille watch stolen at gunpoint had it returned within minutes when the thief discovered it was a counterfeit. In West Hollywood, a Rolex valued at USD 18,000 and a ladies' Michael Kors worth USD 1,000 were stolen by gang members who fled the scene in a black Rolls-Royce.
Fake Richard Mille
What do these frightening statistics tell us? Should expensive watches be left at home when we go out? Of course not! We just need to be more careful. And most importantly, don't buy watches from suspicious sources for your own collection. Chances are, their reputation is tarnished.