Staff Writer
With a rise in thefts last year, luxury watches worth more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) have been reported as stolen or missing.
The Watch Register, a business that charges owners, auction houses, and dealers to identify stolen timepieces, has received reports of 80,000 watches as stolen or lost.
According to the business, 6,815 watches were added to the list last year, a 60% rise from the prior 12-month period.
Watch theft and criminality increased along with secondary-market pricing for the most popular Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe models during the pandemic.
The Metropolitan Police Service of London started an operation last year to deal with the issue after the number of robberies committed with knives increased by 60% between May and June. According to Bloomberg News, a police squad in Paris tasked with preventing the theft of expensive watches has increased to 30 agents.
According to The Watch Register’s database, 44% of watches are from Rolex, followed by Omega and Breitling. For more than 30 years, the business has been gathering data.
According to Katya Hills, executive director of The Watch Register, “the considerable value and prestige of these high-end timepieces continues to attract the attention of sophisticated and international criminal networks, making them a prime target for theft.”
Some companies have responded to the issue by making significant changes. The Royal Oak’s manufacturer, Audemars Piguet, announced in April that it would provide clients with replacement timepieces as part of a new service program that would last for two years.
