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London is ranked as the 5th richest city in the world. Whilst this may be a debatable fact, the point is that there are a lot of wealthy people living there with expensive watches.

Watch theft is certainly not a new crime, but it has largely replaced other crimes such as phone theft. This is because phones are worth much less when stolen. Modern smartphones can essentially be bricked and then only sold for parts, drastically reducing profits.

With the surge of people spending their money on luxury watches, criminal gangs and low-level thieves have realized that there is now a much more lucrative target. A luxury watch theft should net the robbers a minimum of £5000 depending on what they steal. A submariner parted out would easily fetch this price. If the watch is made of precious metal with diamonds, the profit could be much, much more.

Why London Is More Dangerous Than USA For Watch Crime

Due to the laws of Britain, it is generally a safer place than the other side of the Atlantic ocean. With that being said, the laws play into the hands of criminals when it comes to luxury watch theft.

This is for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, watch thefts are largely ignored by the police. If the attackers are wearing masks and the attack is quick, without violence. The police will often not bother investigating the crime. A report will be taken with the serial number of the watch. Other than this token report, they do not spend time finding out who the attackers are.

Secondly, the punishment for watch theft is not particularly high. One man was jailed for 6.5 years using a stun gun on his victim and stealing a £100k watch in the process. 6.5 years may sound like a long time, but stun guns are illegal in the UK. In addition to this, it is very unlikely that the offender will serve any more than 66% of his sentence, cutting at least 2 years off this initial number.

When you look at the numbers, if this offender had stolen other watches during the year, this could easily equate to being paid at least £30k for every year he spends in prison. This is not a lot of money, but not bad at all for a criminal.

Gang Infiltration & Moped Crime

In more recent years, watch theft has become a more sophisticated crime. At the high levels, there will be gangs of 3 or 4 men, each with their own specific job. This way a watch can be scouted and removed from a victim without the need for weapons or high-risk strategies.

Once a victim has been targeted, the gang will wait for their chance to attack before holding the victim against a wall and calmly removing their watch. This quick process is relatively non-violent and effective.

Although it should be noted all gangs do not operate in this “peaceful” way. One man was slashed purposely on his tendons so that he could not fight back in an attempt to steal his £115k Breguet Tourbillon.

Mopeds have also paved the way for easier watch thefts. On the congested streets of London, the vehicles allow assailants to pull up very close to victims and make a very quick getaway. Once the watch has been stolen it is very easy to disappear through the bumper-to-bumper traffic and never be seen again.

Is It Safe To Wear A Luxury Watch In London?

In general, No. The chances of you being robbed are still relatively small. Due to the reluctance of the British police to specifically publish watch crime stats, it is very difficult to tell just how low this chance is.

There have been rumors coming out of the capital for some while stating that there are around 20 luxury watch thefts per day. However, unless we knew exactly how many luxury watches were being worn each day, this number means relatively little.

However, one thing for certain is that if you are spotted by a criminal wearing an expensive watch. There is a good chance you will be the next target. Watch theft is largely not an opportunist crime in London anymore. Instead, it is pre-planned and organized based on your past movements. Just because you were able to wear a £50k AP last week, does not mean that it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the wrong people.

One thing we can be 100% sure of, is that the crime rate is higher in London than it was 10 years ago.

What Can Be Done To Stop Watch Theft?

Really unless you want to spend your life becoming a politician and trying to change laws, there is not a lot that can be done. Pro-active responses to watch crime are really the responsibility of the government and law enforcement.

As long as there are soft laws on dangerous thefts, watch robberies in London will continue to happen. In addition to this, the fact that some people are essentially wearing £10k+ on their wrist does not help things. If watches were worth a lot less money, then thieves would look elsewhere for a quick profit.

One reactive measure to consider is to register your stolen watch on the watch register. The watch register will keep a record of your stolen watch alongside the model and serial number. That way, if your watch is ever handed in for a service, you have a very good chance of getting it back. This won’t help you in the short term, but at least gives you some hope of recovering your loss in the future.