Brittany Pearce he no longer carries his dear Rolex Daytona. At least not in public.
The British YouTuber, whose watch-focused channel has more than 40,000 subscribers, saved her watch from $14,000 after a incident in which she was followed in a store by a customer who had clearly “timed” her watch. Pearce feared becoming another victim of the luxury watch theft.
“It’s made me stop buying the Daytona,” says Pearce, who works as a youth pastor for the Church of England. “It’s sad because it’s a watch that I love.”
She’s not the only collector worried about unwanted and potentially dangerous attention. The reports of theft of high-end watchesmany of them violent, are shooting up in cities around the world. This supposes a threat not only for consumers, but also for the approximately 100 swiss brands top-notch, whose sales could suffer if one of their watches suddenly became scary to wear.
Although there are no national statistics on watch theft, authorities in major cities have reported spikes. The Metropolitan Police of London launched an operation this summer to contain the problem, after the number of knifepoint robberies increased by a 60% between May and June. In Paris, a police group dedicated to stopping the theft of luxury watches already has 30 agents.
“This is a top priority for us and we have already made several arrests,” said London Police Chief Commissioner Owain Richards.
“No one should live in fear of thieves,” he added.
In London, police data indicates that between January and September, 667 Rolex watches. And in an unfortunate twist on his catchphrase, “he never really owns a car.” patek philippe”, 73 Watches from the luxury Swiss brand were stolen in the English capital between the beginning of the year and September, compared to 60 in the same period last year.
Robberies don’t just happen on the streets. Last week, the English soccer star raheem sterling came running back from Qatar after a armed robbery at his home near Londonwhere apparently the objective was a collection of watches from $365,940. English professional cyclist Mark Cavendish also suffered the theft of two watches Richard Mille at his Essex home last year.
In some way, watchmakers are victims of their own success. As social media influencers have made six-figure watches more recognizable, thieves have learned what high-end accessories are worth the price. In 2022, the average price of a stolen luxury watch in London was around £9,000compared to between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds in previous years, according to police data.
“When you have a watch like a Richard Mille or a [Audemars Piguet] Royal Oak, [los ladrones] they recognize it instantly,” he said. Oliver Müllerhead of the Swiss watch consulting group LuxeConsult. “They’ve seen it on Instagram.”
This lifestyle trend has given rise to a darker phenomenon: YouTube is chock full of security camera recordings and videos of passersby who violently assault people to steal their expensive watches. In one video, a thief rides a moped alongside a luxury car and breaks the window with a hammer to steal the driver’s watch. In another, a couple is robbed during the day in a posh part of London.
Collectors have taken notice. “It is a very bad image, very bad. I don’t know if wealthy people will wear fewer watches, but they are becoming more careful,” says Mueller.
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So far, sales of luxury watches have remained relatively strong, although the prices of the most coveted Rolex, Patek and Audemars Piguet have fallen sharply since March in the secondary market. Last year Swiss watch exports reached a record 22.3 billion francs ($24.1 billion)according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, and are on track to break records again in 2022.
For now, watchmakers are watching how crime affects sales.
“We are very aware of the problem”, Rolex stated in response to questions from Bloomberg News. The Genevan giant controls almost the 29% of the Swiss luxury watch market, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley, and its annual sales are around 8.5 billion dollars.
The spokesmen for Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguetmaker of the Royal Oak, also said the matter was “worrying”but declined to comment on how or if they were addressing it.
Europeans aren’t the only ones nervous: according to the County Sheriff’s Department The Angelsfrom the beginning of the year to mid-November occurred in the region 206 robberies of at least one watch valued at $5,000 or more. This represents an increase of almost 30% compared to the same period in 2021. Police have attributed the crimes to organized gangs and have advised residents to avoid wearing expensive jewelry in public.
“We are definitely seeing examples of luxury watch theft and theft taking place across North America,” he said in an interview. tannie nga senior subscriber to luxury collections at Chubb Ltd.
The return of international travel is likely to have contributed to the problem.” Ng described a situation in which a client flew to Paris for a wedding and was robbed of his Patek Philippe Aquanaut in a daytime mugging.
Luckily, Ng said, the client was fully insured and had even updated his policy to reflect the market value of the watch, $145,000a handsome profit on the $40,000 retail price he’d paid for it several years earlier.
In response to these types of incidents, French law enforcement has done more to crack down on watch thefts.
According to the Paris police commissioner, Julien Herbautluxury watch thefts fell by 44% this summer compared to the previous year, despite the large increase in tourists. His team stopped 175 watch thieves between January and August, compared to 85 in the same period of 2021.
“Our investigators have a very keen understanding of these criminals and how they operate,” Herbaut said, noting that the less experienced a thief, the more violent a robbery tends to be.
Without naming specific brands, the commissioner stated that the French police maintain a constant dialogue with major Swiss watch manufacturers – as well as Italian and Spanish law enforcement – to share information about stolen goods and the illegal resale market.
“Word is getting out among these criminals that stealing watches is not worth it,” he said.
For now, many collectors remain reluctant to show off their precious watches by the city.
Adrian Barker, a YouTuber with 244,000 subscribers and co-host of a watch podcast called “About Effing Time,” says he’s taking more care now when it comes to displaying his collection. He keeps his favorite watches – including a two-tone gold and steel Rolex GMT Master II – at his home in Scotland, for safety.
But he also travels frequently to London. For those trips, Barker has a backup plan: He wears a watch Manzana.
(With information from Bloomberg)
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Source-www.infobae.com