Keep it to yourself

Watch thieves are becoming ever more prevalent, so it pays to be self-aware

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I DROPPED INTO my local watch dealer last week. One of his customers had managed the feat of getting to the top of the Rolex waiting list and was picking up his new Submariner. After he'd had the bracelet sized, he put the watch in a travel pouch and stowed it in his inside pocket. Then he took out an old Co-Op plastic bag into which he dropped the box and paperwork, eschewing the smart bag the dealer offered. 'Can't be too careful nowadays,' he said as he shut the door behind him.

Later I asked my dealer friend if this wasn't a bit over-dramatic. After all, we weren't in central London and it was broad daylight. It might be,' he said. 'I'd be surprised if they'd bother with a Sub; not enough margin in it to make it worthwhile. On the other hand...'

He then told me about a Patek collector who'd been the victim of an attempted robbery in Mayfair a few weeks earlier. He believed the thieves had a spotter sitting at the bar of the restaurant where he was eating. The spotter messaged them as he was paying the bill and they waited by the door to take his watch. When he put up a fight and ran back into the restaurant, they followed him, still trying to pull his Patek from his wrist. Fortunately, he was unhurt and they didn't get the watch. But it gives some sense of how watch theft has moved from opportunist mugging to targeted crime.