Value of Luxury Watches Stolen in the UK Reaches 1 Billion Pounds a Year, From Richard Mille to Rolex

JAKARTA - The value of watches stolen in the UK in a year has reached 1 billion pounds for the first time, when well-known brands such as Richard Mille and Rolex are on the list of the 10 most luxurious watches stolen.

A watch worth 1 million pounds and only limited to 10 items was made, including one of the luxury watches stolen last year and being the most expensive, reported The National News 20 January.

This limited edition Richard Mille Rm 52-01 model has a skull in the center, as a place to hold the hands and is placed by The Watch Register, a global crime prevention database.

Next, there is a Richard Mille Rm 035-2 model watch worth 400,000 pounds and a Rm 011 worth 250,000 pounds, becoming the second and third most expensive watches stolen in 2023, said The Watch Register.

Completing the top five list are the Roger Dubuis Excalibur watch worth £200,000 and the Patek Phillipe 5980/1R-001 worth £140,000.

In sixth and seventh place respectively are the Richard Mille Rm-005 watch worth 130,000 pounds and the FP Joune Octa Zodiaque worth 125,000 pounds.

A Patek Phillipe 5130p 014 World Time Dubai edition watch worth 110,000 pounds, a Royal Oak AP Chronograph worth 75,000 pounds and an 18 carat gold and diamond-plated Rolex Daytona worth 65,000 pounds complete the list of the top 10 most expensive watches stolen in the UK last year.

The list comes as a boom in the market for luxury watches, both new and used, attracts the attention of criminals and speculators.

The watches were reported missing by police, insurance companies and private owners last year, although some had been taken previously. About 90 percent of the items on the list were stolen, not lost.

The £1 million watch, which is the subject of a police investigation, is the first seven-figure item to appear in the database.

"Street gangs are very adept at spotting high-value watches, as are staff in the hospitality industry who can take a close look," said Watch Register chairman Julian Radcliffe.

"So, it is very important to prevent the resale of watches by conducting due diligence searches on our database, as well as follow-up matches to provide more information to the police," he continued.

The Watch Register said it was the first time the value of stolen luxury watches in the UK had exceeded 1 billion pounds.

Separately, a group of thieves from Algeria and Libya recently admitted stealing designer watches worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in a two-month crime spree in London.

Salem Belckacem (30) led a gang that traveled around on mopeds looking for rich victims in Mayfair and other posh areas of central London. They stole watches worth between £10,000 and £100,000.

Recently, Watch Register announced a significant expansion of its database, which will accept all stolen watch data submitted by the London Metropolitan Police.

The data, which includes around 260,000 stolen watches, dates back almost three decades before the introduction of the crime reporting system in 1995.