Luxury watch crime ‘remains a threat’ but recovery rates improve
The theft of luxury watches remains a significant risk for owners despite the rate of recovery jumping in the last year, according to new data.
In the first six months of 2025, The Watch Register located 607 lost and stolen watches through its global database, a 26 per cent increase on the same period in 2024, the company found.
Watch thefts have been on the rise despite overall robbery rates falling, with at least four stolen watches reported in the capital every day, according to the Met Police, although the body has acknowledged that this number could be “significantly higher” due to a low reporting rate.
The total value of luxury timepieces stolen topped £1.6bn last year, with The Watch Register founder Julian Radcliffe ascribing the spike in thefts to the “ease” of selling and transporting the stolen goods.
Organised crime is increasingly involved in luxury watch theft – much like mobile phone theft – due to a lucrative black market for high-end timepieces.
According to data from the Met Police, Kensington and Westminster see the most watch thefts, while the most common make of watch stolen is a Rolex.
“Luxury watches are highly desirable possessions that carry significant financial and sentimental value,” Katya Hills, managing director at The Watch Register, said.
Hills urged owners to record the serial numbers of their watches in case of any thefts, as well as reporting any thefts immediately post-loss.
Fake luxury watches on the rise
The company has also warned that a third of the recovered stolen watches are “offered with box and papers”, so buyers should not assume that the presence of paperwork “indicates legitimacy of ownership”.
Increasingly, goods are offered with fake documents, boxes, and guarantee cards designed to convince buyers, making them harder to detect.
Technological developments have encouraged a boom in high-end counterfeiting, with CNC machines like 3D printers helping to make fakes harder to spot.
Ten per cent of the 40m fake timepieces produced every year are deemed “almost undetectable” unless inspected by a professional authenticator or the original manufacturer.