Luxury watch theft hits record high of £1.7bn
The total value of luxury watches registered as lost or stolen on a global database hit a record £1.7bn last year amid renewed fears of muggings on London streets.
The Watch Register said that 10,000 luxury watches had been logged on the site in 2025, the equivalent of one watch per hour, bringing the total number up to 114,000.
The database provides a way for purchasers of pre-owned watches to check if a watch offered for sale is reported stolen by looking at a watch’s unique serial number.
The organisation said that online checks increased 29 per cent year-on-year, with more than 280,000 watches now checked annually across the global pre-owned market.
The number of businesses signing up to check watches against the database when trading has also risen by 42 per cent in 2025 compared to 2024.
Katya Hills, managing director of The Watch Register, said that this was a sign that the organisation’s database was an increasingly effective tool to combat crime.
“This is evidence of the global pre-owned watch market actively using our database as a tool to fight watch crime,” she said.
“The speed at which many of these watches are now being identified shows how effective global data sharing has become in disrupting the market in stolen watches.”
Rolex remains the most targeted brand, accounting for 44 per cent of all watches checked against the database by traders and private buyers, and 51 per cent of watches registered as lost or stolen this year.
The Watch Register noted that the volume of successful identifications has accelerated too.
1,375 lost and stolen watches were identified in 2025, up from 1,136 one year earlier, a 21 per cent increase.