As interest in watch collecting has grown around the world over the last decade or so, so too has the crime rate of watch-related robberies of rare and expensive timepieces. The problem has gotten so bad that Audemars Piguet has just announced an industry first to guarantee the newly purchased timepieces of its clients, which have an average price of CHF50,000 (AU$81,013), against theft.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Chief executive officer François-Henry Bennahmias explained the new service that Audemars Piguet will offer to its clients, where the watchmaker will guarantee to replace, refund or repair any stolen timepiece purchased in 2022 or 2023 for two years. It’s a bold step by the Le Brassus-based firm but one that speaks directly to just how aggravated and common such crime is across European and US cities, but especially in London.
“We listen to our clients and we have to look also at what’s going on in the world right now,” said Bennahmias about the program. “We have important cities in Europe and in the US that are not as safe anymore.” According to Arjen van de Vall, the CEO of pre-owned dealer Watchfinder & Co., 81,000 watch-related crimes occurred in the UK since 2018 and 621 in London alone in the first half of 2022.
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Such robberies have become so common that several Instagram accounts have popped up dedicated to reporting on cases, including @watch_crime_ldn and @stolen_watch_group, which most commonly post videos and images of thieves in affluent areas such as Mayfair, London, armed with knives or machetes and equipped with mopeds to escape on. Robberies aren’t always violent but are increasingly accurate in their targeting of extremely high-value watches, with F1 drivers Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc both having their five and six-figure Richard Mille watches stolen in the last couple of years.
“That’s a big, big move because no one has ever done that,” Bennahmias said, and he’s right. Not only is it an industry first, but it’s an important step in acknowledging the risks that can be associated with wearing expensive watches in some major cities around the world. If a watch is reported as stolen and verified by a police report Audemars Piguet will replace the watch with a new example or its most similar equivalent in the catalogue at that time.
“[Perhaps] we get two or three or five, which are absolute frauds. That’s a part of doing it,” Bennahmias said, conceding that not everyone will use the program honestly. “You cannot develop and offer these types of things thinking that everybody’s gonna abuse the system.”
We’ll have to wait and see if any of the other major watchmakers follow Audemars Piguet’s lead in offering clients and collectors the same peace of mind.
