Just a fraction of luxury watches stolen in London are ever recovered, new figures have revealed.
Around 5,180 timepieces worth more than £3,000 were stolen across across the capital between January 2022 and July 2025, but only 59 recovered - just one in 88.
The data was released by the Metropolitan Police under a Freedom of Information request.
It comes as Scotland Yard’s new lead on phone snatching admitted efforts to tackle the scourge so far not been “good enough”.
Just over one per cent of thieves were charged or convicted in London, according to Metropolitan Police data, compared with 11 per cent for robberies.
Store manager Oliver White, 27, took his own life “as a direct result” of a £1.38 million watch robbery at 247 Kettles jewellery store in Richmond on May 25 last year, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Danny Toffel, CEO of Watches2U, said: “Luxury watches are compact, valuable and easy to move across borders - they’re essentially criminal currency.
“With such low recovery rates, owners need to stay one step ahead.
“Document every serial number, ensure your watches are properly insured, and avoid wearing high-value pieces where thieves are on the prowl.
“Once a stolen Rolex or Omega leaves the country, it’s almost impossible to recover.
“Many are traded in parts or resold with falsified paperwork. Without proper documentation or serial tracking, ownership is hard to prove.”
A Met spokesman said: “Tackling violent crime in all of its forms, including watch robbery, remains one of the Met’s priorities and we have reduced the number of personal robberies across London by 13 per cent since April.
“Uniform and plain clothed officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify offences taking place, but more importantly to help prevent and deter offenders from committing them in the first place.”
Commander Andy Featherstone said the force’s revised strategy targeting organised criminals is making a difference with dozens of arrests and thousands of phones seized earlier this month.
Cmdr Featherstone said the issue had been an “outlier” for the Met, adding: “But the bottom line is that isn’t good enough. The public deserve better.”
“We think they are responsible for approximately 40 per cent of all phone thefts in London.
“Our serious crime directorate has been involved in these operations, which they wouldn’t normally be.
“They would normally be involved in firearms offences, drug importation, et cetera.”
About 80,000 devices were stolen in London last year.
In October, the Yard revealed it smashed an international network suspected of smuggling up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China over the past 12 months.
Operation Echosteep was launched last December with the discovery at Heathrow of a box containing about 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong.
They intercepted further shipments and used forensic evidence found on the packages to identify the suspects.
A man was charged with handling stolen goods after being stopped with 10 handsets at the west London airport on September 20.
Officers also discovered two iPads, two laptops and two Rolex watches.
Inquiries revealed the same man had travelled between London and Algeria more than 200 times in two years.
Two other men in their 30s were arrested three days later in north east London on suspicion of handling stolen goods.
A number of phones were found in their car – and around 2,000 more devices were found at properties linked to the suspects.
They were subsequently charged and remanded in custody.
Two more men, also in their 30s, were held on September 25 after detectives recovered about £40,000 and handsets at a phone shop in Seven Sisters Road, Islington.
Officers carried out a total of 46 arrests following a two-week operation, including 11 while police tackled criminal gangs robbing delivery vans for the new iPhone 17.
Another 15 people were detained on suspicion of theft, handling stolen goods and conspiracy to steal, the Met said.
More than 30 suspected devices were also found during searches at 28 properties across London and Hertfordshire.
