GANGS of Rolex robbers have taken to the streets after the soaring value of stolen luxury watches made them a richer trade than selling drugs.
Some are fetching ten times their original shop price and celebrities including Aled Jones, Michael McIntyre, Raheem Sterling, Mark Cavendish and Lando Norris have all fallen victim to muggers who see the jewellery as a fast way to make hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Trade experts have told The Sun on Sunday that thousands of designer watch owners do not realise the true value of the assets on their wrists, making them an easy target.
Former watch trader Paul Thorpe — who retired after being violently robbed three times — said: “A week’s worth of stealing could generate more money than some people would earn in a lifetime.
“I think in many areas it’s actually overtaken drugs as the crime of choice for some criminal gangs.
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“Drugs are obviously very dangerous to transport, whereas watches are very small and very rarely questioned.
“You can’t get on a plane with a kilo of cocaine, but you can with £1million-worth of stolen watches, and I very much doubt anyone will even bat an eyelid.
“The criminal gangs know this and use it to their advantage.”
We revealed this month how singer and presenter Aled was robbed of his £17,000 Rolex Daytona — worth as much as £30,000 on the so-called “grey” resale market — in a terrifying machete attack while out walking with his family.
Fake versions
A Patek Philippe 5980R retails for £81,000 but could fetch £255,000 for thieves.
And a Richard Mille Bubba Watson piece — favoured by ex-Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy — could make £485,000, despite its original price of £120,000.
David Wingrove, of online watch firm Chrono Hunter, said: “Customers who bought these watches years ago because they liked them, or because they were a status symbol, or they were desirable — they just have no idea how much the value has increased.
“They are walking around with what they assume is a £10,000 watch, but it could be worth £40,000 or £50,000. It’s made them a target without knowing.”
In 2022 there were more than 11,000 watch thefts nationwide, around 30 a day, including 631 in London alone.
Watches worth more than £160million have been stolen over the past five years, with thousands never recovered.
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US wealth manager Bryan Peele said his clients are so fearful of being robbed of their precious watches while in the UK that they wear fake versions instead.
He told The Sun on Sunday his clients often use a London firm which makes imitation Rolexes.
He added: “To the naked eye, thieves are not going to know that they are not Rolex-certified.
“Clients keep the real one in the safe and they wear it in private or around the house where there’s not a threat of being robbed.”
A police source told how gangs operating across the North West of England previously plied their trade in cash van robberies, but that became too risky.
So they switched to robbing Premier League footballers, reality TV stars and rich businessmen of their watches.
They use hi-tech surveillance methods and place hidden trackers on cars belonging to targeted players.
They also use spotters who sit in restaurants, looking out for celebrity targets wearing expensive watches.
The theft risk has led some celebrities to start storing luxury jewellery such as watches in safety deposit boxes away from their homes.
They then have their watches delivered when they want to wear them.
Chelsea and England star Raheem Sterling’s Surrey home was broken into while he was in Qatar for the World Cup in December — while his fiancée Paige Milian and their two children were in the house.
It is not known if she confronted the raiders or whether they fled when they realised someone was in, but they are believed to have taken luxury watches worth £300,000.
Raheem, 28, immediately flew home but later rejoined the England squad.
In 2021 a balaclava-wearing raider punched Tour de France cycling legend Mark Cavendish and threatened to “stab him up” in front of his children at their Essex home.
His ex-model wife Peta, 36, also had a knife pointed at her as she tried to hide their three-year-old son Casper under a duvet.
The gang took £700,000 of watches but one crook was caught after his DNA was found on Peta’s dumped phone outside.
Prices for luxury watches boomed during the pandemic as thousands were bought as investments, using retailers such as Chrono Hunter.
Rolex is said to produce more than a million watches a year, worth around £7.5billion in sales.
But customers face a wait of up to 20 years for some models, such as the prestigious Daytona.
The only way to avoid it is to buy second-hand — and pay over the odds.
Watch expert Mr Wingrove said: “Rolex has an incredibly long wait list, so we have a lot of customers wanting to buy specific watches they can’t access at retail.”
He told how one client was offered £240,000 for a Patek Phillipe watch he had directly bought just months earlier for £40,000.
The Met Police has advised potential victims to cover their watches with long sleeves.
The force’s Specialist Crime Command Flying Squad — usually drafted in to crack complex kidnap and armed robbery cases — is now supporting local cops in tracking prolific gangs of watch thieves.
In March, six members of the “Rolex Ripper” group were jailed after a series of robberies in South West London.
The group threatened victims with zombie knives and machetes before stealing items including watches and bags.
Flying Squad cops tracked them down after a car chase involving two of the gang.
They escaped but left their phones in the car with videos of the gang boasting of their crimes.
Met Police detective chief inspector Scott Ware said: “Uniform and plain-clothes officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify offences taking place, but more importantly to prevent and deter offenders from committing robberies in the first place.
“This includes working closely with the Flying Squad and other specialist teams to tackle these high-harm offences.
“The first hour after a robbery is critical to apprehending suspects — and where possible, reuniting victims with their belongings.”
Mark Cavendish
OLYMPIC cyclist Mark and his wife Peta were robbed at knifepoint at their home in Essex in 2021.
The thieves took two Richard Mille watches with a combined value of £700,000.
Michael McIntyre
THE comedian and game show host had a £15,000 Rolex torn from his wrist by hammer-wielding thugs on mopeds who smashed the window of his Range Rover as he was waiting outside his children’s school in London in 2018.
Aled Jones
AS The Sun told earlier this month, singer and Songs Of Praise presenter Aled was robbed of his £17,000 Rolex Daytona by a machete-wielding thug in a terrifying street attack in West London.
Lando Norris
THE McLaren Formula 1 ace had his £144,000 Richard Mille watch ripped from his wrist as he left Wembley Stadium after the Euro 2020 final in July 2021.
