Wear a VC and don’t get mugged!!
Is this the justification for buying a VC everyone needs??
jokes aside…
Scary but useful info none the less…
On edit have a look at this. Met police data for last few years. Covid and lockdowns skewed this data obviously, but for 2022 data is it still lower because less people back in London day to day? Or has there actually been less watch crime per daily capita? Could be some interesting analysis if anyone has the time 🧐
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Tom
Seem to not follow the herd. Prefer dials over movements. Love Germans & Japanese.
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Great news, I’ll take my VC next time I go to London👍 or maybe one from the brands not mentioned🧐
In any big city I would not wear an expensive watch, there are gangs on the look out for just that. I would ask, would you walk around with 5 grand plus in your pocket ! let alone on display. Hope they catch the criminals and lock them away for a long time.
I'd be interested to see the same information on watches at a slightly lower value. Maybe £1000+.
Anecdotally, Tags and Tudors are fairly popular in the UK, but this £3000+ limit would exclude a lot of their more commonly seen models.
That just goes to show that no one wants to buy a VC and no wants to bother with selling a stolen one on the secondary market. 🤣
The question I have with this pole is: how many people wear a Rolex and how many people wear VC? This stat is distorted because it doesn’t take into account the amount of watches in London for each brand. But interesting to look at nonetheless.
Rolex is popular with thieves because of the selling value. Most high end watches get crucified in the used market. Very few people know the brand names past Rolex so the market is limited.
Several factors at play. VC probably not cranking out a million units a year. The hoi polloi, to include me, couldn't pick a VC out of a lineup and the name recognition is low. And the big one, IMHO, is that the VC clientele are well insulated and maybe largely geriatric. Avoiding dangerous situations in dangerous places is the easiest risk reducer and I don't think the Rolex crowd are anywhere as good at it as the even stodgier clientele.
Great news, I’ll take my VC next time I go to London👍 or maybe one from the brands not mentioned🧐
Well, only brands with watches over $3,000 in value are listed. Maybe Casio owners are robbed and beaten in London and stripped of their god-tier watches on a daily basis, yet don't make this statistic. Right ...
Well, only brands with watches over $3,000 in value are listed. Maybe Casio owners are robbed and beaten in London and stripped of their god-tier watches on a daily basis, yet don't make this statistic. Right ...
Great, there goes my plan out the window.
The question I have with this pole is: how many people wear a Rolex and how many people wear VC? This stat is distorted because it doesn’t take into account the amount of watches in London for each brand. But interesting to look at nonetheless.
VC makes around 25000-30000 watches annually while Rolex churns out a million plus yearly. Sourcing a Rolex in London from AD seems harder than getting a VC, one can only assume Rolex has the biggest market share for luxury watches in the UK.
That just goes to show that no one wants to buy a VC and no wants to bother with selling a stolen one on the secondary market. 🤣
Or a large amount of people lack taste? 😂🤷♂
Or a large amount of people lack taste? 😂🤷♂
A VC is my grail!
I wonder if anyone’s been mugged for a Grand Seiko? 🧐😬😂
VC makes around 25000-30000 watches annually while Rolex churns out a million plus yearly. Sourcing a Rolex in London from AD seems harder than getting a VC, one can only assume Rolex has the biggest market share for luxury watches in the UK.
Your right. That’s probably exactly why they are stolen more often.
This. And with modern technology, cameras everywhere, videos everywhere, we are more than ever aware of crime and/or evil.
I'm not saying there haven't been upticks due to the market, I'm just saying aggregate, crime is more televised, information is VASTLY more readily available, etc.
IMO, the world hasn't gotten darker, most of us are now just more aware. Even more so that tales of murder, mayhem, violence and/or sex sell, or in this case get clicks.
The unintended consequence of these types of articles, is that the criminal elements will eventually read this and be like, hmmm, there's other watches I can nab? Or maybe I should just start taking looking for micros, etc.
It doesn't even have to be gangs per se. There are people who are in struggling situations that know nothing but how to hustle and steal to barley get by. In many of their mindset people who can afford said watches aren't going to miss a few thousand dollars. Before you counter, I fully understand that many Rolex owners have scratched and saved to get one. I'm not excusing the behavior I just understand the mindset.
Actually wasn't going to counter. Your absolutely right. People will do almost anything to get by. I was rather emphasising that specialist crims are on the look out for expensive watches, in specific locations.
Part of me wants to say that given the size of metro London, a little less than 3,000 thefts is understandable. That is about a nine a day clip and stealing a watch hardly raises to the point of being included in the nightly news in a big city. Still bad, enough so for me to consider where I wear particular watches, but the sky isn’t falling.
I get the humor of buying a VC because it isn’t as likely to get stolen. 😂
"You never actually own a Vacheron Constantin, you merely wear it while your mate with the Rolex gets jacked like a noob." Now, I don't work in sales but I'm pretty sure this ad campaign writes itself.
And my guess is that the bulk of Rolex being stolen are subs
Why is Casio not in here?
They stole my GShock in Barcelona.
Only very few GShocks are above £3000.
I'm surprised about Richard Mille. You can spot those a mile away. And you've got to think thieves would target the highest end stuff. Prob due to lack of numbers, I suppose.
From a mile away your RM looks just like an RM homage from Forsining - these cost about £20 new and don't make much of a splash in the grey market. And I reckon there are many more RM homages out there than the real thing.
I found some 2022 stats to compare market ratio vs theft frequency: https://www.statista.com/statistics/940579/market-share-of-swiss-watch-brands-worldwide/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Rolex%20was%20the,percent%20and%207%20percent%2C%20respectively.
If we assume the London watch market follows the worldwide luxury watch sales, and 2022 sales are a reasonable indicator of general ownership ratios, then I see a few interesting points:
Rolex are clearly stolen at a disproportionately higher rate than the ambient ownership ratio. I can only assume that's because they're more recognizable / easier to identify a likely target.
Omega are actually stolen less frequently than the ownership ratio. Perhaps the owners and the watches may be a little less obvious to identify?
Retail market share of the leading Swiss watch brands worldwide in 2022
I found some 2022 stats to compare market ratio vs theft frequency: https://www.statista.com/statistics/940579/market-share-of-swiss-watch-brands-worldwide/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Rolex%20was%20the,percent%20and%207%20percent%2C%20respectively.
If we assume the London watch market follows the worldwide luxury watch sales, and 2022 sales are a reasonable indicator of general ownership ratios, then I see a few interesting points:
Rolex are clearly stolen at a disproportionately higher rate than the ambient ownership ratio. I can only assume that's because they're more recognizable / easier to identify a likely target.
Omega are actually stolen less frequently than the ownership ratio. Perhaps the owners and the watches may be a little less obvious to identify?
Retail market share of the leading Swiss watch brands worldwide in 2022
You legend! 🙌🙌
"You never actually own a Vacheron Constantin, you merely wear it while your mate with the Rolex gets jacked like a noob." Now, I don't work in sales but I'm pretty sure this ad campaign writes itself.
Someone needs to photoshop that 😂
The question I have with this pole is: how many people wear a Rolex and how many people wear VC? This stat is distorted because it doesn’t take into account the amount of watches in London for each brand. But interesting to look at nonetheless.
My thoughts exactly ... Rolex make 1 mil watches a year, VC 20k. Not to mention how 'under the radar' a non sports VC 𝘤𝘢𝘯 be ...
Although by the production scale metric you stick a Roger Smith on your forehead and walk London safely, naked!
More than like it's more it's saleability (if that's a word) that makes Rolex attractive; Marathon Man created the 'Rolex is 'cashable' meme and the 'brashness' of many current Rolex ref's - and thus their viability - did the rest ... 🫡
I just noticed that there are claims of a stolen IWC. Is that insurance fraud or just more disappointed thieves getting the wrong loot?
Today modern day of traveling we must all travel wisely and don’t get too caught up wearing something too high value keep home where is safe.
That’s a very really issue now a days. It’s seems like Watch theft has increased since watch sales have sky rocked over the last few years. I’m interested in luxury watches but am I making my self a target in the process
Theft is really getting out of hand, just a few weeks ago someone stole my fathers daytona, fortunately he is ok, but gosh! I found a platform that was made to report stolen watches, it’s called JoinTrack.org I hope this helps a bit.
I’m safe then with my FpJ and ALS 😂