Rolex takes the crown when it comes to the most stolen luxury watch in 2022.
Nearly 7,000 of the crown-bearing timepieces from the Swiss watchmaker, whose slogan is “A crown for every achievement,” were reported stolen or missing last year — a 60% increase compared with 2021, according to data compiled by The Watch Register.
In all, $1.3 billion worth of luxury watches were swiped, according to the London-based group that helps owners, auction houses and dealers identify stolen watches for a fee.
Of the registered stolen watches in 2022, 44% of them were Rolexes, the most by far, the company told Bloomberg on Monday.
Omega-brand wristwatches came in as the No. 2 most-stolen luxury watch brand, making up 7% of purloined timepieces.
Rounding out the top list with Swiss watchmakers Breitling at 6% and Tag Heuer (5%), followed by nd French luxury goods conglomerate Cartier (4%), according to the The Watch Register’s database.
Patek Philippe’s pieces made up 3% of stolen watches in 2022.
The Watch Register has logged more than 80,000 thefts of pre-owned luxury wristwatches since it was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest private database of looted artwork.
The demand for the pricey baubles has driven crime sprees throughout the world.
In the US, five thieves stole $2.5 million in luxury watches from a Staten Island store over Memorial Day weekend. Around the same time last year, San Francisco gang members robbed two watches from a group of people worth about $17,000
In June, Kevin Murphy, a California judge, was robbed of his Rolex, car keys and wallet at gunpoint in June.
In an effort to reduce the number of luxury watch robberies, Paris launched a police taskforce last summer that was solely dedicated to stopping watch theft, according to Bloomberg.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service also launched an operation to address similar crimes after 667 Rolex watches were stolen between January and September of 2022.
One of those watches belonged to England football star Raheem Sterling, who reportedly rushed back to his home in London from Qatar after his nearly $400,000 watch collection was the target of a home invasion, Bloomberg reportted.
English cycling pro Mark Cavendish also had two Richard Mille watches stolen during a burglary of his Essex home last year, the outlet reported.
The Watch Register’s managing director Katya Hills attributed thieves’ desire to snatch a Rolex to the brand’s “considerable value and prestige of these high-end timepieces,” according to Bloomberg.
Rolex, which notoriously manufactures less watches than consumers demand, creates watches that have long been a symbol of wealth and class, and are often sported by society’s upper echelons.
At Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s all-white Fourth of July bash in the Hamptons this summer, a slew of celebrity guests sported watches that retail for eye-watering prices, according to Chad Alexander Kwiatkowski, a watch influencer on TikTok under the handle @chad.alexander.
The most expensive watch seen in the video was Jay-Z’s vintage Patek Philippe Ref. 2499, which Kwiatkowski said a rose gold version recently sold for a record $7.68 million.
Meanwhile, model Rebecca Donaldson flashed a Rolex Day-Date 40 in rose gold, which costs a cool $46,000, according to the official Rolex website.
While demand for Rolex has soared, the watches have have been declining in value since the pandemic.
According to the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks the top 50 most traded watch models on the pre-owned market, prices are down nearly 11% in the past 24 months, to $35,570.
Rolex models make up 44 of the 50 watches on the index.
Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet make up the remaining most-traded watches on the index, which is approaching a two-year low thanks to rising interest rates and a slowdown in consumer spending on discretionary items.