To leave Rolex at home

[Huromjuicemaker]

Is wearing a nice watch in or around London asking to be mugged? What about in other cities?
Will be traveling back to UK to visit family and do a few work related visits and I have read that watch theft is quite rife and it is organised and targeted, ie there are spotters checking your wrist and arranging ambushes etc. Would I be unreasonable to leave my beloved Rolex at home because the risk is too high?

I don't think you should take anything you would be sad to lose or would invite a mugging which could be violent. Taking it on and off as you leave the office is an option I suppose but seems a bit of a faff.
Would you be happy with an insurance replacement if it did get stolen or does that specific watch hold it's own sentimental value?

Dont wear it unless at a party and your car is right outside the house or the venue car park

I'm asain - don't wear my 24/22ct goold jewellery as the muggers just snactch it

I feel sorry for those wearing fakes as they don't realise the danger they are putting themselves in

We have told our son not to buy a Rolex and he reluctantly agreed - there are a couple of other makes that the muggers are looking out for along with t Ipnoes latest or newish versions

Some may say you are giving in to muggers but it is what it is

Very sensible post

If in doubt leave it at home.

I don’t know where this narrative that crime is rife in London comes from. Where are you going in London? I wear a £5k watch every day and never had an issue, and I know many friends wear far more expensive ones than me on a daily basis and none of them have ever been stolen. In fact I have never even heard of anyone who has been mugged.

I wouldn’t worry about this at all.

Pretty sure there are more Rolex wearers in London than any other British city, and the vast majority of them don’t get mugged.

Most watches and jewellery that get stolen are burgled from people’s homes, not in muggings. You’re more likely to get mugged for a phone or your purse than a watch.

you know there's a lot of people walking around London everyday wearing expensive jewelry and watches? it's not some anarchy. But whatever you are comfortable with.

Most I'd wear out would be a £500 watch. Something worth £1000+ I'd keep at home and insured.

(I'd insure all my expensive watches btw)

I don't even have any expensive watches. But if I did... I would insure it.

It depends on the area you are visiting.

you don't know where it comes from?

really? really.

This was my first thought. Last time I went to London at least half the people walking down the street had designer gear, shopping bags, expensive watches and sunglasses!

I would say about 50% of my office have Rolex / omega / pp or similar (myself included) we all manage not to get mugged on a daily basis.

unless you are driving around Mayfair in a Bentley on taking the back street cut throughs to Euston station after dark you’ll be fine…

if you aren’t comfortable though it’s fine to leave it at home.

Nobody is interested in your 5k watch, it's the expensive ones that they are targeting.

I guarantee the narrative would change rapidly if you were walking around with a 120k on your wrist.

I wouldn't just incase, certain Rolex models are more desirable than others, ones that have a long waiting list for, particularly the men's are targeted by muggers. I would still be careful though as a tourist.

There are more fake Rolex wearers in London than there are tube trains.

You'll be grand. Everyone will be too busy doing their own thing to be staring at your wrist!

I watched a YouTube video about it. Be alert. Plan ahead as to the area. Be aware of Ur surroundings. And maybe carry a dummy watch that looks like Rolex but isn't.

I worry about my £25 Sekonda watch every time I appear in public. If I feel unsafe I remove it and slip it into my Asda cross body bag and cling tightly to it till I’m out of danger.

Unless you are going to be wandering around Dalston at midnight, I think you'll be fine.

It's true and not true.

There are organised gangs who will target high value watches. But we are talking watches worth millions or hundreds of thousands. Limited editions, very high quality. The Met did a big sting operation on them in Soho recently.

The average Rolex worth a few grand isn't of interest to these gangs.

That said, there's no guarantee you won't run across an opportunistic mugger.

The odds of either happening though are remarkably small.

There are people who spot watches. My ds has an encyclopaedic knowledge of watches and is obsessed with them. So I don’t think it takes much for a criminal to learn what’s what.

I don’t have any kind of watch. But if I did, I wouldn’t wear it around London.

So weird isn’t it! I wear lots of jewellery, expensive bags etc and see lots of people doing the same

London is a very safe city, just keep your wits about you

I'm asain - don't wear my 24/22ct goold jewellery as the muggers just snactch it

errr ok

Just as an aside and because I don't live in London but one of my children is visiting Dalston in the near future so it jumped out at me - is it particularly bad for something?

Where are you going to be? The sort of people who mug you for expensive at he’s will be where the expensive watches are - Mayfair, Kensington, Chelsea, Knightsbridge.

If you are planning to get plastered and stagger around Mayfair on your own then yeah, leave the watch at home. If you are going to a few meetings in the City then it will probably be fine.

Certain places get a reputation for being bad for muggings. I was in Albania last October and left my jewellery and watch at home. Then when I got there, people were wearing smart watches and nice jewellery. Absolutely no one seemed to have any interest in mugging us.