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?

No it’s not at all, it’s a completely normal part of London. Please don’t let mners worry you!

Risk assess as you would in any busy city. As pp said, if it has huge sentimental value then your decision might be different. If you'd hand it over without a fight and claim on insurance then it's probably a risk worth taking so you can wear the watch you want to when you're there.

I know loads of people who work in London with fancy watches and not one has ever been mugged for them. I think the chances of this happening are actually tiny, especially if it’s not a 100k + watch.

Also, what’s the point of a watch you leave at home all the time? Insure the watch and then wear it. That way you get the pleasure of wearing it and if you do lose it (much more likely than being robbed) you can claim on your insurance.

The only thing I worry about in central is snatch theft for phones. But I always have a tight grip and I am aware when the bikes are speeding past.

I have one that would be stolen but just cover it with my sleeve so can't be seen. Obviously can't in summer.

I've even heard of waitresses/waters in high end London restaurants checking people's watches and making a phone call/ sending a message.

You do have to be careful but then n Harrods for example no one seems to hide anything.

I agree. All my stuff is insured. If dh drops me off outside a restaurant and we walk back after to the car together I'll take my chances:

Put your phone away when you're walking.

Your tight grip will count for nothing when someone with the power of a bike engine behind them grabs it, and I guarantee you're not as aware of your surroundings as you think if you're staring at a phone screen.

Okay thanks! 😂

London is nothing like its being made out to look like on GB News and in the Daily Heil.

Wear your watch.

There are definitely people who can spot valuables on other people. Im obsessed with jewellery and can easily spot high value jewellery items on other people ( gold weight, carat , precious stones). I assume , criminals are even better at that. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I heard the thieves now target Asda-bought bags.

YANBU. I leave my Breitling at home everytime I visit places I don't trust. it's not just London, we live in a low trust society. It's natural to plan out visits with military precision if you value your personal safety.

You’ll be fine. My 80 year old MIL has been merrily wandering the streets of london on her Patek Phillipe and various diamond adornments for many decades and is yet to be mugged. Actually, I don’t know of anyone who has been mugged in London, and we’ve lived/ worked there for years.

London is a pretty safe city. And at the end of the day, we have lovely things to wear and enjoy. It’s only a watch (unless it’s of deep sentimental worth, in which case it should be in a safe always), if it gets stolen it’s a minor inconvenience and the insurance will deal with it.

There were people being targeted leaving posh nightclubs in the early hours and getting mugged by a group of men specifically for expensive watches. I have a friend with a Rolex who wears it all the time no problem (so far).

Wow. I’m not sure I could function on that level of high alert.

I tend to work on the basis that most people’s intentions are good, and am generally proven right.

Only if you’re serving or ex military. Most of us don’t.

There are some parts of the world where I wouldn’t wear my expensive but little known brand watch. London isn’t one of them.

Depends on the area, depends on the occasion. Attending a work meeting (daylight), heading to dinner (cab, nice area) and seeing a show afterwards (flocks of people heading in/out the same theatre) - you'll be fine. Bar hopping/clubbing after dark somewhere closer to say Putney - maybe not.

No. Dalston is now a trendy area, lots of people out and about on the streets at night socialising, it is a vibrant popular area.

Yes I look around and check to see.

A friend had this attempted on her but kept her phone as her grip was strong.

I have to say that this is kind of naive.

"Insurance will deal with it" - well maybe and maybe not. In my experience, insurers wriggle out of parting with money and depending on the policy, they won't be paying out what you think they will. There will be all sorts of get outs and small print. Maybe they'll pay in vouchers. Maybe they'll pay the depreciated value or the non-appreciated value. And then if you claim, they'll load your policy when you renew it.

London is not a pretty safe city at all. My dh goes to London for work quite regularly but we do not live there and he doesn't work there. He was carrying a backpack containing a laptop and someone distracted him whilst someone else tried to snatch it. Just because you haven't seen or experienced this stuff, it doesn't mean it isn't happening. Of course, my dh didn't report as he managed to keep hold of the bag (big bloke). So this stuff goes unnoticed. He also bought a pair of trainers in London a few years back and someone tried to snatch that bag from him as well. I've been in London and seen people steal stuff in broad daylight - OK it was "only" food, but still - crime is going on all the time and lots of it is unreported.

It isn't just London - my db put his backpack down whilst looking at something on his phone in another city. Backpack snatched in under a minute. OK he was silly not to keep hold of the bag - but it went immediately.

None of the above was reported and it was all relatively recent. Our cities aren't safe at all.

Maybe they'll pay in vouchers. Maybe they'll pay the depreciated value or the non-appreciated value. And then if you claim, they'll load your policy when you renew it.

What would be the problem with vouchers? Nobody with any sense takes out an insurance policy that isn’t new for old or like for like cover.

Life’s too short to worry about non sentimental value possessions. It’s just stuff at the end of the day.

What’s the point?

Just to reassure you the time my Ex husband suffered an attempted mugging he was wearing a M and S suit, and a £500 watch, and not even that great a phone.
Now I have heard horror stories about Barcelona.

But this is your experience as someone who doesn’t live in London. Lots of us, who do live in London, are on this thread saying we feel perfectly safe

you’ve been unlucky, but doesn’t mean London as a whole is unsafe