https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ans-wrist.html
A businessman staying at a five-star hotel in Paris had a £700,000 watch ripped off his wrist in the costliest theft of its kind in recent history.
The loss of the Richard Mille Tourbillon Diamond Twister - a women's timepiece viewed as high end jewellery - comes during an explosion of similar crimes in the French capital.
It has led to police issuing a warning to visitors with costly wristwatches, including thousands of wealthy Britons who visit Paris every year.
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'The theft happened on Monday evening outside the Hotel Napoleon,' said an investigating source, referring to the so-called 'palace' next to the Arc de Triomphe.
'A Japanese businessman was smoking outside with a friend, when he was approached by a man in a Parka-style coat, who asked for a cigarette.'
When the owner of the watch put his hand out, the thug ripped his watch off, and then ran away.
Judicial police say the scene was captured on video, and they believe that the thief dropped his Huawei mobile phone nearby.
'This may lead to the attacker being identified and caught,' said the source, who said the victim had not been identified by name but was aged 30.
Paris detectives blame online crime tutorials for an upsurge in thefts of exclusive watches worth thousands of pounds in Paris.
Techniques once used only by gangs from Italy and Russia are being employed by petty offenders from the Paris suburbs who have learnt them on websites.
The result is that 71 thefts of watches worth a total of some £2 million were reported in Paris in the first eight months of this year alone.
This already represents a 28 per cent rise in the number of luxury watch thefts compared with 2018.
Beyond asking for a cigarette, or the time, one technique is to bump into car wing mirrors on a scooter, prompting the driver to put out a hand to set them straight.
At this point, an accomplice grabs the watch. Another ruse is to approach drunk men or women leaving night clubs around the Champs Elysees.
'Our advice to anyone with an expensive watch is to keep it well covered up in public, and not to show if off in bars or restaurants,' said a Paris police source.
The British are the biggest visitor group to Paris, which is the most visited tourist city in the world.
Brands that the thieves particularly go for are Rolex and Cartier, which are easily recognisable and can be resold on the black market without papers.
Such watches are normally worth between £5000 and £35,000 but the Richard Mille Tourbillon Diamond Twister retails in France at around €780,000 (£700,000).