£100 + Breguet stolen in Central London

[Yess]

I'm from Sydney, Australia... currently in London showing my nephew around. I lived here (London) in the early 2000s - did the touristy thing then and while I have been back many times since, today was the first day that I went to the Changing of the Guard in close to 20 years.
Along with the Guard band procession, and the cacophony of international languages, my morning was punctuated by countless warnings from police (horse mounted, street level, from cars) screaming that theft was common, that you need to protect your valuables, that gangs were in operation. Constant reminders from the Police Force was slightly surreal.
London, in general, is certainly an eye-opener these days.

[rootbeer7]

Originally Posted by WatchLurv

My friend's big bang didn't get mentioned in any newspaper when he got held up in W1 by 2 guys on moped and a machete. Case still unsolved and watch not returned. He now wears an apple watch.

A lot of the watch robberies don't get reported unless the victim is injured or killed or the watch is of significant value that will make the reader go "wooooah he wore a 100K+ watch!!".



Bang on!

If some people on here knew others (real life friends, which doesnt seem to be the case) who have been robbed on the streets of London then they wouldn't be trying to downplay the whole situation that "London is like any other metropolis and to assert situational awareness wherever you go". Total nonsense.

I do. Hi profile cars, houses in target areas. Targeted and attacked. It’s a terrible situation, but equally I have many more friends and associates that haven’t been attacked.

[pickettt]

So.....do cautious Londoners just wear their expensive watches around the house then?

[polaris72]

Can’t speak much about London, however, statistics I read listed 50k + crimes a year. New York too, had its ups and downs, depending which party is pushing their agenda. It is just sad to see London going down the hill together with beautiful cities like Seattle, LA, Baltimore, and many other. In the mean time, I feel safe roaming streets of Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and many other mentioned on the first page. The funny thing is, that when you speak to people one on one, they will tell what’s really going down. They are, however, afraid to speak their mind in the name of political correctness.

[Brenngun]

Originally Posted by R G

Do the thieves look British to you?

Yes. When they grace us with their departure, they will be leaving with their newly acquired goods, too.

Sorry. Please educate me. What does a typical Brit look like??

[SN13]

Originally Posted by Brenngun

Sorry. Please educate me. What does a typical Brit look like??

According to Google:

[R G]

Originally Posted by Brenngun

Sorry. Please educate me. What does a typical Brit look like??

Don’t be funny with me mate, behind your keyboard. Playing the PC hero is very over-rated.

If you can’t tell someone of an Algerian or Albanian appearance then take those photos as your ‘education’.

[R G]

Originally Posted by SN13

According to Google:

You’re funny, aren’t you!

[Ped22]

Well I’m one of those who’s seen this kind of crime first hand and unfortunately it was in London during last summer.

Whilst I was out with my friends, all wearing t-shirts, I had my Hulk on, a friend of mine had an AP on and the other friend who ended being the unfortunate one had a two tone Daytona which was taken off him at knife point. We had split up for a matter of minutes where the friend with the Daytona walked ahead to find a bar whereas some of us were further back.

Thankfully my friend was not harmed and gave up the watch when they showed him the knife but it could have very easily happened to any/all of us...

Since then I decided that I would only wear a nice watch in London in certain circumstances where I could hide the watch from being seen in public i.e. winter when I wear a coat/long sleeve and more likely in day time for a little more assurance, though according to this post, daylight isn’t a saving grace either.


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[Brenngun]

Originally Posted by R G

Don’t be funny with me mate, behind your keyboard. Playing the PC hero is very over-rated.

If you can’t tell someone of an Algerian or Albanian appearance then take those photos as your ‘education’.

[zorinindustries]

Originally Posted by SN13

According to Google:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WatchLurv]

Originally Posted by Ped22

Well I’m one of those who’s seen this kind of crime first hand and unfortunately it was in London during last summer.

Whilst I was out with my friends, all wearing t-shirts, I had my Hulk on, a friend of mine had an AP on and the other friend who ended being the unfortunate one had a two tone Daytona which was taken off him at knife point. We had split up for a matter of minutes where the friend with the Daytona walked ahead to find a bar whereas some of us were further back.

Thankfully my friend was not harmed and gave up the watch when they showed him the knife but it could have very easily happened to any/all of us...

Since then I decided that I would only wear a nice watch in London in certain circumstances where I could hide the watch from being seen in public i.e. winter when I wear a coat/long sleeve and more likely in day time for a little more assurance, though according to this post, daylight isn’t a saving grace either.


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Other people in here will just sweep it under the rug that your friend was "unlucky" or "wrong place wrong time", when in reality this happens daily and it never hits any newspaper. Did the robbery you witness end up in any newspapers?

It's all under-reported. London isn't safe to wear a watch.

[LandWatch]

I honestly think if you’re low-key, with your watch hidden under your sleeve, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. There really is no reason why anyone else would ha e a clue which watch you wear. Try to blend in, don’t flash it about. These threads spread unnecessary panic!

[Ped22]

Originally Posted by WatchLurv

Other people in here will just sweep it under the rug that your friend was "unlucky" or "wrong place wrong time", when in reality this happens daily and it never hits any newspaper. Did the robbery you witness end up in any newspapers?



It's all under-reported. London isn't safe to wear a watch.

Technically they’d be right if they said wrong place wrong time because London is the wrong place and anytime in the day/night is the wrong time!

At the end of the day there is no smoke without fire and in my opinion we’re hearing a lot about London because a lot of this stuff happens in London.


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[Ped22]

Originally Posted by HighlandWatch

I honestly think if you’re low-key, with your watch hidden under your sleeve, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. There really is no reason why anyone else would ha e a clue which watch you wear. Try to blend in, don’t flash it about. These threads spread unnecessary panic!

I do agree with this somewhat - if one really wants to wear their watch in London then you minimize the risk by being more subtle.

If you’re out there in designer wear from top to toe and some dodgy fella wants to find out what’s on your wrist then he will find out whether you had it covered or not.


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