© BBC Studios
The BBC have released a new 30-minute documentary looking into the seedy world of watch theft in London. Titled Hunting the Rolex Rippers the short film follows journalist Tir Dhondy as she meets up with several suspected and convicted watch thieves, seeking to learn their reasons and methods for stealing watches. If you’re a watch enthusiast living in London, it’s pretty much compulsory viewing.
There are several tactics and strategies for watch theft discussed during the course of the program. They can best be described as solo opportunism, then criminal pairs and lastly full-scale organised crime. The first of these is the rarest because it relies on an individual finding a mark, knowing what they’ve seen on someone’s wrist and having the opportunity to steal it.
© BBC Studios
In the Hunting the Rolex Rippers, they address this topic through the high-profile case of Aled Jones, the famous singer who had his Rolex stolen. The thief spotted him wearing a Rolex inside a luxury cheese and wine shop and followed Jones until he walked onto a deserted back street at which point the thief pulled out a machete and demanded the watch. Naturally Jones complied. One thing that you’ll see consistently throughout the documentary is that watch theft and knife crime go hand-in-hand. If there’s a lesson here, it’s to stick to well-lit and populated areas.
© BBC Studios
Far more common than opportunistic watch theft is organised crime, whether that be a small group of individuals acting independently or gang related activity. Here is where the tactics employed by thieves begin to get more sophisticated. They’ll employ a “spotter” to find a target, the spotter will then contact their associates nearby, often on mopeds with machetes, to then commit the theft. Spotters will often be female and attempt to charm their marks and get up close in bars, restaurants or clubs to confirm the value of the watch. In Hunting the Rolex Rippers Tir Dhondy meets up with a female spotter and her handler.
© BBC Studios
Watches are then fenced overseas to circumnavigate the issues of serial numbers and identification. A recent problem has been the growth of the concept of theft on order. Which is where black market collectors will put out a hit for a specific type of watch they want and thieves can seek to target those particular watches knowing that they already have a buyer on the hook. Reducing the time it takes to move the stolen goods and decreasing the transaction’s visibility.
You can watch Hunting the Rolex Rippers on BBC iPlayer now and it will air on BBC 3 at 9pm today, December 5th. If you’re a watch collector in the London area, it pays to get educated. Plus, it’s a fairly entertaining program in the tradition of true crime documentaries.
Watch Hunting the Rolex Rippers on BBC iPlayer.
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