One Stolen Luxury Watch An Hour Was Registered on Tracking Platform

Roughly 10,000 luxury watches were registered as lost or stolen in 2025, equating to more than one watch an hour registered on a tracking plaform every hour.

That’s according to The Watch Register, a database used by watch dealers, jewelers, pawnbrokers and auction houses to identify stolen watches before transactions.

The total number of watches registered on the database was more than 114,000, with an estimated total value of $2 billion (€1.7 billion).

Rolex remains the most targeted brand, accounting for 44% of all watches checked against the database by traders and private buyers, with 51% of watches registered as lost or stolen this year. Roughly 280,000 watches are checked annually across the global pre-owned market, according to The Watch Register.

The secondary watch market has become a big target in recent years. The roughly $30 billion secondary watch market is set to exceed the value of the roughly $60 billion primary market in the next 10 years, so a growing proportion of watch owners will likely be insuring pre-owned watches rather than new watches.

The database shows the top cities for watch thefts are Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Houston, and New York.

In September 2025, The Watch Register reached a landmark of 5,000 lost and stolen watches identified. The platform is on track to identify roughly 1,340 lost and stolen watches in 2025, up from 1,136 in 2024, a 18% increase. In the United States, the platform saw a 78% increase in US-based business clients and a 110% increase in stolen watches located compared with 2024.

In the last few years, an emerging M.O. seen in luxury watch thefts involves a more sophisticated scheme that begins with victim scouting, in which groups of thieves operate together to stake out high-end venues like restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs. The groups engage with people whom they see as wearing a high-value watch, often a male target. A female member of the group will communicate with the victim, while other members of the group wait at the door or outside the venue, and attack when he leaves.