Success of the Rolex Rippers who terrorise London: Police’s own dismal figures show just one in 88 luxury watches snatched in capital are returned to their owners

Police have recovered only a fraction of luxury watches stolen in London over the past few years – with ‘Rolex rippers’ keeping thousands that they have taken.

Some 5,180 timepieces worth more than £3,000 were snatched in the capital between January 2022 and July 2025, but only 59 were found – just one in 88.

The worst borough for thefts over the three-and-a-half year period was Kensington and Chelsea with 493, then Westminster at 480, Camden at 272 and Lambeth at 251.

Next worst were Hackney at 224, Tower Hamlets at 186 and Barnet at 179, according to the Metropolitan Police data released under the Freedom of Information Act.

But the annual number of reported thefts is falling, with 1,974 watches stolen in 2022 and 2,048 in 2023, followed by 781 last year and 377 for the first half of 2025 to July.

Just 28 timepieces were recovered in each of 2022 and 2023, then just three last year and zero so far this year. The most-stolen brand across the period was Rolex at 1,788, followed by Cartier at 285, Omega at 217, Breitling at 121 and Hublot at 97.

One of the most high-profile incidents in recent years was the gunpoint robbery of a £70,000 diamond-encrusted watch from former world boxing champion Amir Khan.

The Olympic silver medallist was targeted as he and his wife Faryal Makhdoom left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton, East London, on a night in April 2022.

Khan was forced to hand over his Franck Muller Vanguard Chronograph during the robbery

Dramatic CCTV captured the moment of the robbery in Leyton, East London, in April 2022

Gunman Dante Campbell (left) was jailed for seven years and nine months over the Khan watch theft, while getaway driver Ahmed Bana (right) was locked up for nine years and eight months 

Gunman Dante Campbell was later jailed for seven years and nine months, while getaway driver Ahmed Bana was locked up for nine years and eight months. 

Khan’s case was a rare example of the watch eventually being recovered by police. 

The 38-year-old later thanked the Met for their efforts in returning the timepiece and said he would auction it off for charity.

Another incident saw an illegal Algerian migrant watch ripper target a Tim Hortons boss before his accomplice snatched his £65,000 Patek Philippe timepiece from his wrist on New Bond Street in Mayfair.

CCTV obtained by the Daily Mail showed Axel Schwan courageously giving chase to a thief who brazenly stole the luxe piece from the businessman in June 2024.

Mr Schwan made his way down the road alongside his wife when a member of the watch-ripping trio, which included Ahmed Djidi, 26, quietly snuck up behind him and snatched the five-figure watch from his arm.

Although Djidi did not steal the watch himself, the thief was part of the gang who targeted the coffee boss by keeping a watchful eye out for a ‘valuable wrist’ they could steal from.

Djidi appeared at Southwark Crown Court earlier this month, aided by an Arabic interpreter, where he was sentenced to 22 months in prison over the incident.

In October last year, two ‘Rolex rippers’ targeted undercover police officers in Mayfair who were posing as a wealthy couple bearing fake designer watches.

CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from the female officer’s wrist.

The police officers, who cannot be named, had donned expensive clothes and accessories to act as bait.

They were seen tackling Harket while another male officer wearing a suit ran over and slips while wrestling with the robber. 

Harket was filmed running away as a team of undercover officers arrested two of his associates on the other side of the street.

Another incident saw an illegal Algerian migrant watch ripper target a Tim Hortons boss before his accomplice snatched his £65,000 Patek Philippe watch from his wrist on New Bond Street

Ahmed Djidi was part of the trio who robbed Tim Hortons boss Axel Schwan of a £65,000 watch

Axel Schwan courageously gave chase to a thief who brazenly stole the watch in June 2024 

Harket was arrested shortly afterwards and later admitted robbery. Fellow defendant Mohamed Naas, 35, was convicted of robbery by a jury.

Harket was jailed for two years, while fellow Algerian Naas was jailed for three years.

Danny Toffel, chief executive of Watches2U, which sent the FOI request to the Met Police, said: ‘With such low recovery rates, owners need to stay one step ahead. 

‘Document every serial number, ensure your watches are properly insured, and avoid wearing high-value pieces where thieves are on the prowl.’

Mr Toffel also said recovery rates were ‘woefully low’ because watches were easily resold or dismantled before police can trace them.

‘Once a stolen Rolex or Omega leaves the country, it’s almost impossible to recover,’ he added. ‘Many are traded in parts or resold with falsified paperwork. Without proper documentation or serial tracking, ownership is hard to prove.’

Mr Toffel added that many victims don’t report thefts immediately, or lack serial number records, which further reduces the chance of recovery.

‘In one case, fewer than 30 out of more than 2,000 stolen watches were ever returned in a single year,’ he said. ‘It shows how quickly these items disappear into criminal networks.’

It comes as Scotland Yard’s newly-appointed lead on phone theft admitted yesterday that the force’s work to tackle the crime has not been ‘good enough’.

But Commander Andy Featherstone said the Met’s new strategy focused on targeting organised crime was making a difference.

He told the BBC that the problem of phone thefts had been an ‘outlier’ for the Met, adding: ‘But the bottom line is that isn’t good enough. The public deserve better.’

The Met’s own data shows that just over 1 per cent of phone thefts in the capital result in a charge or conviction, compared with 11 per cent for robberies.

CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from a female police officer’s wrist in Mayfair in October 2024

The officers wore expensive accessories as they played their part as bait for the criminals 

Yakob Harket (left) was jailed for two years, with Mohamed Naas (right) jailed for three years

Earlier this month the Met said it had disrupted an international network suspected of smuggling tens of thousands of stolen phones from the UK in its largest operation to tackle phone theft in London.

The criminal organisation is believed to have smuggled up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China over the past 12 months – up to 40 per cent of all phones stolen in the capital.

The force launched Operation Echosteep in December 2024 after a box containing about 1,000 iPhones being shipped to Hong Kong was found at a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.

Officers discovered almost all the phones had been stolen. They intercepted further shipments and used forensic evidence found on the packages to identify the suspects.

Police carried out a total of 46 arrests following a two-week operation, including 11 arrests made while police tackled criminal gangs robbing delivery vans for the new iPhone 17.

A Met Police spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘Tackling violent crime in all of its forms, including watch robbery, remains one of the Met’s priorities and we have reduced the number of personal robberies across London by 13 per cent since April.

‘Uniform and plain clothed officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify offences taking place, but more importantly to help prevent and deter offenders from committing them in the first place.’