Woman robbed of £185K watch in front of children

37 comments

1. I’m not victim blaming, but just an observation. How out of touch does someone have to be to openly be wearing something worth more than most peoples entire individual net worths.

2. I find it slightly disturbing that the police put out an actual statement asking for people to come forward if they saw anything.

   99.9% of other victims of this type of crime in London would be told there is little chance of recovery and there isn’t enough police resource.

   If you get your phone stolen from your hand in London you do not get this kind of service from the met.

3. I feel sympathy for anyone robbed of anything in front of their children, whether a scratch card or expensive jewellery.

4. Jfc, 185k, the monetary equivalent of robbing someone’s actual house and all it’s contents. Boggles my mind she didn’t have some kind of security with her

5. It blows my mind that people actually wear these watches in their day to day lives. I always assumed they were ‘investment’ pieces like artwork, used to move money between countries, or ‘gifts’ to dodge inheritance taxes. I shouldn’t be surprised but fuck.

6. I wouldn’t even walk around with more than £20 in my wallet in case I got mugged. I can’t imagine wearing a watch worth more than a small flat.

7. That 185k is probably drop in the pond for her. Silly to wear that around London so casually like that though. 

8. Police answer: “We also like to hear from anyone who may have been offered a Richard Mille watch within the last couple of days.” ROFL

9. Did her a favour by taking that hideous looking thing

10. I think she got robbed of £185K when she bought the watch judging by its looks lmao

11. Lmao, all those saying you shouldn’t be allowed to wear an expensive watch. I would ask though, what is the limit? Will my £30 Citizen be alright to wear? 

    People should be fucking comfortable wearing expensive items outside. We are supposedly a modern country. 

12. I don’t believe this should have been stolen but my god I can’t help but harbour resentment for someone spending that much on a watch  

13. I just carry a phone which has my cards in it. Its also near my body all the time, so I know im protected

14. How the hell does a watch (especially one that ugly) cost £185K? And why would you wear it on the street? I’d leave it in a vault somewhere. I hope she was insured.

15. If you have an expensive watch you should be able to wear it with out some jealous prick without a job robbing you if you want nice things go earn it yourself

16. London isn’t the same city as it was 10 years ago. The country isn’t, we see these videos where people walk into a shop and empty it. That’s because we lived in a high trust society, we don’t now and sadly we all need to adapt.

17. “If you’re smart you still tuck in your chain cos nothing has changed, you can get mugged on this rugged terrain” -Jehst

18. There’s a lot of victim blaming on the sub. Imagine if you got robbed of your engagement ring or wedding ring, or if you got car jacked and people said “it’s your fault for driving a nice car” or “wearing a diamond ring”.

    People in London are getting robbed for coats and backpacks too! Is that their fault too or does the line start at what you can’t afford yourself?

19. I recall having my watch robbed with a knife to my neck. Just 100 quid but a gift from my mother and very much a treasured item.

    Gave a statement and then…… nothing

20. Crime is wrong obviously but who tf needs a warch that valuable…

21. Victim blaming hard here but watch itself was already a crime against taste

22. Of course it’s a bit daft to wander about with a dear watch on like that, someone might try and pinch it and that’s shit. But people being dicks saying ‘you don’t need a watch that expensive so…’ like it’s okay to get it robbed. Believe it or not, not everyone is a still living with parents child hating socially stunted bum Redditor. Some folk are actually doing alright and can afford nice shit, who woulda thunk it! Doesn’t mean they deserve to have it robbed cos ‘it costs more than a house, idiothurrdurrrr’

23. My first take was: If she has enough money for the watch, she’ll be okay. ‘bad thing bad’ but we can spend our time worrying about other things.

    My second take is: The thief’s probably didn’t know the value. They just saw something shiny and acted. It’s definitely a problem that these acts are becoming so brazen, and in a place as crowded as London I’m not sure how you resolve that.

24. RMs are such laughably bad design. They just stuck them on a load of F1 drivers for marketing.

25. The watch is hideous in more ways than one, and its theft was predictable. Nothing acceptable about any of this, but I don’t see it as any more news worthy than the hundreds of unreported muggings which occur daily.

26. Another reminder that the police primarily protect capital, not people.

27. As with every luxury item, don’t wear it casually or in public if you can’t afford to have it dirtied/damaged/stolen. It’s not victim blaming, it’s a reality most of us live with.

    But if you’re rich the police will put out a search for your accessories, apparently. Your (likely) insured accessories. Which (if you’re not stupid) you wouldn’t be wearing if you couldn’t afford to replace. Meanwhile, we can’t pay junior doctors a living wage.

28. Meanwhile a 15yo boy was stabbed to death over his phone in Hackney the other day outside a primary school at pickup time… hardly any coverage whatsoever. Not sure why I’d care about this over that. 

29. A fool and their ridiculously overpriced watch are soon parted.

30. People are going to focus on the value of the watch, the fact is criminals have realised they are free to do what ever in terms of theft in London. Police simply do not care, I know normal working people who have been mugged, have phones stollen, cars stollen, laptop stollen, watches stollen, bikes stollen etc and each time police have done absolutely nothing. Even there was a story here when a person caught one of the individuals that stole their watch and police just let them go. I also know a friend who found their phone on find my iPhone I a second hand phone shop but police did not care at all. Then I had a friend who had their bike stolen found it on eBay as had very unique modifications, police did nothing. Instead of focusing on the victim and saying it’s there fault, there is a deeper issue at play here, with police not being held to being accountable for anything, they just busy kicking people who are lying on the floor I guess.

31. My uncle bought a fake Rolex that looked like it was about £15k with the benefit being that if it got stolen it only cost €50. He couldn’t understand that this was putting a “mug me” sign on his back and that gge fact it cost fuck all was no compensation for a broken nose and fractured ribs

32. It’s sad that rich people can’t wear watches worth the price of a house in public.

33. My dad was a merchant naval captain, he had a digital watch that came with a gallon of free oil.

    Most of the time he went ashore, he wore it.
    Amusingly his ‘good’ watch was a piece of crap timex or some such.

    He was never robbed, some of the hard af crew didn’t take his advice & were.

    On one occasion a sailor returned in just his pants, having been robbed & thrown in an open sewer.
    He was power hosed before being allowed on board.

    He was told he was particularly lucky he was recently wed as any problems with stealing his ring & he’d have just lost the finger too.

    You might not think you’re wealthy but in some circumstances you’re still the dick carrying too many valuables.

    With the increasing disparity of wealth in the UK we’re on our way to being ‘that’ country.

34. Very upsetting but you have to be aware you are a target if you have nicer things than others. I wouldn’t wear my patek openly in a shit area or London

35. Reddit being Reddit when being rich is a bigger crime than theft

36. All the victim blaming wankers in the comments are just weird, are people not allowed to wear nice things anymore cause they’re “just asking to get robbed”😂? London is full of rich folk are they all just expected to walk around wearing Primark and a beat up Casio to avoid getting their shit stolen? Personally I feel bad for the woman and her children cause that’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone. This place has some serious issues man had some guy plot on my fucking cheap sports direct Reeboks while on the train a while back, these dickheads are willing to steal anything

37. The first load of comments here are truly depressing. “I’m not victim blaming *but*”

    No, you absolutely are victim blaming. What’s the point of working hard to buy nice things if you’re gonna have scum rob you and then scores of underachievers online blaming you for it.