£1million of watches stolen in muggings every month in London’s West End

Police figures show that watch robberies in London’s West End are yielding about £1 million in stolen watches each month, highlighting the scale of thefts targeting visitors. The figures emerged at the sentencing of three men who robbed Romanian entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu of a £137,000 watch outside a Mayfair restaurant.

The Met recorded 97 watch robberies, including attempted thefts, from January to June 2026, and 70 more expensive watches were stolen from July to September. A knife was seen or implied in one in five watch robberies in the past six months. The three men had watched Botezatu before confronting him and cutting the watch’s strap; it has not been recovered. They received prison sentences ranging from three years and six months to five years and nine months.