Stolen luxury watch recoveries surge as The Watch Register marks record-breaking year

The Watch Register is the world’s largest and most established international database of lost and stolen luxury watches.

In 2025 alone, 10,000 watches with unique serial numbers were registered as lost or stolen on its global database, equating to one luxury watch being recorded every hour. This brings the total number of watches registered on the database to 114,000, with a total estimated value of £1.7 billion.

Driven by rising global watch crime and growing awareness among dealers, collectors and insurers of the need for real-time due diligence, online checks undertaken on The Watch Register platform have risen 29% year-on-year, with more than 280,000 watches now checked annually across the global pre-owned market. The number of businesses signing up to check watches against the database when trading has risen by 42% in 2025 compared to 2024. 

September 2025 saw The Watch Register reach a landmark 5,000 lost and stolen watches identified since the service was founded just over a decade ago.  The volume of successful identifications continues to accelerate. The platform identified 1,375 lost and stolen watches in 2025, up from 1,136 in 2024, representing a 21% increase. 

Rolex remains the most targeted brand, accounting for 44% of all watches checked against the database by traders and private buyers, and 51% of watches registered as lost or stolen this year.

Growth has been particularly substantial in the United States. The Watch Register has seen a 78% increase in US-based business clients and a 110% increase in stolen watches located for US traders compared to 2024. This reflects heightened concern among US traders about cross-border thefts and the laundering of stolen watches through international markets. Increasingly, recoveries involve watches that have been moved across countries and continents in an attempt to evade detection.

In the past year alone, stolen watches identified by The Watch Register have been traced across 34 countries spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia, North Africa, Australia and the Middle East, underlining both the global scale of the problem and the reach of the platform.

Katya Hills, Managing Director of The Watch Register, said: “This has been a landmark year for The Watch Register. Record growth, high levels of stolen watch reporting and reaching a milestone of 5,000 watches located since our foundation. This is evidence of the global pre-owned watch market actively using our database as a tool to fight watch crime. The speed at which many of these watches are now being identified shows how effective global data sharing has become in disrupting the market in stolen watches.”

The Watch Register has a data sharing agreement with the Metropolitan Police Service, whereby all stolen watch records are shared with The Watch Register database so that the watches can be traced on the global market and intelligence provided to police offering new leads for investigation.  As an essential step in this partnership, The Watch Register and its parent company the Art Loss Register achieved Secured by Design accreditation, the official security initiative of the UK Police Service, including ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications.  

The Watch Register database, which offers a global 24/7 service, provides a simple way for purchasers of pre-owned watches to check if a watch offered for sale is reported stolen. The Watch Register combines complex computer algorithms with human expertise and intervention to actively identify lost and stolen watches on the global pre-owned market. The database is used by watch dealers, jewellers, pawnbrokers and auction houses to identify stolen watches prior to transactions. From the moment a stolen watch is located, The Watch Register’s specialist recoveries team steps in to secure the watch and facilitate a recovery for the rightful owner. 

Fifty per cent of watches The Watch Register finds are located within a year of the theft and 35% within six months. One third of the stolen watches located by The Watch Register database are offered with box and papers, many of which are fake, therefore buyers should not assume that the presence of paperwork indicates legitimacy of ownership.

You can find out more about The Watch Register and their Secured by Design accredited products on their dedicated member page.

About THE WATCH REGISTER

THE WATCH REGISTER database is the global leader for due diligence and crime prevention in the luxury watch market. It holds the world’s largest, most established, international database of lost, stolen and fake watches, containing data compiled over 30 years. The company provides expert-audited theft checks for watch traders and buyers, as well as specialist watch recovery services to victims and insurers.

THE WATCH REGISTER database is independent of any brands or retailers. Its sole purpose is to protect the pre-owned watch market, assist victims of theft and support the police. For more information go to THE WATCH REGISTER

THE WATCH REGISTER operation is headquartered in London and is part of the Art Loss Register (ALR), the world’s largest private database of lost and stolen art, antiques and collectibles (www.artloss.com). Our database was established with the purpose of protecting the market from stolen property and enabling insurers and victims to recover their losses. The ALR, founded in 1990, has been responsible for the recovery of lost and stolen property worth hundreds of million of pounds.

Secured by Design

Secured by Design (SBD) is owned by the UK Police Service with the specific aim of reducing crime and increasing safety for businesses and individuals.

SBD seeks to improve the physical security of buildings and the surrounding area using products such as doors, windows, locks and walling systems along with fencing systems that meet the SBD Police Preferred Specification security requirements.

SBD have many partner organisations, ranging from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government through to local authorities, housing associations, developers and manufacturers and work closely with standards and certification bodies.

SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police recognition for security-related products in the UK, through the Police Preferred Specification - a product-based accreditation scheme developed over 25 years ago, which provides a recognised standard for all security products that effectively deter and reduce crime. SBD work with manufacturers and standards authorities to ensure that security standards are current and updated to keep pace with emerging crime trends.

Learn more about Secured by Design and our member companies at securedbydesign.com