For example, while you are having coffee on a terrace, you come face to face with two criminals who snatch your watch from your wrist. This happened last Wednesday afternoon in Maastricht. It was no ordinary watch, but a very expensive one. And the victim was not the first.
It is a special group that a robbed man in Maastricht has been able to count on since Wednesday. Rapper Lil Kleine, top footballer Paul Pogba, YouTube star Nikkie de Jager and many others have been robbed of one or more expensive watches. In most cases from the Rolex brand.
René van der Gijp’s car burglary
Not infrequently, brute force or even a firearm is used in such a robbery. For example, De Jager was threatened, beaten and tied up by armed men in her own home. Football analyst René van der Gijp’s car was hit with hammers in an attempt to get to Van der Gijp and steal his Rolex. In June 2022, three masked men in Heerlen seriously assaulted a man at a parking garage and then took two Rolexes from him.
It is a striking development that has emerged over the past five years. A Rolex has always been worth a lot of money, so it must have previously been attractive to simply pull one off someone’s wrist. Why are we only seeing this boom now? “The price is rising enormously,” says lawyer and watch enthusiast Peer Szymkowiak. “Not so long ago you bought a Rolex for, for example, 10,000 euros and that watch retained its value. Now you buy one for 10,000 euros and in a few years that same watch will be worth 20,000 euros.”
Sven Otten, who buys and sells exclusive watches through his company Exclusive Chrono from Kerkrade and Mallorca, sees the criminal’s sights shifting. “You can no longer rob banks, because there is no money there anymore. And if you rob a snack bar, you might get 100 euros. A small watch costs 10,000 euros. So that’s easy earning. And if you don’t use violence and get caught, you’ll spend less than an hour at the police station, so to speak. Then those guys will take that risk.”
Spotters at airports look for ‘prey’
Otten regularly hears stories about robberies from his customers and people in the watch world. “Watches with a rubber strap in particular are easy to steal. Finger behind it and they’re gone. A steel or full gold band is more difficult, then it usually turns into a fight. But usually they choose weaker prey. People who come out of a nightclub drunk, elderly people.” According to Otten, there are even ‘spotters’ waiting at the airport to look for new victims. “When I land in Ibiza or Barcelona, you can already see them. I usually take my watch off when I get off the plane and put it back on when I get to my hotel. But if they spot someone, they simply follow them to a hotel or holiday accommodation.”
Szymkowiak knows similar stories from his immediate environment. “Every time I go on holiday, I think: ‘I’ll just leave it at home.’ Finally I change my mind again. I also know people who have a real Rolex, but wear a fake one on vacation in case they get robbed. That’s not worth it to me. Then you get beat up for a fake watch.”
‘Good investment’
Moreover, criminals do not only strike abroad, as the robbery in Maastricht once again underlines. “They go where the money is,” says Otten. “So you see them a little less in Limburg than in Amsterdam, for example.”
Is wearing such a watch worth all that (possible) misery? Yes, say Otten and Szymkowiak. “Apart from the fact that I am a great enthusiast, it is also a good investment,” Szymkowiak is clear. Otten underlines this. “I have watches worth 250,000 euros. Then you just have a mortgage on your wrist, yes. And you don’t have to put them in a safe, because they retain their value even when worn. For example, buying real estate is less interesting with the upcoming tax rules. I always say: ‘A Rolex is you ticket home .’ If you really have nothing left, you always have something to help you out.”