Overview
- The Palm Beach hotel theft took place on May 20 and involved a Richard Mille watch valued between €700,000 and €1 million; the Parquet de Grasse has opened an investigation into the incident.
- A separate armed robbery in Cannes this month left a victim without a Richard Mille estimated at €400,000 and has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Nice police judiciaire.
- French police have deployed a specialised plan that embeds Spanish and Italian officers, uses daily BAC patrols and 'counter‑targeting' detection to spot role‑based teams that steal watches in seconds.
- Investigators describe organised transnational crews that operate in defined roles — spotter, puller, carrier and logistics — and say stolen haute‑horlogerie funds often feed wider criminal activity.
- Recorded watch thefts fell from 49 in 2022 to 17 last year after intensified policing, but high‑value robberies during festival periods show the threat persists and will keep cross‑border operations active.