We all know that watch thefts are on the rise, but the Watch Register is showing just how much criminal activity has escalated. 

More than 10,000 luxury watches with unique serial numbers were registered as lost or stolen on the global database in 2025, equating to an average of one timepiece being reported as missing every hour. That surge brings the total number of pieces registered to the database in the past decade to over 113,000, with a total value of approximately £1.7 billion (or about $2.3 billion). 

There has also been an increase in online checks on the database. The Watch Register allows collectors to check if a pre-owned watch listed for sale has been reported stolen, using both complex algorithms and human expertise to identify missing pieces on the secondary market. Online checks have jumped 29 percent year-on-year, with more than 280,000 watches now vetted annually. 

The number of businesses—jewelers, auction houses, dealers, and the like—signing up to check watches before transactions has also risen, climbing by 42 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. The Watch Register has seen a 78 percent increase in U.S.-based business clients, underscoring the growing concern among Stateside traders for the laundering of stolen watches through international markets.

“This is evidence of the global pre-owned watch market actively using our database as a tool to fight watch crime,” Katya Hills, managing director of the Watch Register, said in a statement.

Rolex remains the most targeted brand, representing roughly half (51 percent) of the watches lost or stolen last year. The Crown also received the most checks, accounting for 44 percent of all pieces checked by businesses and private buyers.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The Watch Register identified an estimated 1,340 lost and stolen watches in 2025, marking an 18 percent increase from the 1,136 in 2024. (Roughly 5,000 missing watches have been identified since the database launched in 2014.) The number of stolen watches located for U.S. traders increased 110 percent last year.

The moment a stolen watch is located, a specialist recoveries team steps in to secure it and get it back to the rightful owner. Half (50 percent) of the watches are found within a year, and 35 percent are located within six months. Increasingly, recoveries involve pieces that have been moved across the globe to evade detection. In the past year alone, stolen watches have been traced across 33 countries spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia, North Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. 

“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,” Hills adds.

That should give collectors at least some peace of mind.