Though several other watchmakers have risen to great popularity in recent years, Rolex holds its own as an industry leader. It continues to deliver perfection with each timeless piece, at eye-watering prices and, as such, it remains a most coveted accessory.
With this in mind, hearing about a Rolex store being looted in New York City, in the SoHo neighborhood in Manhattan, as the George Floyd protests swept the country, is bound to cause a sensation. Add to this the estimated figure of $2.4 million in stolen watches, and you have yourself a viral story.
This is what happened last week, when the New York Post ran a story citing NYPD sources about how the “Rolex store” in NYC had been ransacked, with looters getting away with $2.4 million in merchandise. That’s a lot of Rolexes to have laying around the store in unsecured cases, and quite a bounty for the looters.
Except that it never happened. For starters, there is no Rolex store in New York. Sure enough, there’s video of looters breaking into and entering a store that has a Rolex sign on the side, but it’s a Watches of Switzerland store. It’s an official Rolex dealer, but not an official Rolex store.
Secondly, the looters are seen in the video going in and coming back out right away. That’s because they had nothing to steal, for a very simple reason: when you deal in expensive watches, much like with jewelry, you don’t leave anything out for the night. David Hurley, Watches of Switzerland Group’s executive vice president, tells The Robb Report that all merchandise is kept overnight in a safe in the back.
The looters didn’t take anything because there was nothing to take. There was little merchandise in the safe at the time, because the store had just reopened after the lockdown, and they didn’t even try to get inside the safe. To GQ, Hurley also stresses that damage was “minimal,” with only the windows and some vitrines broken. “Most importantly, and let me be very clear about this, no product was on display and absolutely no watches were stolen,” he says.
The NYPD confirms that no police filing for Rolex theft has been filed. They also say that no arrests in the Rolex looting have been made, despite The Post’s reporting that two people had been taken into custody in relation to the break-in.
To sum up, a Rolex store, dealership or official outlet, is no regular apparel / footwear shop. You can’t just break in and take what you want – unless you’re ready to break into a safe, much like you would in a jewelry store.
Police told the news that looters broke into the Soho Rolex store and stole $2.4 million dollars worth of watches.
Rolex told the news that’s impossible because there were NO watches in store. pic.twitter.com/i59MGB2dhm
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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