Watches So Good You'd Want to Steal

Graff, purveyor of what it calls a trifle immodestly “the most fabulous jewels in the world”, knows a little bit about the sometimes insane desire that drives the watch lover, having been the victim of Britain’s biggest ever jewellery at its New Bond Street store last year.

Then, thieves posing as customers bluffed their way into the shop and forced staff at gunpoint to hand over £40m-worth of watches, diamonds and assorted other goodies. They made their getaway in a waiting BMW but not before firing off a warning shot at a pursuing security guard.

Justice caught up with the four thieves earlier this month, when four were convicted of conspiracy to rob. Their story, that it was an inside job organised by the Graff family for the insurance money, was tossed out by the jury, who doubtless took a look at the Graff watch collection before reaching a conclusion.

It includes the MasterGraff Tourbillion 47mm, a £1m limited edition platinum watch of which only five were made that features a bezel studded with 24 diamonds, a diamond-layered face highlighted by Graff’s signature emerald triangle at 12 and 7 o’clock and baguette-cut emeralds around the dial.

Even the more modest GraffStar Grand Date, an elegantly simple men’s dress watch with a transparent sapphire back exposing its new Caliber 1 movement, is a beauty. As the prosecution doubtless could have pointed out: “How could you not want it. How could you give it away?”